Taking Away the Pacifier

My oldest was never big on it unless he was teething, but my youngest loves it. I think probably the best thing to do is gradual. I would still give it to her when she was teething, though, because it helps a lot. But I think the best thing to do would probably be to just start giving it to her less and less, before she's big enough to find it herself and before she is too attached to it. I hate seeing a toddler with a pacifier. And honestly, it drives me nuts to see kids completely attached to much anything. Favorite toys and what not are fine, but I don't think that they should be so attached to something that when it is lost or unavailable they are inconsolable. That just doesn't seem healthy. Try giving her a variety of things. Toys with teethers or soft stuffed animals she can chew on. Avoid thumb sucking at all costs! The pacifier is better than the thumb. Good luck!

Hey A. -

Mine would never take a pacifier so I am a bit jealous...jk :) One of our boys (4 yr old) still sucks his thumb and while it is on the very bottom of my list of things to worry about it would be easier to take a pacifier away. I know from lots of friends who have been through the process that if it is important to you that she not be dependant on it as a 2-3 yr old then the earlier you get her detached from it the better. Also from what I have heard from friends the process takes a lot longer & is harder the older they are.

A.,

My oldested had a pacifier. What I did was start to limit it. After awhile, I only let him have it at times he would be by himself and might need to self comfort (in his crib and car seat). When he was old enough to carry his milk or a sippy cup, it was limited strictly to the crib, that was at about a 9 months or a year, I think. We let him keep it for sleeping until he was three, than took them away.

Some advice in advance, what helped him learn to sleep without the pacifier fairly quickly (he only fussed about 30 mins. one night) was 2 things. One, we have a very regular bed routine, so changing one part of it didn't disrupt too badly. Also, he had a lovey that always sleeps with him (he's almost nine and still has it). For him it was his baby blankie and a stuffed moose. He would sleep anywhere; hotels, relative's houses, airplane, sleeping bag on the floor, as long as he had moose and blankie. It made travel easy with him and his siblings. All 3 of mine had a lovey to help them sleep. Just try not to lose them...I've considered putting a GPS in the little one's zebra! lol.

Hope this helps,
J.

There are many different ways to take away a pacifier. With my daughter I tried limiting her paci time to naps & at night. Then during the day she was at daycare in a toddler class & did not have her paci there. She was fine without it at daycare. This seemed to work for a few months, but then all of a sudden she figured out how to ask for it! After that she would ask for her paci any time she was home. And I was so close... haha

So, we gave in and she had her paci at home whenever she fussed about it too much. Then at the beginning of January my daughter & I went on a trip out of state with my parents. The first night there, she lost her paci! It was the only one I brought with us and I was not about to buy another one. We were there for 4 days and never found it, so she was just stuck without it. It was hard, but she got through it. She continued to ask for it for a couple weeks after, but now she hardly asks for it at all. Any time she asked I would tell her she lost it & it was "all gone" (she knows what this phrase means, so she could understand what I was saying).

I would say, when you are ready, try to reduce the time she has the pacifier, like naps & at night. Work your way to not giving it to her at all. You MUST throw them all away (or lose them!) so that you are not tempted to give them to her and she cannot find them. Once they are gone, they are gone and she will get used to not having one.

Good luck!!

Hello Amber. I have 4 kids and 2 liked the passie and 2 didn't. But I got rid of the passie the same day I got rid of the bottle. I know you are thinking I must be crazy but I didn't want to have a kid with a passie and bottle until they should be out of diapers. So when they were about 10 months old and could say by-bye I gave away all the bottles. And when the garbage man came to pick up the garbage I had my child go give the bottle and the passie to the garbage man. That way they were the ones "giving" them away and I wasnt taking them away.(not the bad guy) And we waved by-bye to them. And everytime they would cry for them we would take a walk out to the garbage can and look to see if they were in there and when they weren't I'd say remember they went by-bye and then we would go in and get a drink out of a big kid cup. It took about 3 days before they would remember on there own that thier stuff went by-bye.I am not going to tell you it was easy but it worked for me. The thing I like the best was the fact that they were both history and telling my oldest(who is 9) he enjoys the fact that he did it by himself and that he got rid of both of them at the same time. Whatever you do I hope you know that it really is harder on your baby then it is on you. It helps you both if you involve her in the getting rid of anything. That way it is her doing it and not you TAKING it away. Stay strong.

My daughter is almost 15 months and she loves her pacifier, she was not a bottle baby. I had her off the bottle b4 she was 1 but i think it will be harder to get her off the pacifier, My other daughter was different she loved her bottle and never took a pacifier. I think she was on the bottle till she was about 2 been so long ago i can't remember.lol But i am like you i can't stand to see a baby 2or3 walking around with a bottle that drives me nuts. I don't think it will be as bad with the pacifier. I am going to start seeing how long she can go without it b4 she has to have it but sometimes thats hard she has them hid all over the house so when u take one she finds another. but good luck with you I hope it's as easy as the bottle, but i don't feel it will be..lol C.

My son began to lose track of his pacifiet when he was two years old. He gave up looking for it when he was three. Carring a bottle, sucking a pacifier, having a special blanket or stuffed animal all are "Security Items". To TAKE any of these things away from a child creates a deep and damaging anxiety and insecurity. The only thing to do is very softly and gently encourage your child to give it up. There will be much more important battles to come. With love.

Hi A.,

I have a son that just turned 6 months old, so I can understand where you are coming from. My son stop using the pacifier @ 5 months. The way we went about it (was the right answer for us) because not only was he using the pacifier still, but he was wakeing up 2-3x's in the middle of the night, and our doctor said there is no medical reason why he shouldn't be sleeping through the night. So with that we got the book "how to slove your childrens sleep problems" by Richard Ferber BEST advice I could have ever gotten. It shows you how to get your child to sleep through the night without any PACIFIER ect.. Now the first night we tried this, I'm not gonna lie, IT WAS REALLY HARD. But by the second night it got easier, and by the Third night he was fine. Every since then he has not had a pacifier. I calm him down when he's fussy (in a quite place) and then put him down for a nap and he is fine. I would recommend this book to anyone.

My advice is to take from her then if you don't want her to have it. I will tell you though if you are giving it to her when she is fussy that it is most likey you as parents that have issues with the pacifier and not her. You don't want her to fuss so you give it to her. There is nothing unatural about them having one. Our family ped says he has never seen a child go to kindergarten with one but he has seen them go sucking their thumb!

I have a 10 month old son who uses a pacifier. I limit it to nap time and bed time. It's hard sometimes, but I try not to give it to him when he's fussy and I know he's not tired. When he's fussy, I try to distract hime with something else and it usaully works. Good luck!!!