I always get such great advice, so here goes with another question. My 21 month old daughter is addicted to her pacifier. I want to transition her to only having it to sleep and in the car. Lately she has been having it in her mouth all the time while at home. She is pretty good about not having it outside the house. We were home a lot last week and also this week. She screams for her baba at the top of her lungs and cries everytime I try to take it away from her. Prior to the past few weeks she had been good about taking it out of her mouth while she was playing but now she refuses. I plan on taking it away from her during the day starting over the weekend when I am not at work.
Looking for suggestions of ways to help her with the transition to only using the pacifier to sleep and in the car. I am thinking about just telling her that babas are only for sleep and car and putting them away during the day. Is there some type of transitional object I can try to help with the transition. I am not sure if I am emotionally strong enough not to give in, but I also know that if I don't take it away now, I will have to do it in the near future. I am not willing to take it away all together.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Lose all of them except one. Tell her when that one gets lost that is it. No
more. Did that with bottles in my house. Worked like a charm. They knew
when it was gone. End. No discussion. Got lost in the grocery store. Look
of horror on my sons face was a riot. However, he never asked for another
one.
I would just tell her "Since you are starting to be a big girl, there need to be some new rules. The pacifier is only for sleep now". I'd also take her to some "big girl" thing...maybe a mom/daughter "manicure" to make the big girl thing "official". Good luck!
she is still young but once you take them away they cant come back we left all our bottles at the zoo for the baby monkeys
It may be difficult to hear her cry, just keep telling yourself she doesn't need it!
Lose them all, and best if you do it for good and not allow them for sleep and the car, otherwise she'll know they're still around, will cry and scream and you'll cave. 21 month old's are almost 2 years old, and the need for sucking has long passed.
Is there something she has been wanting that maybe she didn't receive for Christmas? Have the Pacifier aka Binkie Fairy bring it because she is "such a big girl now and doesn't need them anymore." Kids are smart, you have to be smarter and stronger ; )
My husband and I did this with our son. When he wakes up in the morning, we ask him for it, and say you can only have it for sleep. And we took it from him. Then we gave him breakfast, and by then he forgot for awhile. It can be hard the first day or so but you have to be strong and consistent in taking it away, and it will get easier. After a day or two he got the hint, and now willingly gives it to us in the morning. He knows his routine, and that is part of it.
You just have to not give in. It's hard to listen to them cry but distractions are key. You can do it!
We had this happen with our daughter also. We decorated a "Binky Bowl" and when she woke up she had to put the binky in the Binky Bowl, which was then put away in the cupboard.She knew where it was, but could not access it. She knew it was still going to be there when she was ready for bed, and actually this helped her go to bed a little better! Good luck!
Take it when she wakes up and tell her at nap time she can have it, take it immediately when she wakes from her nap and put it up until bedtime. Our twin grandsons went through this not long ago, now gave them up completely, but when they'd come to stay with me they immediately gave it to me and if one didn't the other one took it and came to me with it. They learn fast and I always told them, and my own children how I love to talk with them and hear what they say and can't understand them with a pacifier in their mouth. They seemed to accept that better than just giving some other reason.
Since it is such an issue to her I would not worry about taking it away. She will find something else to suck and chances are it would be her finger or her thumb. She will do massive damage to her bones if she stops sucking a pacifier and does a finger instead. It's not hurting her and she is totally focused on it now since you have been taking it away. She is totally NOT going to give in easily right now.
So, if you want some ear plugs so she can scream to her hearts content...lol, then go for it. She will fall asleep at some point and will eventually give in. It may take a week or two, should not go beyond that but it you are still going to give it to her sometimes that will only confuse her. Take it all the way or just let her have it for the time being.
We were going to try at that age too and the ped dentist told us to wait. If she starts sucking her thumb then you can pretty much count on having to put braces on her teeth, pacifiers are designed to have as little impact on the teeth as necessary and even then it only effects the baby teeth. If she's that passionate about it now then wait, it'll only drive you both crazy. My daughter is 2 1/2 and she only gets it to go to sleep and she's fine with that... when she turns 3 we'll try and take it away for good but I'm not going to take a security object away from her until it's absolutely necessary.
Is she still on a bottle? Our pediatrician told us that once the bottle is gone, losing the pacifier should be a lot easier. Maybe you can work on fully transitioning to a spout cup or straw cup first. At 21 months old you can explain that the baba stays in her crib and only in her crib. She doesn't come out of the crib until she leaves the baba there. THEN YOU HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT with this new rule. Don't pull it out of her mouth; tell her she needs to leave it in the crib so she feel more in control. If she wants to come out of the crib, then she has to give it up. After a few times of wanting out of the crib, she will learn this new rule. Then only use it in the car if you are desperate to get her to nap, but usually sleeping in a car seat is so much easier anyway so you might be able to get away without it in the car too (don't have too many exceptions to your rule). I heard if you use a thin needle to poke a hole in the paci, it doesn't "work" the way a kid wants it to work, so perhaps the child will lose interest...? That way you can still offer it, but quickly she will not want it, but I never tried this so don't have 1st-hand experience. We just got our 15-month old off his paci, and I stuck to the "only in the crib" method. For days he would find lost paci's under furniture, in toy bins, etc., and as as soon as I caught him with it, I would ask him to spit it out... he would scream but within a minute would spit it out and hand it to me--he knew the rule. He is a little more clingy with a blankie now which he only sort-of liked before, but I'd much prefer a blankie than a binkie. Maybe you can take her to a store to pick out a new lovey and make a big deal out of that one during this process. Stay strong and keep moving in the direction of elimination sooner rather than later UNLESS you notice she is turning into a thumb-sucker. A paci is better than a thumb. Good luck!
