How to Wean from a Pacifier

Hi K., I just let my son chew holes in it. He liked chewing on it and when he did chew the holes in it, I left it that way. After a few days he didn't want it anymore and he never bothered w/it after that. I like the idea of cutting the tip off that one of the other moms suggested, good idea. Good luck.

For my daughter we cut the tip of the nipple off. She couldn't get the desired effect while sucking and gave up. Within 2 days she wasn't asking for her pacifier anymore.

A suggestion: Allow her to be apart of the paci farewell.
Make it a countdown and celebration at the end.
Example: We have 5 days left with paci, what can we do to celebrate our bye-bye to paci. Let her decide what would be the best way to say bye-bye.

The same stategy works with bottles, blankets and so on. If you are comfortable she will be comfortable. You are doing it together.

The other factor is all the dental stuff involved in prolonging the paci.

You will do great.

My name is also K.. I have a two year old boy that I recently weaned from the pacifier. I heard that cutting the tip off the pacifier and telling them it is broken works. I tried this and he kept putting it in his mouth and realized it wouldn't stay in and threw it down. He did very well with this approach and with a few attempts realized with encouragement he didn't need it any more.
Don't forget to hide any extra pacifiers before trying this.

Good luck!

K.

Just do exactly what you said, don't give it to her when she sleeps anymore.

We did this with both of our kids when they turned a year old. I waited until the weekend so that my hubby would be able to get up with them as well during the night when they cried. After a couple of days, they forgot all about it.

Good luck!

I would suggest cutting the end of it off so that it collapses when she tries to suck on it, and every couple of days cut a little more till there's nothing left. She most likely just won't want it when she figures out that its broken and she can't suck on it.

another techique that I've heard of is to take her to the store let her pick out a lovely and have her "pay" for it with the binki. tell her that it's time for her to pick something new to sleep with, and she's trading her binki for it. make sure you somehow tell the cashier what your doing so it works.

My third child was the only one to take a paci and I was dreading taking it away from her...She turned 2 in Feb. and when Easter rolled around, we left her pacis for the easter bunny and he left her a baby doll...She never missed them and was eager to tell everyone she met that the easter bunny took her pacis for the babies...good luck.

My daughter successfully rid my grandson of his pacifier by telling him that the pacifier fairy needed it for a little baby and since he was not a baby anymore, but was a big boy now, she needed his pacifier for this baby. He willingly gave it up for this imaginary baby. He was two at the time.

We buried my daughters pacifiers in the front yard and had a little big girl ceremony, I just explained that when you get to be a big girl pacifiers are no longer needed. That was when she was 2 years old. She is 3 now and still remembers where we buried them. It was a little trying for a couple of nights but it worked.

When we took our sons away we just went cold turkey. One day we decided it was time and he got the honor of throwing it in the trash can for the garbage man(he likes the garbage man). He did fine sleeping through the night, but he gave up his nap for two weeks. I still attempted to put him for a nap everyday he just never would sleep without the pacifier. He takes a nap again now though. Good luck!

my son is 21 months and has only had it had bedtime for a long time. The last time he had a cold and wouldn't take it because he couldn't breath, I took it out of his crib and since then he has not wined for it at all. It is gone!! I am so glad. He does have a blankie that he sleeps with but I am not worried about that as he will give that up eventually. My 5 year old still sleeps with stuffed puppy at bed but I see nothing wrong with that. Good Luck!

This might sound cheesy, but I saw something on Super Nanny that worked. Tell your daughter that when little girls become big girls, you send pacifiers to the Pacifier Fairy. The Pacifier Fairy then leaves a special surprise for her for becoming a big girl. Have your daughter help you put the pacifier in an envelope and in the mailbox to "send" it to the Pacifier Fairy. After she goes to bed that night, take out the envelope w/ the pacifier and replace it with a special suprise and letter from the Pacifier Fairy. She can open it the next morning. Not sure how it would work, but it seemed to work great on Super Nanny! It may be worth a try. You just have to make sure you do not ever give her a pacifier again after that. Oh, and send all of her pacifiers to the fairy. Not just one. Sounds cheesy, but at least it's an idea that a kid can relate to. Good luck! I'd be interested to see how it works out if you do this.

K.:)

K.,

This worked like a charm for my daughter when she was about 26 months old...after about 3 days of on-and-off crying! The "Paci Fairy" came because my daughter was a "big girl" and she picked-up all the pacis in the house to take to the babies in the world that needed them. We explained this to her, but she was still very upset. While she napped, I ran to the store, bought her a Cinderella doll, wrapped it in special Cinderella paper, and shoved it in the mailbox. On the paper I wrote encouraging phrases (way to go, the babies thank you, etc). I figured out that if I dialed my home phone number and hung up, the phone would ring. I did this and pretended to talk to the Paci Fairy in front of my daughter...the Paci Fairy told me to tell Elaina to go look in the mailbox for a special present only for big girls. She was so excited that she ran to the mailbox, opened the present from the Paci Fairy, and was thrilled the rest of the day...no more pacifiers! And she told me over and over and over that "the Paci Fairy brought me Cinderelly"! It was awesome! Good luck. D. H.

I commend you for wanting to take the pacifier away before she gets older. I can't stand seeing children 2 and 3 years old walking around with a pacifier. With my children I did like you are doing. Limit the use during the day and only gave it to them at night. I took theirs away at about age one or shortly after they starting walking. One mistake I made was substituting the paci for their bottle, which they sucked until about 17 or 18 months. I then had to just take that away cold turkey. You may have some sleepless nights but it will be all worth it in the end.

I did the same thing for my 3 boys, limited the pacifier.With child develpment you can usually take the pacifier away before 18 months, but you will have more of a battle if you try to take it away between 18 months and 2 years.(it would be better to wait until the child is 2 years old, less of a battle). One of my sons we had to wait until after 2, the other 2 gave it up before 18months.
Keep limiting the pacifier. Only have it for bed time ( you might have a hard nap time), then we had our boys decide that they were too old and it was time to throw the pacifier away.We let them put them in the garbage.(of course a clean bag that you put in the garage over night, just in case you can not deal with no pacifiers, but we never had to get them out) it usually is hard for them to try to get to sleep, try some music for them to fall to sleep. (we had to do this with the sipping cup too)

Hi K. :)

I'm giving my daughter until age two before I take her pacifier away, that's when I'm going to put her in preschool and I know that they don't even allow them to have it at nap time. She too only takes it at nap time and at bedtime, and has seem to have also taken to a little pillow she has as comfort items. When I do start that transition my friend, who has a three year old, gave me a good idea. When she was weaning her daughter..... each day she would cut a little bit off of the tip of the pacifier. As her little girl found that she could no longer suck on it (which takes away the comfort factor, I'm assuming) she just went to the trash can and threw it away. She never took another pacifier. I think this method might be a little bit more gradual than just shocking them with the sudden change by chunking it. Do keep us updated on what you decide to do and how it works for you, any advice we can all get helps :)