Hi. We want our little boy to give up his PACI. He ONLY uses it at naptime and bedtime, but he loves it and asks when its time for sleep. He will be 2 &1/2 next month and our littlest will be 1. My husband keeps telling him that we will give both pacifiers to the easter bunny to give to the baby bunnies...which is an adorable story, but I know will be dealing with a lot more on easter night...crying for pacis. Does anyone have some stories of their own that they can share on how to part with this thing that brings so much comfort to my children? I am all ears. Thank you.
My daughter received a gift card to Build a Bear at her 3rd birthday. She put 2 of her pacifiers in the bear. She knew they were in there and would cuddle the bear when she felt she needed the paci. It worked like a charm!
Good Luck!
First, I wouldn't be in a hurry to get rid of the paci....it's cleaner than chewing shirts, fingers, blankies, stuffed animals and all the other things kids will find to replace a paci if you take it before they're ready.
But, if you must, I'd just cut the tip off so it's 'broken' and let him decide to throw/give it away on his own. No need to make him cry when you don't need to. GL
My son ONLY used his pacifier when he slept - nap, night, and car rides if it was nap or night time. The speech therapist told us when he was just over 2 1/2 we should take it away. He now sucks him thumb more of the time than he doesn't such his thumb.
You can determine when he gets the paci, you can't take a thumb away. All the research says that using a paci until they get adult teeth isn't at all detrimental. So, my response is...don't force it, you're just setting yourself up for nights of screaming and, worst case scenario, thumb suckers with unbreakable habits.
I let my girls have theirs until age 3 1/2-only at naptime and bedtime. One day one of my friends had a baby and I mentioned "giving" the paci's to the baby. They decided they would and we put them in a gift bag and handed them over. The 1st night was pretty rough but after that no big deal. I don't think it's a big deal for him to have it at sleep times for a while longer-it comforts them-but if you are wanting it gone know that it might be hard the 1st few nights but it will pass. If you do give it do the Easter bunny then maybe swapping it for another comfort object like a stuffed animal that he would love.
I have had great sucess with my kids taking it out when the trash man comes and putting in the can. Then watching them drive away. This way they then know that it has gone bye-bye. I hope that this helps.
My daughter was quite mature for her age (still is, lol). On her 2nd birthday (with NO discussing this in advance of that day... in fact, I hadn't given it much thought... but knew that I did not want her crying over it when she was 3 like my nieces)... I mentioned it in passing to the bakery clerk when picking up her birthday cake. She suggested I bring my daughter back in later that day with all her pacis in a bag to trade for some cake-topper toys.
We gathered up all her pacis and asked my daughter if she wanted to give them to the lady at the bakery for some toys (they had Dora and Winnie the Pooh cake toppers on hand plus some others)... She said she did, so off we went. It took her a good 15 minutes, sitting on the floor at the grocery store trying to decide between 2 or 3 out of 5 or 6 cake topper thingees which ones she wanted. When she decided, the lady took a gallon ziploc bag and put the toys in it and handed it to my daughter. Told her that she needed to take her baggy of pacis and drop it in the can at the end of the counter (the trash). She walked over, looked back at me once or twice, dropped her bag in and came back for her baggy of toys. We proceeded to go buy a gallon of milk while we were there, and I let her walk the whole way. She held my hand with one hand, and her bag in her other hand. She was so PROUD.
She only asked about her paci's once after that. I reminded her that she traded them at the store and that was it.
I don't have an Easter story but after Halloween we told our daughter that if she gave some of her candy to the "Candy Fairy"(The candy Fairy comes the night after Halloween) she would deliver it to Santa. If she gave Santa a lot of candy he would give her lots of presents for christmas. It was an easy way to get rid of most of that candy. No fights or tears.
A friend of mine who use to take her 3 yr old daughter to feed ducks all the time would see baby ducklings alot. She told her daughter that the baby ducks really needed pacies. So the next time they went she asked her daughter to give her paci to the baby ducks. She obliged and only asked about her pacies once or twice after.
The paci fairy came and took our son's paci. We made a big deal out of taking it outside and tying it to a tree branch. In the morning there was fairy dust everywhere (outside!) and a special Thomas Train gift from the fairy on the doorstep. He loved it but I think he was closer to 3 & 1/2. You might want to give your son some more time.
We gave my son's pacifier to Santa to give to the baby reindeer. It was hard but the doctor said it had to go "now" or his teeth were going to be ruined by it. He was sick at the time and even had some asthma going on but it was the best thing we did. Of course we heard for a long time about "stupid Santa," stupid reindeer," and anything else he could put the word "stupid" in front of. I think the Easter bunny is a great choice, who else do the bunnies have to rely on?
Debbie in Parma
My 2-1/4 year old gave up his paci just fine, but has been ripping at his nails until they bleed ever since. I would absolutely not pressure him to give up his paci. Bandaging fingers is worse than a paci at night. He wont be using his paci when he is in high school. Keep perspective on this.
