Pacificer Suggestions

Sounds like she needs a visit from the pacie fairy! You tell her that there are little babies being born that need her pacifiers more than she does and the pacie fairy will give them to the babies who need them. You put them in a basket or something like that and hang them in a tree or bush before she goes to bed. Then you replace with a special present from the pacie fairy.

My daughter stopped using the pacifier just around her second birthday. I just stopped buying her new pacifiers, and she didn't like the taste of the old pacifiers, and I started to put them away, eventually she lost interest. She didn't have a hard time with that, because by that time she was interested in so many other things. It was easy, and that's the main reason why we introduced the pacifier to her in the first place—I used my fingers as a child, and it was really hard to separate me from my fingers. Good luck!

Binky reply

Keep in mind that they are only little for such a short time and you might consider what is the hurry? There are so few things in life that give comfort. Some children are still on the breast at that age, but 2 really is still a baby, what does the pacifier hurt you might ask yourself? Why is this the mountain (subject) I am going to battle on? If your adamant to get her to move on then have the "I can't find it" moment. Look together and have it just be unfindable and be sad together. Have it show up only at night. Cut the tip of all of them. Mail them together to the "kids who don't have Binky place" have him put them in the mail box with you and say bye bye. But realistically your little girl isn't going to be sucking on the Binky forever, and is it really a big deal. Sometimes I think we as adults are always telling the little ones what to do, how to act, how to feel, what to eat, then what to be attached to, maybe we should let them have the "thing" that makes them feel good for a little longer than the majority thinks. After all when the little ones grow up how many times have you heard a momma say, "They grow up so fast!" Also you could try a gradual thing...like, only at night. Good luck

S.,

Accidentally drop the pacifier in the trash or in poo or something that will gross the child out when they see it happen.

You can also dip it in chile but damn that's torture for the little one.

i am a big fan of the cold turkey approach. it is gone. we can't find it-oh well. A few days will be bad....But, then it's over.

The first thing that comes to my mind is what is otivating you to take the pacifier away. I found myself making decisions like this based primarily on outside pressure and wanting everyone else to think I was a great mom and doing the right thing. I have three children and I have to admit I never did get over it entirely. If you feel in your heart it should be done or believe it will harm her emotionally or physically, then it certainly should be done to alleviate the conflict you may feel. A way that worked well for us (however, our son was close to four years old) was to reduce the number on hand and then at Christmas told him Santa took them when he left the presents because he is such a big boy now. Some might not like the fibbing part so another approach would be to simply say they are gone. At two she doesn't have the wherewithall to say, "go buy me some." I don't think?!? I don't know if I've made any sense at all but I wish you the best in your endeavor.

We cut all the tips off and showed her they were broken. She didn't fuss over it but every kid is different. Good luck.

of you don' want her to have pacifiers then just throw them away or cut of the part the suck on and when they are all broken thats that.

I heard you cut the nipple off-and then its broken!

Hi S.-
Whan it was time to take the binky away from our daughter we told her the binky fairy was coming to take her binkys to little babies who needed them. We bought a big manilla envelope and had her decorate it and fill it with all her binks, and leave it in her room when she went to sleep. When she woke up the next morning there was a new envelope with a small prize in it from the "binky fairy". It seemed to go pretty smoothly, and she didn't really ask about her binkys because she put them in the envelope so she knew where they went. Hope this helps. Good luck!
D.

hi S., my husband and i had the some problem. so one day he waited until the trash truck came by and he let her throw it in the can right when it was going to take it away. but we had a back up just in case. just don't give in when you see her crying. you quickly get the feeling of being a bad mom if you dont give in. that will pass. hang in there

Parents magazine has a GREAT article re: this topic in this month's issue. Check it out!

For my first daughter we waited until she was almost three. By this point she was only using it at night or nap - we had gradually limited the times she could have it. We gave her options on how to give up the paci which were: We could bring it to the doctor's office so the Dr. could give it to a little baby who needed it more. Or we could mail it to a family who had a baby who needed it. Or we could tie it to a balloon and let it float away. She chose the third option and we did it - took pictures and everything. It was perfect. She got to see it float away. Then we took her to the toy store to pick out a little stuffed animal to snuggle at night. She asked about it that night and the next but it wasn't traumatic at all. I think giving her a choice on how to get rid of it made all of the difference. And we had talked about it for a few weeks before doing it so she was prepared. You know, how what a big girl she is and that preschoolers don't use them, etc.
Closer to age 3 (older 2) is much easier than a young 2 for giving up the paci, I think. Maybe just limit it to night/nap until she is closer to 3 if it is too hard to do now.

My second daughter turns 3 in two weeks and we haven't done anything yet but I think we will do the same thing. Harder the second time around for us for some reason. :)
Hope that might help,
G.

Hello S.. I sympathize with you. I recently had a baby and instructed the hospital NOT to give him a pacifier, for the simple fact that I didn't want to deal with taking it away in the future. They didn't listen, and he has one now (I only let him continue because I read that it reduces the risk of SIDS), but I don't plan on letting him keep it very long. With my first, I let her have it for quite a while (maybe a year and a half?)but when my second one came along, I was in dental school already, and had been educated on the disadvantages of pacifier and letting children drink from bottles too long (age wise), the ruin it causes in their mouth's, and deformation, so I got rid of my son's when he was about 7 months old. I think the best way is to do it cold turkey. Naturally, it will be hard initially, but stick it out, DO NOT give in, whatsoever. It will diminish any progress you have made and you will have to start all over again - back at square one. I have read about the binky fairie, or pacifier fairie (various terms) and I REALLY like that idea, and if I had a child old enough to understand that, I would use it. It seems like your daughter is at an age where she could understand that concept. Best of luck to you, and remember, be strong, and it will pass :)

Pock a hole in it....the air comes out and it goes flat and since it doesn't give her the same satisfaction, she'll spit it out.

Good luck

Hi S.,

When my husband and I started scaling back our sons' use of pacifiers, we started by restricting the pacifier to nap time and night time. Then, it was just to night time. Once the boys were used to putting themselves to sleep at nap time without a pacifier, we would put them to bed without it, but put it within reach. If they needed it, they'd grab it and put themselves right back down. After a while, they didn't even use it, so I put it away and that was the end of it.

But, honestly, I don't remember how old my sons were (they're 11 and 15 now). I do know that it was before full time preschool...so somewhere between 2 and 4. It worked for us.

Good luck!

Show her that other "big girls" aren't using pacifiers. But, don't make too huge a deal out of it. The more that you make a big deal out of it, the more that she's going to cling. Maybe start by allowing her to have it at night only. Personally, I think making the kid give up something that comforts them is kind of mean. No kid has ever graduated college with a pacifier in their mouth. Most kids give them up willingly when they realize they are different from their peers. Pacifiers are a small thing in the great scheme of things. Good luck with your plan, whatever you may decide on. :)

I just did this a few weeks ago for my two year old daughter. It hit me one day that if she was old enough to throw tantrums, help clean her room, put her own movie into the DVD player, etc., she didn't need a pacifier. So I grabbed them out of her bed and cut the tips off of them (she had one she slept with and one she held, and it was a nightmare if she didn't have them both) She walked in just as I was putting the scissors down and I said "OH MAN! This is broken. It doesn't work no more. Now we have to throw it in the trash." And I threw it away. She immediately looked in the trash and pulled them out and tried to put them back together. She didn't cry, but she was shocked, upset, and had the saddest little look on her face. I was just as "shocked" and was very sympathetic, since she was really attached to this little sucky thing, you know? I didn't overreact though, and just let her deal with it in her own way. She tried to suck on them (I know! But luckily the trash just had papers in it). She asked me to fix them, and I showed her how the two pieces are broken and it wouldn't work. After her and I throwing them away and digging them back out a few more times, she was fine. She did this again when my older daughter came home from school and when my husband came home from work. She wanted everyone to see that it was broken and maybe they could fix it. It was a big event and I was nervous about laying her down, since she really seemed obsessed with the whole thing. But she did fine. She asked for it, and I said "it's broken. It doesn't work" and she whined a bit, but no tears or anything. I was done though, so tears wouldn't have worked anyway. I think that is the biggest thing, I WAS DONE. Once YOU are set on what you want for your daughter, it becomes real easy. I decided it was more of a problem than a help, and her teeth were getting affected and it was time. She has been pacifier free for 5-6 months now and when she sees one, I say, "Oh look at that BABY Pacifier! Your a BIG GIRL now, huh!" and she says "Yeah, Baby pacifier" (she actually calls them Chuppy's, but you know what I mean) Anyway, good luck.

With both my daughters we threw them away at about 22 mos. 2 years should definitely be the limit, and it will only get harder if you wait. It will be hard for a few days, but worth it, so stick to it! Here's what we did: for a month or two we warned our kids (and they are 4 years apart so we did this two separate times), but we warned them that we have to throw the binkies in the trash soon because they are big girls. They like hearing about how they are big girls. When the day came, they threw them outside in the big trash can, and we did it right before the trash pickup came so we couldn't retrieve them! When it came time for nap or night night with the binkies, one daughter missed it and cried some, but in a couple of days got used to it, and the other daughter barely missed it. The hardest was one daughter loved to wake up and rest with her binky, but after a few days she didn't miss it at all! You just have to not back down at all. Good luck! (some people have also sent the binkies off with balloons to the binky fairy!) And, one thing I HATE is seeing a kid trying to talk with a binky in their mouth!

with ours, "out of sight out of mind" goes a long way.

we also tell her "you're getting to be a big girl, you don't need this", and when she tries to talk, "I can't understand you with that in your mouth, why don't you take it out?".

I've heard people have success with cutting the nipple off bit by bit until there is really nothing left... it sounds like kids lose interest in it.

Hi S., pacifires serve a purpose for baby's, but can become a habit if allowed to long, at 2 years it serves no purpose, other than feeding a habit. I had a two year old in my daycare that didn't talk because she always had a paifire in her mouth for the only reason was her mom didn't want to deal with her crying and screaming, but in the process she was depriving her daughter much more, just take it throw it in the trash, every morning once her mom lest i unplugged her, withing in 2 weeks she was talking, at 2 it's not good for the teeth the mouth. By taking the pacifire you are not depriving your daughter of anything she needs, what she wants maybe, but if you give her something just because she wants it, later on you will have bigger problems than the pacifire. Things that are habit forming you don't want to prolong. Been a mom for 25 years 3 kids no pacifires, they werent deprived in anyway. J.

I would tell her that pacifiers are for babies and stress the things that babies can't do that big girls of 2 do. I would just tell her that she is a big girl, take away the pacifier and praise her for being a big girl.

Maybe that sounds too easy- my kids didn't use pacifiers very much- and not at all after one year. I do think you need to be kind though, but firm. I personally think it's ridiculous seeing kids of 3,4 and 5 ( sometimes older) years of age- who are trying to talk with a plug shoved in their mouths. I think sometimes parents try to keep their kids at a more immature level and baby them. Good for you for wanting to say bye- bye to the pacifier.

Some families make a bigger deal of it and have the child throw the pacifier away and go get a treat afterwards ( or play together- things that "babies" can't do). I do think it depends some on the family and how much of a habit the child/family has of having a pacifier around.