Binki and Bedtime Help

If you put a tiny snip into the tip of the binky w/ a pair of scissors, it will take the satisfaction out of the suck. If you are lucky, she may just decide she doesn't like the "broken" binky anymore.

I'm not a fan of letting kids cry, honestly. There is also a great book by Elizabeth Pantley called The No Cry Toddler Sleep Solution, and she has great tips for breaking "bad" sleep habits in toddlers, like the suck-to-sleep association.

Good luck!

If she needs it please let her use it. My son loved his. When he was almost 2 my mom and husband both told me to throw them away as he was too old for them. Well, I found out later that he really needed them to help w/his oral motor skills. He too nursed A LOT and had trouble self soothing. The extra nursing was becuase of a weak suck that led him to being tired before he got full. In hind sight, taking away the binki was the worst thing I could have done for him. I wish I would have listened to my mother's instinct and let him have it until he no longer needed it. Bed time/car time and for extra comfort should be allowed.

I just wanted to say I am in the SAME boat as you. I nursed my son (16 months) up until three weeks ago. He sleeps with me and my husband works nights as well. He still takes the binki and I am not ready to have him be done with it. I thought it would feel good to know your not alone!

Our son was a terrible sleeper, and we couldn't stomach letting him cry. We stopped picking him up when he woke at night. We still went to him and hugged him in his crib, talked, sang, soothed, but didn't pick him up. It was hard for about 2 nights, but then he realized he wasn't getting out of the crib, and it got much easier and quicker to put him back down. Sometimes I was back in bed within 1 minute!

I did this with my first two, my third child never wanted one. After their second birthday we talked about how they were big boy/girl and they didn't need the binkie. And how THEY should just throw it away in the trash. It didn't happen at first but after a while THEY did go throw it away, and that was the end of that. My DD did ask for hers but when we reminded her she threw it away, she was fine.

Hi L.,
Something that worked like a charm for us when taking away binkies (I have 3 kids) is we just cut the tip of the nipple off the binkie and gave it back to the kids. They would play with it, try to suck on it and then laugh because of how it feels. Each one of them chose not to use it and I think that is what mattered. We didn't take it away, they simply stopped using it. After a couple of days they forgot about it and that was it.

Good luck!

Just a few things...

As far as getting rid of the binky we used the telling the truth method as soon as the binky our daughter currently had was chewed through (she liked to chew on hers) that we would be throwing it away in the garbage and that was it with them. We reminded her everyday and sure enough within 4 months she actually said to us one morning binky broken oh no and went downstairs and thew it away in the garbage herself and never looked back! This was by age 2.5.

Also remember I have had two different pediatricians say it is better to suck on a binky then on their thumb so if she really needs one at night let her keep it they also said binky is o.k until permanent teeth come in. But of course no binky at allis the best!

Oh we also gave it up at nap time and brought it down to her just having it for bed time which I think helped.

Then also try and remember don't cave in that is probably the one thing that will make the transition the hardest. Once you take the step and get rid of it; it is gone if you give it back it will just make the next attempt even harder.

Best of luck! I remember fearing this day and it wasn't so bad in the end.

Veronica

Go here to see what can cause behavioral problems. Or type in "Mercola.com" and over to the right of the site, choose "Search for health problems."

http://search.mercola.com/Results.aspx?q=Foods%20that%20c...

Binki's are known to cause ear infections.

It will take time to train her to fit your family, but if you are consistent, it will work.

Hi!

We weaned our son at almost 3 (bad, bad!!) and it was okay. My sister in law was pregnant and we "sent" the binki to Texas in a box he picked out. We also said that after 2 days of watching, the binki fairy would come and drop off something special (we left money for him to go to the toy store and getting something with "his" money). Binki fairy is best friends with Santa and the Easter Bunny (if that works for your family). It was hard at first but after 2 naps and 2 nights, the binki fairy came and left him money. He did very well and knowing that his cousin "has them" made him feel ok about it. Just a thought! Good luck - but stay strong. We have major dental/ortho work in our future!!! 2 days of struggle for you will be much better for all of you in the future. Good luck!!!

I have an idea for letting go of the binki. It's something I got from my sister in law. We created a Binki Fairy (similar to the tooth fairy). making your daughter a big part of the process start talking about the binki fairy. Make it fun and exciting. Then your daughter can put her binki (all of them) into a bag of some kind. We just used an old grocery bag. Then take it outside and have her help you tie it to a tree. That night while she is asleep take all the binki's out and get rid of them then replace the bag with some sort of little goodie or two. We chose both a small candy and a toy. When she wakes up in the morning she gets to go find what the fairy left for her as a replacement to the binki's. It is important that no binki's are left behind. If she finds one after it may be hard to sneak it away. It helps if your daughter is able to understand the concept of what is happening before hand. My daughter did continue to ask for her binki once in awhile after words and I would just remind her that the binki fairy had taken them and what she got instead. Worked pretty well for us.

I never gave my daughter a binki, but my sister in law had trouble with getting her son off the binki too. I think he was five when they finally took it. What worked for her has slowly cutting the end off a little each day until there was nothing left. Good luck with your bedtime troubles. I let my 21 month old cry for a few minutes before I go get her at night, usually I get her sometimes she puts herself to sleep.

You need to be in charge and stop catering to your child. It sounds harsh but she has trained you well. If she is not wet, hurt or teething, there is not reason to keep going back to sooth her. Yes crying it out may seem terrible, but if you don't change her patterns you will be miserable a lot longer than just a few nights.

The pacifier is not necessarily a problem and can offer comfort for her. Keep in mind that by the time she is done with a bottle for any reason, she should also be done with the binki. As a dental hygienist I often see young children who have sucked overly long on either thumb or pacifier and it has caused a change in the sharp of the mouth, flaired the front teeth and encouraged a tongue thrust when they swallow.

The baby will survive and so will you. It may be miserable and hard to endure but the change will pass and life will go on. The concept of being a big girl who doesn't use a bottle or a binki may help. Small steps lead to a bigger result. Lots of praise and hugs, a small treat on occasion, a new stuffed friend to hold instead of the binki-take you pick. Each has helped someone else help their child through this transition.

R.

My daughter LOVED her binki but I wanted her to get rid of it before our second baby came to avoid binki chaos! She was about 14 months. I NEVER thought cutting the tip would work for her, but it did. Like a charm and IMMEDIATELY. I cut the tip off, gave her her binki. She tried to suck on it, and spit it out of her mouth, signed "All done" and that was it for the binki. I dreaded what was going to happen but it worked out really well!

As far as the sleep at night that is a tough one. It just depends on what you are comfortable with and what will work for your family. We started our kids sleeping in their cribs right from the start and tried to use the method of teaching them to fall asleep on their own without any sleep aids. It worked really well for us with both kids without much crying but I totally understand that every child and family is different! If you do try to sleep train, just know that it is only hard for a very short time and then hopefully you will all get some good sleep!!! :-) If you don't want to do that, just remember that kids are only young for a short time and will eventually all end up in their own beds! Good luck with whatever you decide!

Sounds like you're getting lots of advice about the binky! My oldest son had one until he was 3. We talked to him about it - about being a big boy and he told us he would put in a jar on top of the fridge and be done with it when he was 3. And when he turned three he told us he didn't need it anymore. He put it in the jar and never wanted it again. We did eventually throw away the jar! As for the sleeping: my kids slept in our room on a little bed beside ours until they were about 3. My oldest son transitioned to a bed in his own room very easily, but my middle son had a lot of trouble - he was always waking up several times a night. When he slept in the little bed in our room - he slept through the night mainly, or if he'd wake up we could just say,"It's okay, go back to sleep." and he would. We moved him to his brother's room and he did fine with that. But he never did well in his own room.He still sits up late and reads - gets up early. He is a troubled sleeper. Some kids - just like some adults- don't sleep as hard. Kids need to feel secure. They will have more problems later if they don't have security. I have put them in their beds at night and then laid with them until they fell asleep as toddlers. It seems like a long time, but they are only little for a very short time. You will never regret spending too much time with your kids. Do what you need to to help her feel secure and loved. She will be a better person later for it. Hopefully this helps.My three boys are all older now and they all have their own rooms. Sometimes they sleep together in one room just for fun and sometimes one boy or another will sleep in his brothers room and sometimes they all sleep in their own room. Music sometimes helps.

My son used his binki until he was 3. My dentist said it was better for his teeth than sucking his thumb and he needed something. When I tried taking it away, he started to suck his fingers. My son also had a string of ear infections, but the doctors said it was not caused by the binki. I decided that 3 was too old for a binki (we only used it at nap/bedtime), so we talked up getting rid of the binki for a long time. He was very attached to his binki, we took him to Build-a-Bear and put the binki in a bear. He can feel the binki if he needs to, but after a few days he was fine. I threw away all of the other binkies, but I know some people put all of them in the bear. He had a new baby sister and only once did I catch him sucking on her binkies.