Trying to Ditch the Paci!

My kids were only slightly older (2 and 4?) when we decided it was time. We asked them what they really wanted...fishing poles! WE told them we could trade the pacis for the poles. So we gathered up all the pacis and headed for the hardware store. When we went to check out with the new poles, the kids handed the clerk (a very young man) their collection of pacis. He was rather confused, but I guided the kids on out and my husband paid the bill (with cash!) If you try this method, we recommend you talk with the clerk FIRST :)

My son, who was VERY attached to his paci never looked back. My daughter, the one we were not a bit concerned about, mourned hers for days. Now they are 14 and 16 and seem to be well adjusted kids in spite of parting with their pacis!

Hope yours do as well. --H.

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My boys did not take pacifiers, but my best friend has 2 little boys who were both very attached to their paci's. What they did was talk about "the day they would let their paci's fly away". They attached the paci's to a few helium balloons and watched them fly away. They made an event of it and they sent ALL of them at once. They talked about it for a while ahead of time, letting the boys adjust to the idea and get excited about it. The only other thing I have heard of is taking them to the trash dump and watching the machines bury it. I guess it all depends on what your little guy is interested in. Just an idea. Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Hello L., With my son - we started only having the paci at bedtime. At about 3 - he had an accident and fell on the bathtub edge and hurt his tooth. He couldn't suck on anything for a couple of days. The dentist told us that his teeth were being affected and it was time for him to stop anyway. So, I told him that the dentist said he shouldn't have it anymore because it would make his teeth crooked. He understood that and only asked for it two or three nights. Each time he asked I explained what the dentist said. ... and that was the end.

I suggest trying it only at night for a while. You could also take a trip to the dentist and then "blame" it on him.

Good luck! D.
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I had 3 boys: 1 would not take a pacci, 1 was very addicted to it. What we did it lose them all one night. It was an extremely tough night. The next day he found one but sadly to say it mysteriously disappeared. That night was tough also. Everytime he found them around he house in all his hiding spots, they mysteriously disappeared and the nights were extremely tough with lots of crying and consoling but it eventually was forgotten and all was well.
We had tried everything and nothing worked. We found that losing them and not having them was the best thing. It was a cold turkey kind of thing. But it worked.
Good luck.

Hi L., when my daughter was 3 we took her paci away and it wasn't easy at all. I went to www.nam.com. It has a story about a paci and his mom. The mom lives on the moon and she comes down to earth to take the paci back up to the moon with all his brother's and sisters. I read the story to my daughter and she liked it. We told her that we were going to put the paci in the window sill and it's mom was going to come get the paci after she fell asleep. She was all for it. I read it to her during the day a time or two then right at bedtime. I asked her did she want her paci to go be with his mom and his siblings, at first she didn't but I told her that he was sad because he missed his mom and siblings, then she said that it was ok that we put it in the window sill. It worked but she did cry for a while the first night. After that she was fine. Make sure that you take the paci out of the window after he falls alseep. You don't want him to see it in the window sill in the morning. I hope this helps. Good luck!! J. A.

i know this can really be hard to do.try and snip a little bit off the end of paci each day till its about gone then tell him its all gone and get him to throw it away. my sister put vinegar on her daughters paci and one taste was all it took she didnt want it no more. if these dont work and hes still on paci come spring time tell him that he and you need to bury the paci so that flowers will grow and and let him help go buy a cheap pack and some flower seeds and go dig holes in ground and have him put the new pacis in the holes and see if he'll give his up in the process. goodluck

Walk by the trash can and throw it away! Good luck

I was told to cut the tips off the ends of the pacifier. After a few days he was done with them.

While he was out with Dad I gathered all the pacifiers and cut the ends off. When he got home they were all in a bowl on the table. He grabbed one and put it in his mouth, took it out and looked at it and threw it on the floor. He repeated this about 10 times (we had a lot of pacifiers). He decided they were not any good and we were done with the pacifier.I didn't have to say anything.
Good Luck!!

My oldest daughter took a pacifier until about 18 months. She was only allowed to have it when she was going to sleep. When it came time to take hers away I threw them away and took the garbage out. When she went to get one out of the jar they were all gone. She asked for it once I told her all gone. She looked a little confused and went to sleep. For the next few days she would look for it and then she stopped.

Now if yours is more aggressive then that I agree with the other moms. What ever plan you have stick with it. Being wishy washy only confuses them. If they cry enough and you give in they learn that crying/tantrums works.

if you notice one lying around and him not using it try to get it with out him seeing and hide it. dont buy any more, tell him that if he cant keep track of them then he doesnt need them... my daughter held on to her last one very close for a while so one night when she was sleeping we took it after it had fallen out of her mouth and that was it! she asked for it for about 2 days but then was done with it. i will say she has gone to sucking her thumb way more nasty than a paci but i 5 year old would look a bit silly with a paci n the mouth! good luck

As a mother of five, (long ago!) I was very lucky. None of my babies would tolerate a pacifier! At least by 2 months old they would spit it out, totally refuse it! Now when I see children 2,3,4,5 yrs old in public using those things,I am so thankful I never had that problem! If I had experienced that, I would have taken it away,tossed it and when they complained, I would have reminded them of their age and said "Those things are for sissy babies and you are NOT a baby!"
Good luck!
H.

This is what we did when we stopped the bottles and I think it would work with the paci. Slowly take one per day away and hide it. When you get down to the last one make a game out of it. "Where is the pace?" Is it in your bed? No it is not in your bed. Is it in the living room. No it is not in the living room. Make a big production out of it. Search everywhere. At the end of it say, "We can't find the paci. The paci must be lost. Do you want a drink of water?" And substitute something else for the paci every time, such as a drink of water or a drink of milk. It worked with the bottle. Just don't give in and find the paci and it will work. Children at 2 1/2 understand the concept that something is "lost."

I have broke 3 kids from them-#1 goal-Quit buying them. Kids lose them enough that if you quyit buying them there won't be any. If you see them laying around, throw away. it'll happen gradually and eventually one night there won't be any. Don't run to Wal-Mart when that night comes. Just kinda play it as oh well, we can't find a passy.

only one of my kids took a paci and i eventually got her off of it at about a yr by taking trips with and with out it and i had bought her a fleece blankie the ones you find in the infant section and by doing this she was able to sleep with the blankie instead of the pacie when she figured out that it was ok she had her blankie it wasnt that bad, although we didnt really have a whole lot of tears over the pacie because she was already used to the blankie by the time i started "forgetting" the pacie

My daughter loved her pacifier too. I finally just hid it and made her go without it. She cried some, but got over it really quickly.

We thought we would have a terrible time when we got rid of our son's paci - but i can't beleive how well it went. I got this advice from a friend of mine and it worked great. One day when he wasn't looking i cut the end of his paci off. When he picked it up to put it in his mouth, he took it out and looked at it and couldn't figure out what was wrong with it - i said "oh no, it's broke, maybe we should throw it away". He said "no" - but about 10 minutes later he said "I throw it away". So it was "his" idea to get rid of it. He only asked for it a couple of times and i said, remember, you threw it away. and he was fine with it. Hope this helps. Don't worry, you'll get rid of it and look back and see that it was never a big deal. Good Luck.

I am sure a lot of mothers would disagree with me but I believe that a child will let you know when they are ready. Everyone told me my son needed to get rid of his when he turned two so I started trying as soon as he did. I tried everything that was suggested to me and nothing worked. I finally just took it and told him that the pooey (what we called it) fairy came and took it. Needless to say that was the worst week of my life. It broke my heart to see him crying everyday all day. It was so traumatic to both of us that I would never have given it to my daughter if she had of been born after I took his. But since they are only twenty months apart she was already here and attached to hers. I took hers on her fourth birthday. We started telling her when she turned three that when she turned four she would be in the big girl class at school and big girls did not use pooies. She had a whole year to prepare herself for it. When it came time we gathered them all up and threw them away. We made it seem like her idea and she was fine with it. I really wish that I had of done the same thing with my son. I talked to several dentist about her keeping it so long and they said as long as it is gone before her permanent teeth came in it would be fine. When she had teeth lol they were just fine after I took. And her new teeth coming in look great too. It did take a couple of months for the gap to close up though. I hope my experience helps you.

Try trading the pacifier for something else. For instance have the child leave all of his pacifiers for santa or the easter bunny, or the tooth fairy. They in turn leave something for the child like gum or a new toothbrush in place of the pile of pacifiers. For this to work, you have to discuss the situation thoroughly and get the child excited about trading the pacifiers for something that would be exciting for them. Then all of the pacifiers must be comepletely taken out of the house by santa, or whomever, never to return again. You must not buy any more or you will just prolong the pain.

This worked well for my sister-in-law at christmas time. I was on a different schedule, so i used the easter bunny. Both children are now juniors in high school, and as best as i can remember this worked well. (Neither suck on a pacifier now. lol.)

My younger child knocked a tooth loose and we had no choice but to take away the pacifier. We did not use the above technique, but she survived all the same. All the pacifiers disappeared, never to return again. Really, this situation is harder on mom and dad than anyone else. You'll survive.

We put all the paci's in a small box and had our son pick out a gift bag, wrapping paper, card, etc. I took him and the "present" over to my friends house and had our son give them to my friends baby as a present. (Of course, she threw them away)We made such a big deal about it and when he asked for it we just reminded him that we "gave them to baby Aidan"
It took a few days for him to go to sleep without the paci, but to this day, he talks about giving the paci's to the baby :) Hope that helps!

Paci Fairy

About a week before the big day, we started talking about how the paci fairy needed more pacis for the new babies and when he gave them up, he would get a toy. We made it sound all exciting.

That night, we gathered them all up and left them on the fireplace in a big bowl. The next morning, there was a new train in their place and a note from the paci fairy.

We got a little push back at bed, ('where's my paci?') and I just reminded him they were all gone and talked about how cool the toy was. This happened 2-3 nights and after that, it was all back to normal.

It was surprisingly easy for us. Good luck!!

My daughter was very addicted to her paci at 2 1/2 also ... her teeth were being effected by it so we had to get rid of it. We gathered up all the paci's and put them in a bag, then I asked her if she would like to use them to "buy" a new toy that she had been looking at for several months, and she said yes. So I called up to the store (Pottery Barn Kids) and told them what we wanted to do and what toy she wanted. So when we got there my husband went ahead and paid for the toy while my daughter played. Then when we were ready to go I told her that we needed to give the lady the paci's in exchange for the toy. My daughter handed the bag of paci's to the lady and proudly walked out of the store with her purchase. Then when we got home and was getting ready for bed ... she wanted to know if she could have her paci's back and I reminded her that she traded them so we did not have them any more, she cried for about a minute and then she went to sleep and she only asked for them a couple of times after that, now she thinks paci's are for babies! BTW - we took the bag of paci's back home with us and we put them in the attic with her other baby stuff so there would be no temptation to give in if she asked for one again.

I am not sure if this will work for everyone but it sure did work for us and I was so thankful to be rid of the paci!

-J.

WIth my oldest, I threw it away as soon as he cut his 1st tooth. With my 2nd, I enjoyed the peace too much to throw it away when she cut her 1st tooth. I do not remember when we got rid of them, but long after we should have. BUT, I cut a little of the tip of them when I found them. She did not notice at first, but as time went on I cut more. After awhile, she was noticing and showing me. I told her if she didn't like it, to throw it away. She gave me a funny look, shoved it in her mouth and walked off. A snip later, she put it in her mouth, pulled it out, looked at it, and tried again..... She marched right over to the trash can, and threw it away. She did the same with the rest when they got too short. She never looked back.
Good luck!

when my DS was about 18 months we just cut the tips off and when i gave them to him (he always had 2 at naps and bedtime LOL) he just handed them back saying paci's broken. never had a problem. good luck

I want to start by saying Good Luck and if you're serious about eliminating the binky, then whichever method you choose...STICK TO IT!! With my son (he's 8yrs now), I started about 18months letting him only have it for sleep-times...and then eventually only at night...when he turned 2 I decided enough was enough. One day while he went to the park with his Grandmother, I rounded up all the binkys from everywhere I could find them (I always kept some spares hidden) and threw them away in the big roadside trashcan outside. That night when he asked for it, I told him if he could find one, he could have it. After about an hour of searching everywhere he could think of, he gave up. There were still tears and a couple of restless nights, but he got over not having it pretty fast. Now when my daughter reaches that point I have feeling it will be much harder. She's 9months and ADDICTED to her binky. So, again, GOOD LUCK, be patient, and stick to your guns!!

Hi, let your 2 year old know that he's the big brother and the paci has to go to the baby when the baby comes. Let him know that he's a big boy and big boys don't suck paci's. After the talk, let him gather his paci's and throw them in the trash himself.

oh no....best of luck! I have to say, all three of my children loved their "wookies" and I know they all dispersed of them at different times in their lives. My first was about 6 months old and I left home for the weekend without it..no way to go and buy a new one at midnight. So we had a night of tears and that was that. My next child was never really a fan of it. She started chewing on it when she began teething so I took it away. Again, we had a crying night but eventually, like with the bottles, she realized it wasn't coming back. My son kept his much longer...being the baby and having medical issues, I'm afraid I let him have everything too long! He was around your boy's age when i told him it had to go because he was a big boy and big boy's didn't have them. This was tough because at daycare his friends still had theirs! I basically chose a weekend when my husband and I didn't work and we could go with a night of not sleeping. Again, the crying and screaming went on, eventually falling asleep and fussy all the next day and crying again that night, but after that we were fine. You may be able to tell him that because he is going to a big brother, he has to give it up to the baby. Only babies have pacis. And when you put it away, make sure he isn't able to see it. It will be a challenge I promise, but it has to be done. I cringe when I see kids 4 and 5 years old sucking on their's, knowing they are going to have tooth problems. It seems mean, but in the end, you see, everything you do from now on is going to be "mean" in their eyes! Speaking of which, I'm being mean to my three for making them get ready for school tomorrow! It never ends! Good luck and hope this helps. Also, congratulations on the new baby! Two are soooo much easier than one!!!

The best way is to let the child throw the pacifier away. He can't blame no one but himself. I did this with my daughter, one day when she was 2 years old, I told it was time to throw away the pacifier because she was a big girl and big girls didn't use pacifiers. I told her to throw it in the trash can, her daddy took out the trash and the trash man came and took the trash away. Everyday for 3 weeks, she went to look in the kitchen trash can and she would say "pacifier gone" and I would say "yes baby, the pacifier if gone". I looked in her eyes and I knew that she was wanting it, but she threw it away. It worked with my youngest daughter also--I would highly recommend this method. Good Luck

Hi L.,
My son, age 3.5 now, kept his "sucka" (as we called it)until he turned 3... longer than I had hoped. On the advice of my older brother (who has 3 kids), this was the approach we took. Two or three months before his birthday, I started gently hyping up the notion that "Pretty soon you'll be THREE, a big kid! And big kids don't use suckas at all! Won't that be cool that you'll finally be a big kid and can just get rid of your sucka?!" He was skeptical, to say the least. I might add that my brother had actually told me that he used this method on the SECOND birthday for his kids. Well, I waited until 3 with our son, and think it was just fine. On his birthday, I mentioned the notion of him being able to get rid of his sucka. I wasn't expecting much... in fact I thought I was just easing the idea into the day and wouldn't get results until that night at best. To my surprise, he walked straight to the trashcan and opened it, ready to toss his sucka! His daddy and I made a big deal out of it, asking him to wait a second while we got the video camera, cheering when he threw it away, calling the grandparents so we could share the big news, etc. He asked for it 2 or 3 nights when he went to bed (it had been a "bed only" item for a long time), but accepted our reminders without much fuss. I think this is a great method for getting rid of the pacifier because it makes it HIS choice. I feel like the more control they have over their lives, the better they feel. (Like we all do!) Best of luck to you!

First of all it needs to be all or nothing! I suggest the paci fairy. Put ALL pacifiers in a bag/box etc and tell your son that he is a big boy and the pacifier fairy needs his pacifiers for all the new babies. Put them outside, by his bed, whereever and in the morning he wakes up to see the paci fairy took the pacifiers and left him a big boy treat! (train, car, big boy sippy cup, what ever interests hims!)

Other suggestions are to take the pacifiers to the hospital for the new babies (they will just throw them away, but your son doesn't need to know that, just call ahead and tell them what you need to do)

Or give them to somebody else who has a little baby.

Just remember to get all of them out of the house, car, grandmas, etc-look everywhere!

When I took the paci from my last child we started with only giving it to her at sleep time. During the time she was awake she could not have it. If she asked for it I just got her attention on something else and she would forget about it.Then after a couple of weeks I took it from her during her day nap she was so tired that she would cry about maybe 5 mins and be asleep. And then in about a week it was time to take it at night. She cried for the first few nights and then she started going to sleep on her own. Good luck in how ever you choose to take the paci from him.

We broke our son by only letting him have the paci if he was in his bed. He got really bored really quick seeing that he couldn't play with his toys if he had his paci. He gave it up withing 2 weeks with no crying or fighting. Good luck!