Help Getting My Son off the Pacifier !!!!!

My son never did care for the binky, I tried to get him to use it to sooth him,but nope. He rather have his pooh bear, which is like his verision of the binky. Hes almost Five, and will not sleep with Pooh. I Think, as long as its just a night time thing, it should be fine, its probably a way to calm him, or comfort him, and most likely grow out of it. Once he gets old enough to understand or realise it could be embarassing or just not big boy enough to have it, he will give it up.

Something tells me I'm going to have this problem soon too, because my daughter can't sleep without her binky.

I guess your son will grow out of it eventually. My friend's daughter got rid of the binky habit when she got a cold because it made it hard for her to breathe. It happened to my daughter to when she had a cold, she refused her binky, but it was a one time thing and she never got to kicking away the habit.

From what I was told, sucking on pacifiers or thumbsucking is a coping mechanism for some children.

Sorry for not having a straight solution, but I hope my entry helped.

Hi, K. -
All three of my kiddos had what they called "duppies" until they were past 3. I stressed like crazy about it, but it's just not necessary. As far as "easing off", I don't think it's possible. It may seem cruel, but cold turkey is the only way, and it won't be fun. The good news is that it will all be over in 2 - 3 days. Make a decision and don't back down no matter what he does. Explain it, love him, comfort him, maybe climb into his bed with him for a couple of nights to ease the transition, but stick to your guns.
Some tears and a couple of sleepless nights and it will all be over.
Good luck, Mom.

It's SO much harder than it sounds but...cold turkey and DON'T GIVE IN!!! Your son will cry out for them but you need to be strong. Every time you give in it shows him that he has the power. My youngest had a very hard time. She was a little over 2.5 when we finally put them all in a box and "mailed them" to babies that needed them. She cried and threw fits for a week or so but we never gave in. Unfortunately, in a situation like this there is no "painless" way to do it.

Good luck!

We took it away cold-turkey style when our son was around 13 months. It was really hard the first day or two, but after that he was fine and forgot about them. It just takes that initial time of being strong that sucks, but it really pays off! Good luck!

I work in a pediatric office and asked several of the "girls" here what they did to break the pacificer habit for their kids. The one thing that seemed to be most effective was soaking the pacifiers overnight in apple cider vinegar. The nipple absords the taste that lasts for a long time. Vinegar is harmless for the child to ingest but doesn't have a pleasant taste. The mom that tried this said it only took about 3 days. She told the child that when you get older "binkies" start to taste bad in your mouth as an explanation to the child. Mom said she had tried MANY other options but this one worked the best.
J. F.

I just 'lost' my daughter's Pon(spanish for Chupon) July 31st, three weeks after she turned 2. She too only uesed it for bed since she was about 13 months. I 'lost' my middle child's pon 2 days before he turned 2 also, so I figured I would try it for her too. My oldest stopped using his when he got Thrush at 5 months. so far none has resorted to thumb sucking. They both asked for their pon and we 'looked' for it around their bed and when we couldn't find it I told them it was lost and we would look for it later. Fortunatly they only asked for it once and forgot.

K.,

Please visit the www.bye-bye-binky.com site. It is free and it works!! I used it for my son. He also was using pacifier to sleep. Like your son, he only wanted it until he falls sleep and did not want it after that. I tried the bye-bye-binky method and he was off it in 3 days (I believe the method says about a week or so). Yes, it took him longer to sleep but no crying at all.

I'm in the same boat! I have a two year old who wants her sucky now more than ever - probably because I also have a four month old who takes a sucky and so my older one gets jealous. I keep saying I'm going to just make her quit cold turkey, but I also end up caving in. You are not alone! I've heard to just do it, cut them off, let them cry for a few days, and then they get over it. I'm also going to try that bye bye binky site that the one mom posted. Good luck!

If he sucked his thumb instead would you cut his thumb off?
If he's only using it to fall asleep that's not too bad, it could be way worse. I've seen 4 and 5 year olds walking around in stores with one stuck in their face plenty of times.
What you might try is this: When he lays down for the night and for naptimes, pull out one of his favorite books and tell him he cant have his bink until after you finish the story, if he doesnt fall asleep first just go ahead and give it to him, BUT keep doing the story time thing, it will work eventually! ) Plus, reading to your kids is the best thing you can do for them. There may even be toddler stories that are specific to getting rid of pacifiers... I'd research that and see). If he's tired, chances are he'll fall asleep before you finish the story and without the pacifier. You can also take him to the toy store and tell him he has to pick out a stuffed animal to sleep with to replace the bink and let him pick his favorite animal.... make sure he understands that he's trading his bink for it.

My son used his binky to sleep until he was almost 3. we talked to him about the binky fairy and told him when he was ready that he could leave all of his binkies in a box outside his door for her and she would leave whatever toy he had picked out at the store. We talked to him about it for a few weeks and then about a month later, he told me that the binky fairy was coming to our house to pick up his binkies and give them to the babies who needed them. I asked him when and he said tonight, so it was off to toys r'us and he picked out one toy. I sent a picture message of it to my husband (he thought we were sending a message to the binky fairy) and my husband picked the toy up on his way home from work. That night we said good-bye to his binkies and when he woke up he ran to his door to see what she had left him. He struggled with sleep for a few nights. I could see him in the monitor looking or his binkies, but he never made the connection that he was sleeping badly because he didn't have his binkies. He never asked for them again. Maybe this will work for your son. Good luck!

For my son, we prepared for about 2-3 weeks about how we were going to take it away on his birthday. Then we did. We boxed them up and put them away. Honestly, he never asked for it again. In fact, he quit waking up in the night looking for them. Now, I know I was lucky. I would ask your son how he would like to give it up - maybe he has some ideas. Bottom line, it's going to stink at first, but he'll get over it. Good luck!

You are going to have to be strong and just throw them in the trash outside and don't look back!!!! He will probably be upset for a few days and he will get better about it as time goes on.

good luck
S.

Well instead of putting a hole in the paci try snipping the tip with scissors. Do it to every single one in the house. If he knows you have "back-ups" then of course he knows he can cry and get his way. Let him know up front these are ALL of your paci's and we are not going to get anymore than these. He is going to cry but if you want him off of these things you are going to have to stick to your guns-period. I too have twins that were literally addicted. Actually one of them was a thumb-sucker in the womb-everytime I went for a sono she was sucking her thumb. I took the paci away at 12 months but ended up giving them back because I was also taking away their bottles at the same time and I felt like it was just too much but finally at 18 months old I did the scissor trim where every week the nipple got sniched even more even if it was a tiny bit and it worked like a charm for me but I understand your son may not want any part of that and that is when mom needs to stick to her guns. Just prepare yourself that he is going to cry and pitch a fit-he just is but you are going to have to not give into him and its going to be harder because you already have in the past therefore the fit and crying is going to get worse before it gets better. Good luck....I thought I was never going to break my girls of it but I did. They ended up resorting to sucking on their thumb though later on......now everytime we catch them doing it we tell them that their teeth are going to end up looking like donkey on Shrek and then make a sound of a donkey. It might be mean but its actually the truth if they continue to suck on their thumbs like that then they will end up looking not so pretty. They only do it while watching T.V. though .....well maybe by the time they are in college they will quit sucking their thumb-lol!