Looking for the Best Ways to Get Rid of the Pacifier for a 2 Year.

We went to build a bear and had my daughter pick out her own special bear (in her case, a bunny) and had her put it in the bunny. We made a BIIIIIG deal about how the bunny would always always always take care of her paci and then also made a big deal about how the paci was only for sleeping where bunny was for ALLLLL the time.

I cut the tip of the binky and it worked great! I think what made a big difference doing this method (I tried others with my oldest which weren't as effective) is that the child actually gives it up - you don't take it away. This way, you avoid being the bad one. We kept the broken binkies in the house for a couple of days so when my son would ask for it, I would give it to him. He would immediately spit it out. Two days later he wasn't even asking about it.

Good luck!

C.

My 2 oldest kids used pacis only at naps and bedtime. Both of them gave it up on their own when they "broke". They had bitten on it enough that there was a crack it it, and it did not suck like it used to. It was soon disregarded! And I wasn't the bad guy for taking it away! And if you want to help the process by adding a small cut to one side--he'll never know!!

Hi J. -

I am actually going to do this today with the bottles. I got rid of the plug with my older son by bringing them to the zoo. I took my boys and the plugs to the zoo - found a zoo worker and asked them to take the plugs for the zoo babies. On the side, I just asked them to throw them away when we were out of site - unless they can actually use them. It worked great. My 2 year old won't get off the bottle. When I took my 3 yr old off the bottle at a little over 1 he stopped drinking milk so I have been hesitant to take my youngest off the bottle. And yes - we are experiencing a speech delay. So - it is time. I can not make any more excuses. Today is the day for a trip to the zoo to say BYE BYE to the bottle. Good luck to us both.

R.

First of all, good luck. I come from a long line of suckers, and we were successful at weaning one of my kids and unsuccessful with the other, so you might have to try a few things...

With my son, simply taking the pacifier away cold turkey before his second birthday did the trick. He asked for it a few times and we feigned ignorance, and then he was over it. The process took less than 24 hours.

My daughter, now 3 and both a thumb sucker and a paci addict, used only pacifiers until we tried weaning her. Shortly before her second birthday, we tried the cold turkey method that had worked so well for her brother and she outsmarted us by just beginning to suck her thumb. We immediately gave the pacifier back. Now, one year later, she takes either paci or thumb - whatever is on hand. We're basically back to square one.

I can't help you on a personal level because my kids never took pacifiers. However, my friend told me that when she wanted her kids to give them up, she took them to a build a bear store and had them pick a bear and put the pacifiers in the bear before they tied it together. That way the child could sort of still have them with him/her when she/he went to bed. I thought that was a nice way to do it. I've heard lots of stories on how people get rid of them, but this one seemed very gentle and seemed like it would work well.
Good luck!

Well, we have successfully gone through this process ourselves recently and it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think it is harder for us to give up these items then it is for them sometimes. If I were you, I wouldn't go cold turkey. Make it a gradual process, which it sounds like you have been doing since you have restricted it to naps and bedtime. The first thing I would probably do is take away the two he has to hold. Once he has transitioned into the habit of not holding them, then take away the pacifier at nap time. After that is met with some success, it should be easier to take away the one at bedtime. With my son we used a very gradual process, we eventually got to the point were he just got it for about an hour or two in the earlier morning hours of sleep (sorry to say this was more for our sanity than for his) and then he eventually just started to forget about it. After, I would say, about a good 6 weeks the pacifier was gone! I hope you find something that works for you - Good luck!

I did a lot of reserach and thought about a lot of ways to get rid of her pacifier, at age 2 we took a trip to the rocky Mountains and she kept asking about the bears, when we came back home I told her that the little bear had taken her pacifier, she looked at me kind of puzzeld and asked about for about a week but that was it. No tamtrums no nothing as easy as that, i could not believe it. Every now and then when she is sick she remembers little bear and her pacifier but that`s about it.

I think it is easier that what we think just don`t make a big deal out of it.
Good luck

My opinion, go cold turkey. Tell them they are too old for it & it's time to say goodbye to it. If they cry for it, just let them cry. It will be a challenging first few days & be easy just to give in, but know there is a light at the end of the tunnel ;) Honestly, it was easy for me to do it, but my hubby, it was a challenging 3-4 days of when our child would cry for it, but so rewarding not giving in. For us though, if they have a pacifier, we don't let them have it after they are one years old. Same goes for the bottle. When they are one, if they are off them both. That's just us though. Good luck & hang in there.

Our son couldn't go anywhere without it. One night before bed we decorated a box with stickers and put all the pacifiers in it. We told him it was for the binky fairy that takes all the pacifiers and gives them to the new babies who don't have any. And explained that is how he got his. We also told him she would leave him a present for this. So he went to bed with the box right next to him and woke up with some small presents and has never used a pacifier since.

We just recently got rid of our paci for the youngest. I had hidden all the extras I had. So he only had one. Then one day I told him to throw it away and he didn't need it anymore. And he did!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we now have given up the paci and our nap. It was gradual and did take me awhile to want to get rid of it. He is now 2 years and 4 months.

It might be easier than you think. When my son was 2 we tried cold turkey (he was only using it a bed and nap like your daughter). He was miserable for the 2 days. I caved and gave it back to him. I tried 3 months later and he was ready then, he did have some trouble falling alseep the first night but after that he was fine and never asked for it again.

Good luck!

Since the dentist said it had to go, we blamed the dentist! Our office loved my idea! I dropped off a special gift ahead of time, or put it in the diaper bag and secretly handed it over, and the dentist traded the plug for the gift. My 2 girls have done this..they got a new lovie and a princess stuffed doll to sleep with. This way they have to hand it over, I take pictures making a big deal out of it and it is out of the house. Best thing..I am not the bad guy for once, the dentist said it must go b/c you will ruin you teeth.

Good luck! After a couple of days he will forget all about it!

We had the same issue with my daughter- even down to the holding 2 pacifiers at bedtime! For about a week before her 2nd birthday, I kept building up that 2 year-olds don't use "binkies". Then, the night before her birthday, we gathered up all her old binkies and put them in a box for a new baby who needed pacifiers. She never asked for them again! Good luck! Hope yours goes as easily as mine did!

I have two children and neither ever took to the pacifier. But my cousins children had the addiction bad. They had to have one at all times and when sleeping they had to have one in each hand. When they tried weaning them off the kids would hide them around the house and end up with them somehow. On a morning radio show here, I heard the host talking about a cute idea. Before her daughters second birthday she started building up the Binky fairy. Kind of like the tooth fairy or Santa the Binky fairy was going to come in the night and take the Binky and give it to other babies that needed it but leave her a gift. She even went so far as to have a coworker dress up as the Binky fairy and send her daughter a video message. She seemed very excited about it. I haven't heard much about how it worked out but its worth a try if all else fails.

Hi J.,

My daughter was attached to her pacifiers too and would cry when she didn't have it. She especially used it to help her go to sleep at night. Basically, what we did at the time was stop replacing them when she lost them or there was a hole in the nipple (she would chew on it sometimes). And, I would explain to her that it was broken or lost and there was no more pacifier. Before when she would lose them or break them, she had no concept of it being gone because I always replaced it. Eventually, we finally got down to the last sacred pacifier. I told her to be careful b/c that was her last one. Of course, same thing happened and it wasn't replaced and she fussed a few times, but honestly, it wasn't that bad.

Hope it goes well for you!

We took a sort of creative approach. We read the velvateen rabbit over and over again. Then on Easter Eve, we left the last paci on the nightstand b/c the Easter Bunny needed it to make the stuffed bunnies real. The Easter Bunny left a special mini-basket on the nightstand in place of the paci.

good luck.

Hi J.,
My son also got rid of the pacifier at 2 yrs. old. I took my cousin's suggestion and starting snipping the end off a little at a time. He still would put it in his mouth for a while, but then one day when there was barely anything left threw it in the corner of the crib and that was that! My daughter liked to hold "extras" in her hands too while sleeping. Just make sure the ends are snipped off as well and he should lose interest pretty quickly. Hang in there, you will get past this!

C.

My two year old daughter had a love affair with her paci. Some kids have lovies, she had "precious." One day I put together a package with big-girl stuff (stickers, a lttle toy necklace, etc) and left it on her bed with a message from the "precious princess" (she is really into princesses) saying that because she is a big girl, she gave her precious to another little girl who needed it. She totally bought it. Though now she has to have stickers on her hands and feet at bedtime now. LOL One addiction for another!

I think my paci users eventually lost all theirs under beds and couches. But my sister, who has triplets, told them they had to leave them for Santa so he could give them to the new babies who needed them. She was completly shocked how excited they were to give them up. Her younger daughter used a different brand so they weren't interested in hers.

Hi J.. We did try cutting the pacifier tips. The idea is that it doesn't feel right when they suck on them. It worked perfectly with our oldest, not so great with our youngest. We finally got our youngest to give it up at Christmas when he was 2.5. We left them in a little gift bag next to the plate of cookies as a gift for Santa. He might have asked for it once or twice after, but we just reminded him that he gave them to Santa and he was fine.
Good luck!!

My son also had to give his binki up at 2. I got rid of all of them and told him they were all gone and I don't know where they are? So he asked me to look for it. I looked and he fussed a bit and went to bed. the next day he wanted me to look again so i told him to help me. we walked through the house looking for it in all the places it use to get lost. then i told him he's a big boy now and the binkis are all gone. it took a few days but he got use to it. that was almost six months ago, not needing it makes things so much easier.

Snipping the ends off can present a choking hazard so I would be wary of going that route. We went cold turkey with both of my girls, one at 2 yrs. old and the other at 9 months. We had a couple of days of crying (esp. at nap and bedtime) with the oldest.

We did the pacifier fairy-a nice note to the new babies that were getting the pacifiers-and left them all on the windowsill.

The first two nights were a little tough, but it didn't take more than a couple days to get over it.

Hi J.,

Only my oldest used one and she was over 3 when my dentist game me the same lecture. Unfortunately I knew he was incorrect when he "guaranteed" my daughter would have braces. He was taken back when I told him that I had a plug until 6 & didn't have braces and my hubby never used one & did have braces. We had cut it to only nap & bedtime but when Christmas rolled around, we had her put them on the Santa cookie plate for the baby reindeer. We even wrote a note to santa telling him who they were for. We had always included the reindeer in our snack with carrots so she didn't have any issue with leaving the plugs. She never asked for them again. I also work at Randall Oaks Zoo and over the summer a little girl brought in a brown paper bag full of hers to give to the baby animals.

Good luck
C.

Had this same issue a few months back and did a lot of "research" to find a solution myself. We finally decided that we had to go cold turkey. We tried just doing nap time and bed time and my daughter would sneak up to her room and get one and try to use it during the day. Just caused too much stress and misunderstanding. She even didn't care if the nipples were cut. She would still chew on them. We choose to leave her pacifiers at the doctor's office when we went in for a visit. We talked about how it wasn't good for big girls to use (which is actually the truth- so I didn't have to make up some lie about a binky fairy, etc.) We had a rough couple of nights. So, I just laid with her until she fell asleep. But, after a few days she didn't even cry for it. For the next few weeks we only heard about it every once in a while. Good luck to you. I think everyone just has to try a few ways before they find what's right for them and their child.

I was having major problems with my son's binky use; well actually it was more along the lines of a binky addiction!! My friend absolutely raved about the cut method, and all of the psychology behind it. She found it on www.bye-bye-binky.com , which is great that it was also free. We went with it and OMGosh... worked so beautifully for my son with NO tantrums, not even one! Thank you God. Five days later he did not want anything to do with his binky. What a relief it was to all of us to finally be done with those darn binkies. Highly recommended! I am also interested in others experiences.... B.

Yes, go cold turkey! Just this week I did it for our son who turns two this week. I presented him with a couple new toys and said he need to throw his paci in the trash before he could play with the toys. He did. When he went to bed he cried for 30 min but slept well. Then he cried through his naps the next couple days but is back to normal now. He his even happier and talking more with his pacifier gone. Its GREAT!