Get Rid of Pacifier!!!

I think my son was about 3 o so when we finally got him to give his up. First if you have not already done so, transition the pacifier to only be used at naps and bed time. (Not in the car, store, walking around etc.) Once she has adjusted to this, cut the tip of the pacifier. You can either cut it off or cut an X. This changes the way it feels, and then hopefully she will decide she doesn't like it and give it up.

That is how my son gave his up. We cut it, and he decided that he didn't like it and he threw it away himself.

It's very important to allow her to be the one to make the decision and throw it away. Otherwise it will just be a big fight.

Good luck!

Hey B., the best method ive found is to suffer for a couple of nighs until they forget about it, lol. My 1 1/2 year old couldnt exist without his paci and he would only take one kind!! One night i couldnt find it so, he cried and cried and eventually he went to sleep and then the next day, he asked for it a couple of times but it was kinda out of sight out of mind. Distract her with something else she likes, like her favorite snack and she will eventually forget that she "needs" it. Good luck.

When my youngest son was born, my then almost 2 year old wanted his binky all the time. So we waited a couple of months so he could transition to having a new baby. When he was 2 years and 3 months I finally decided it was time. I was having to replace the binky on a weekly basis because of holes. So I cut the tip of it off (I found that is a Parents magazine) and gave it to him. He took one suck and told me it was broke. He then would walk around with it on his finger. That night he placed it on his window sill and that was the last of it. For a couple of days he would say his binky was broke. But didn't have any problems going to sleep. It was a lot easier than I expected. Hope this helps. Good luck!!

Hi B.,

My son was almost 2 when we got rid of his. It was a tough ordeal and after many tries we finally found something that worked!

During naptime I gathered all the pacis (except the one in his mouth!) and snipped the very tip off. I snipped the last one after he woke up and was distracted by something else. Sooo...the next time he 'needed' his paci he saw it was broken. He tried to suck it several times and it just didn't work. I seemed very concerned that it was broken so I encouraged him to throw it away and get another one. After going through about 8 or 10 pacis they we all gone! He wanted me to go to the store to buy a new one. We did. Of course, pacis have to be boiled and washed before they can be used so we got home and went through the process (while he was busy playing I snipped the end off that one and put it back in the boiling water so he could see me get it out and wash it for him). He tried out his new paci and it was broken too. I think I went through this process one more time before I conviced him that all the pacis must be broken now. Maybe they make them that way now. He tried for a couple of days to use the new broken one but finally just threw it away too.

I heard by someone else that their child just used the broken one anyway so she had to keep snipping more off little by little until there was nothing left.

Hope this helps!

I had the same concerns with my son. My son is adopted and the one thing we got from the foster family was about 15 of the pacifier's. He had it in his mouth all of the time. I had to get rid of them after some time and just deal with it and it was easier than I thought.

Put them away out of sight or throw them away. Your daughter will want them and may cry but after a few days, she will forget about it. Keep her busy with other activities and it will be ok.

Hi B.
Yep, it is time- but not to damage her security or make her more insecure- try making her think she is such a big girl, not a baby and big girls dont have paci's- try giving it to one of her doll babies instead- if she needs it at nite to sleep for a while- ok- but maybe sometime during the nite and "angel" would come take it for a little baby in heaven- that way maybe she will be more willing to give it up.
good luck and blessings

Have a "bye bye binki" party with a cake and friends and everthing! Make a big deal our of the fun of the party and how at the end of the party you will put the binki in an envelope and mail it to a baby that "REALLY NEEDS A BINKI". Let your daughter put it directly into the envelope and you both walk to the mail box with it to mail it.

Keep it positive and prepare her by taking about how much the other baby needs the binki. You could even give her a gift at the "bye bye binki" party so that she is getting something when she gives something.

good luck

my daughter was very attached to her pacifier and did not want to give it up. we started telling her, close to her fourth b-day that when "little boys and girls turn 4, they have to throw their pacifier in the river..." we treated it as a rite of passage and kept talking to her about it... when her b-day came we made a big deal about it and took her to town lake. my husband had prepared a little speech to say before she threw it in the river but she was very excited and threw the binky in before we had a chance to say anything. she was very proud of herself and didn't ask for it again!

From a speech pathologists point of view (my brother) pacifiers are the worst thing ever. Also from a dentists point of view too. There is no easy way, the longer a child has it and doesnt give it up themselves the harder it is. Like smoking. your child will cry and scream and probably hit, but try these things.

1. give them something else to drink or eat and then secrectly hide the pacifier. Then act like you do not know where it went when they want it back. have a 'hunting' game for it once the child wants it back, that way you are not saying 'no' but helping look for it. hopefully the child will get tire of looking.

remember this is not easy and they will have to go through some struggle and if that is the case for the child, then you need to not give in.

2. Also, tell them that pacifiers are for 'babies'.
3-year olds do not like to think of themselves as babies, funny i know, but true. But do not tell them they are a baby, that is not a good thing. Tell the child he-she is a big girl-boy and doesn't need a baby pacifier.

3. Re-direct them to something they like to do once the pacifier is out of sight. A 3 year old's attention span is short and you can quickly change their attention.

Very Important: do not use food as a substitute for the pacifier. offering a cracker and ditching the pacifier is quite different than "I will give you a cookie if you give me the pacifier", I am sure you see the difference.

I know this will be tough for both of you, but it needs to be done for many reasons. Good Luck!

When my son turned three we transitioned to only using the paci when we were going to sleep. This was not too difficult -- more of training me than him.

A few months later it was almost Christmas. We always talk about children at need during this time and how we as a family can help. We offered him the option of giving his paci's to Santa so Santa could give them to another boy baby that didn't have any. He loved the idea and had time to really get used to it. We wrote Santa a note and gave them all to him. He went to sleep that night and every night since with no problem. Nap time was a lot harder. He was at the stage where he didn't need a nap as much, so the naps kind of went away.

Good Luck,
L.

Our doctor recommended that we cut the pacifier a little bit at the time until it's too small for them to use. All we had to do is cut it one time & that was it for our daughter, it really worked for us. I hope it will for you too!

Good Morning B., I have not personally had any issues with the binky, however I saw on Super Nanny one night where Joe had taken all the little girls binkies and put them in a bag for the binky fairy. She told her a little story about a binky fairy who goes around collecting binkies from big girls who dont need them anymoe so that she can give them to babies who dont have any. Then she takes the binkies and puts them in a bag and she hung them on a tree outside and then she had to wait until the morning (if your daughter needs it to sleep, then this will let you know that she can do it without it)and when she wakes up, then she checks the bag and the fairy leaves her a big girl present. If your daughter likes lip gloss or jewelry, then you might could get her some kid makeup which she will be able to use on her lips because she wont have a binky in her way. Little girl jewelry or whatever you think she might like to make her feel like she is a big girl. Hope this helps and good luck!!

My youngest was about 3 at the time. She loved, loved, loved her pacifiers. I took her to the pediatrician's office with one. The doc was upset about it stating it will cause structural damage to her mouth if she did not stop now. I agreed and he took the pacifier from her and told her that she was too old and is not any good (he was not at all mean, just authoritative). When we got home, she brought me all of her pacifiers and gave them to me!!!! I could not believe this!!!! She never asked for one again. I guess the firmness of the doc got through her somehow. I promise you...her dad and I would not have been that successful. Maybe she was just ready. Good luck. I know how difficult it is looking into their eyes and telling them not to use them.

Hi B.,

I am a 34 yr. old mom of a beautiful 21 month old. We just got rid of his pacifier this past week. We went to get him up from a nap to find that he had bitten off some of the tip. From that point we had him gather up any he had and had him throw them away. We showed him the one that was bitten and told him it was broken. He did throught them away and to my supprise it hasn't bothered him one bit. I do consider myself lucky, my husband wanted to get rid of it since he was one years old, but I was too scared his was dependent on it. Turn out he wasn't....we just told him "no more pacifier". Every once in a while he'll come up to me and tell me.."no more pacifier". I always said I would never have a child walking and talking with a pacifier but oh how we eat our words once we have children. I have also seen poeple that have said the pacifier fairy needs all the pacifier for the babies, so I've seen them tie them to a balloon and let them go into the sky. (to the pacifier fairy of course, and let her do the releasing of the balloons) Sounds kind of corny but you never know what might work. Good luck, I hope it's easier than you think!

My SIL has a daughter (now 5) who held onto her paci until the bitter end. My SIL, on the advice of a friend, got her daughter to "donate" her paci to the Goodwill bag they keep in the house so another little girl who didn't have a paci could have one. For some reason, this made an impression on my niece and she gave it up with very little fanfare. Well, there was fanfare - they took a picture of her with the paci in her mouth, then they took another picture of her putting the paci in the donation bag and she "wrote" a "poem" (dictated to my SIL) for the little girl who would be getting her paci.

I had the same problem with my now 5yo son. He still talks about his "binky".

What I did was explain that he was a big boy and that binkies were for babies. We set a date when we would put our binkies away for good (we had 4 or 5 at the time). At first it was hard, but he seemed to understand.

A little about me:
SAHM of two wonderful adopted (at birth) boys ages 9 and 5. Married to my knight in shinning armor for almost 13 years.

Keep only one in the house. When she does not have it, cut(with scissors) just a bit off the tip, gradually snip a little off at a time, over a few days time, until eventually there is nothing left! Stay strong! Be compassionate, it has been a source of comfort for a long time, but it is time for it to go! Let her be the one to tell you that she can't use it anymore, so that it is her choice and she feels like she is in control of her decision!

Hi- we can really relate to this issue. Our daughter kept her binky until age 3. We promised to get rid of by age 2 but it wasn't a battle we wanted to fight as we were preparing to move to Texas. But as her third birthday approached we slowly started her to just use it for sleeping aand while in her carseat. She had to leave it there and could not take it anywhere else. Her daycare teacher helped by saying she could not have them there anymore. I also stopped buying replacements and they began to get lost one by one until she was down to just 1 and I let her know there would be no more new ones. Then we dropped off the carseat binky and left her with only the one in her bed. We prepared her to give that one up on her birthday. She had a big party that day. She got up the next morning, came downstairs and handed it to me. We threw it in the garbage and that was the end of that. It was hard but she never asked for it again. I realize it bothered everyone else (my mom, nosy people in stores, etc.) more than it bothered us that she had a binky but I was afraid for her teeth and such. But at all costs, we spared our daughter any big dramatic scenes and never gave her a hard time about it. We kind of acted like it was normal for "big" kids to get rid of their binkys when they turned 3.

My friends had had success with some other ways. One told her daughter that they needed to gather up all her binkys to give to babies that did not have any. It worked.

My other friend cut little slits in the side of the nipple part of her daughter's binkys. She started using them less because they didn't feel the same to her. Odd...but it worked!

Good luck with this one. It can be tough. All kids are different and you don't want to stress them out. Take care!

Hello,

I watched Super Nanny address this issue several times. There was a little boy once about your daughter's age .....what they did was to address an envelope to babies that need passies......then they gathered up all the passies and put them in the envelope and "mailed" it. In exchange the next day, there was an envelope with a treat of some sort for the one that just donated the passies to babies who need them. It went off without much of a hitch at all. YOu may just have to remind your daughter a time or two where they all went......if you try this.....good luck.

D.
(a grandmother of 4 now)

Hi B.! I can feel your pain as I JUST got my 3.5yr old off of her bottle. I know, I know she was still using her baba, but it was her comfort item as she didn't have anything special like a blanket or pacifier and me taking it away broke my heart but it was the right thing to do.

What I did and what a friend recommened to me was make a chart/calendar (I put pics of babies and bottles and put a big bottle and circled one specific day) and tell your daughter that on the day that has the pacifier and stars (or whatever you put on the day), you and her are going to put all her pacifiers in a box and mail them to babies who need them because there aren't any babies in your house so you don't need them anymore.

I gave my daughter a 2 week notice and each day I would make reference to the fact that we were going to mail her bottles away. Luckily, my sister is pregnant so we told her we were mailing her "old bottles" to baby Lee since Auntie will need them for the new baby. She caught on after about 5 days and before the "special" day we were off mailing the bottles. After we mailed them, we met her father for lunch at Chick-Fil-A (her favorite place to eat) and made a special day out of it. She switched to a sippie cup and hasn't asked for a bottle since! I did, however, tell her at nighttime, because that is when it's the most difficult that the "Bottle Fairy" visits little boys and girls who don't use babas anymore and I would put a small item like stickers or a coloring book. Just make sure you tell her after day 2 of not using the pacifier that the bottle fairy is busy going to other houses as my daughter STILL asks to look under pillow to see what the fairy brought and this happened weeks ago!

I think it will be difficult that is why you need to talk about it, get her involved in making the calendar and packing up the pacifiers!

You can do it, just be strong and firm and she will come around!! Good Luck!

I'm a strong believer that they will give up the binky when they are ready, but we did try to encourage our youngest to give it up. We started talking about the "binky Fairy" and one day, my youngest decided she wanted to give her binkies to the binky fairy. She caught be unprepared, but we put the binky in the window sill and the next morning there was several pieces of candy in place. If I remember right she was b/t 3&4. She only used the binky with us, she didn't use it all day at school, so maybe we were stressing her out ;) . Good luck!

The easiest way is to cut the tips off the pacifiers and leave them out in
the regular spots. She'll try to use it and realize it's broken.
It worked like a charm with my son and he never touched another pacifier.
And it saved me a trip to Toys r Us to "sell" our pacifiers! LOL

Hi B.,
Just wanted to tell you what worked for my daughter...I tried several times to get rid of the pacifier but nothing worked. I kept saying "When she's 3...okay when she's 3 1/2..." etc. I did manage to enact the 'only at bedtime' rule when she was 3 1/2, and at that point I spoke to her dentist who said she really needed to be off it by the time she turned 4. Any damage done by a paci will correct itself after age 4 IF it is not longer being used. Pacifier use after age 4 does permanent damage that can only be corrected with orthodontics. So, I sat her down and told her that her dentist (who she loves) told me that on her 4th birthday the 'paci fairy' would come to visit her during the night, because the fairy did not want her to hurt her teeth. She would leave her paci under her pillow and the fairy would take it and leave her a gift. We spent the next few months talking about it on a regular basis. On the night of her birthday (not the night before...I didn't want to risk having her upset and miserable on her birthday) she put the paci under her pillow and the paci fairy left her the Mariposa Barbie 'with the big wings' (she had told me this was what she hoped the fairy would bring). The next morning she was overjoyed and I literally never heard another word about the paci. I think for us it was a combination of making sure she was super-prepared for the event as well as the fantastic reward she got. That was at the beginning of September and she is doing great and hasn't asked for her paci once. Perhaps you could try doing this on your daughter's 3rd birthday? I wish I would've done it a year earlier! Good luck!

B.,

I know that this is a brief and brutal answer, but take it away. That's it. We conjur way more trauma in our minds than this method actually causes. When my husband took Brian's away, he asked for it very solemnly a few times that night, a few more times the next day, and then the whole thing was over and we were pacifier free.

For the record, he was 3. He had gone through spells of having it all the time, then having it only at night, and at the time that my husband took it, he would actually pop it in his mouth between bites of food.

My son kept chewing holes into his and then they were no fun to suck on. We just told him we were not buying anymore and kept giving him the holey one. He eventually gave up. A friend of mine would cut the tip off a little at a time until there was nothing left to suck. It worked for her kids. My neice just turned 4 and she had a harder time of it. My borther and SIL finially told her that the Paci Fairy needed to come get it for a new baby to have. They told her the story for a few days to prepare for the big night. Then they sat the paci on the window sill the big night with a promise that the Paci Fairy would leave her a big girl toy. That seemed to work. I gave them the idea from an article I read in a parenting mag. You can google PAci Fairy and there are lots of stories out there for you to use. Good luck!

We cut the tip off of our sons pacifier when he was 2. What's funny now is he still remembers the cut pacifier and and tells me how "mean" it was that I cut them! However it did work and he quit the pacifier habbit. He is now 8!

Yes, I agree it's time to start the process....because it is a process. I think your first step may be to make it night time only. Over the next few months explain to her that she is a big girl and one day the "binky fairy" is going to come and take it and leave her something wonderful in it's place. It will be difficult, but once you do it....don't slip and go backwards.

Don't let friends and family pressure you or make you feel bad because your child still has her paci. Do it when you feel right about it. If you think she needs it then let her have it. I would however limit it's use to bed time and nap time. Or make her only have it in bed so if she wants it during the day she can go lay in her bed and get her paci fix. Mine had it for a long time (till 3.5) I think. We started offering her rewards if she gave it up and one day she wanted to go to Gatti's with my husband and she said okay, here it is. Also, we did start giving her our new baby's cast off paci, so she was sucking on an infant paci when she was 3.5. Also, as soon as we got her to get rid of it she went to biting her nails. We got her a therapy tool from my friend's occupational theory clinic. It is something to stimulate her need for oral fixation that she can bite on. It has helped her a lot with the transition and nail biting. Some kids just like to have things in their mouth...toys, hair, fingers, anything.

Hello,
I am in the same boat as you are. My daughter will be 3 in March. Everything else seems to have happened so easy...except for the pacifier thing! We are making progress though. I make sure that we leave it in the bed. If she wants it, she has to go back to bed. (lights out, laying down. That seems to be a bit of a deterent. I also don't remind her to take it with us if we are going out. I used to allow it in the car, but lately I fill her hands and give her a piece of gum to chew when we leave and then she forgets that she needs or wants it. Then when she asks about it I tell her I didn't get it and she can have it when we get home. By then she forgets all about it. I am still working on bed time. Although when it does fall out in her sleep, I don't put it back in or I take it so she doesn't have it first thing when she wakes up. I hope that helps. Us moms and the things we do to ourselves right? Goodluck!!
Chris

My oldest daughter was almost 3 when she got rid of hers. I gave her the choice one day to go and take a nap with her binky or throw her binky in the garbage and stay up.I thought for sure she would pick the nap to keep the binky but she didn't. Later on when she asked for it I reminded her that she threw it away and she never asked again.

My son I just got tired of him having it when he was a little past 2. I took him to build a bear and he put them inside a bear. It wasn't his decision and he was upset for like a week but then he got over it.

My 2nd daughter was just past 2 as well and I just snipped the tip one day when she wasn't looking. She put it in her mouth and pulled it out and asked what was wrong? I took it and gave it a good look over and told her it was broken. She accepted that then took her binky and held it in her hand while she slept.

I will be doing it again in a year or so with my 4th child. I think each child is diffent and needs different way. If I could do my sons over again I might because it was more like torture to him.
Best of luck.

Cut the big round part off and only leave a straight stub. She won't want it much more. If she wants a new one? The answer is no, we don't have any more (make sure you get rid of all that are in the house). If it is broken, then it must be thrown away.