Help with Getting Rid of the Nuk

I took my kids nuks away when they were 7 months old and the other was like 10 months old. They weren't so dependant on them, but still cried for one day. I just simply threw them all in the garbage. The first full day without them was the hardest, after that, it was all down hill and within like 3/4 days, was totally fine without. The 2nd, 3rd days they only asked, no crying.

I never had this problem with my 3 kids, but the little girl I babysit still uses it at home. She stopped using it here a year and a half ago, but still uses it at home. All i did was just kept it out of site until she needed it. The old addage out of site out of mind worked.

My son is only a year so we haven't tried to take his away yet but I heard that if you cut the tip and then give to them and say its broken sometimes they will help throw it away without getting another.

My daughter was terrible about the nuk. We got rid of it for my sanity!

We spent a couple days talking about how babies have nuks and when she was ready we would go to Target and she could pick out a new toy and "pay" for it with her nuks. The nice people at Target would then give the nuks to the babies who need them. I told her when she was ready to let me know and we'd go. She was just about 2 when we did this. A couple days later she told me she was ready, so we gathered up all of the nuks in the house, put them in a baggy and went to Target. She picked out a toy and we went to the register where she handed the bag of nuks to the lady at the register. With a wink from me to "pay for the toy" and a discreet run of my credit card, we handed over all of the nuks and went home with her new toy. A couple hours later, she asked for her nuk and I reminded her that we gave them to the babied and distracted her on to her new toy. She asked a few times over the next couple of days, but that was it. Done.

Just remember, whatever you decide, once you get rid of them, there is NO going back! Even if you get a meltdown, just ride it out. It will get better every day. I would try to start on a weekend when she is home with you.

Good luck,
K.

M.,
My son was also VERY attached to his Nuk, we had to have several because if we ever lost one, it was a TRUE emergency! As he got older, I started telling him that it wouldn't taste good when he was too old for it... I prepared him pretty gradually for the the trauma. Then one day, I put "Thumbzit?" on the Nuk. When he asked for it I gave it to him, he popped it in his mouth & immediately pulled it out again. I offered it later (at naptime) with the same result. He never asked for it again!! Good luck, I know it can be traumatic. Obviously you will need to get rid of or do the same to any extra Nuks you have around.

What is the big rush? Medically there is no reason to take it away until she is 3 or 4, depending who you are sking. Wait for another 6 - 9 months and then she will be more able to understand the "Nuk Fairy" or whatever you decide to do. In the mean time get her something else to provide comfort like a Teddy or blankie. When my son was 2 3/4 years old he decided to give it up himself. We had started talking to him about a few weeks before that though. Good luck!

Our daughter was the same age when we tried to rid her of her's. We tried cutting the nipple smaller and smaller - she didn't care. She would suck on it anyway. We had talked about it and one night I just said - nope no nuk for bed and put her in bed. She cried for about 45 minutes - I cried outside her door. Finally I couldn't take it anymore so I went in and gave it to her - the next night I told her no nuke and put her to bed. She cried for about 5 minutes and went to sleep and never asked for it again! Well when she was probably 4 I saw her in playing with her dolls and what was in her mouth - the nuke! I was like - get it out and she laughed and took it out. Good luck - it hurts as a parent more than it hurts them!

M.-
We were in your EXACT situation when our daughter was two. She was very attached... to the point that she would wake up if it fell out of her mouth, but sometimes she couldn't find it in the dark. I would be very irritated getting up to put in the item that was supposed to help her sleep!

We built towards the transition for a few weeks and talked about it a lot, how her nuk would go "bye bye" and that helped her prepare. When the time came, we let her throw them away in our outside trashcan (we figured if it was inside she would be digging through the trash looking for them). Then, that day, we went and picked out a big girl pillow for her room, since she had "room" after getting rid of the nook.

I braced myself for weeks of difficult sleep and she barely missed it. I think sometimes we overthink that stuff way more than they do. :) She loves having a pillow and will occasionally point to the trashcans and mention how we said "bye bye" to her nuks. She has been fine ever since. Hope this helps!

we did it!!!!!!! I had 3 weeks off in Oct and on my daughter's last day at daycare I had her give the nukkies to the babies. WOW she cried the whole way home; "Mine, mine, mine, mine!!!!" The first bed time was rough and during the night she woke up a few times. One month later we are doing great!!! She once in a while will ask, but I think more to hear the answer. We tell her that she gave them to the babies and now she is a big girl and she smiles. Her 2nd b-day is Dec 10th so we thought it was time. Especially with the cold and flu season; I did not want her getting any extra germies.

Good Luck!!!!!!

I also had a very NUK dependent 2 year-old who refused to give it up. We had tried everything but to no success. What finally worked for us was cutting off the tips! She came to the conclusion that little mice must be chewing on her NUKs...and of course I went with it. "Those darn little mice really like your NUKs don't they" She loved the idea that a cute little mouse was enjoying her NUK so much - and that was the end of that!

My sister told her two year old that her nuk was needed by babies in the hospital - and went so far as to go to the pediatric ward and have her daughter hand her nuks to the nurses. It was pretty memorable and she felt like such a 'big girl'!

Hi M.! I'm a licensed daycare provider so I've had to help moms and dads cut the binky quite a few times over the years. I did have one mom who was pretty successful cutting all the tips off the binkys so there was no suction. Many will say not to do this because it's a choking hazard (to each his own I guess). I know it's not what you want to hear but the best thing we have found is to just take all the binkys away and throw them in the trash. She will probably scream and bawl and throw a fit for it for a few days but honestly the longer you drag it out the harder it will be. I work with moms to cut the binky at the same time as the bottle so right at a year... part of the problem is that she's been allowed to have it this long already, in my humble opinion. You are in charge so cut the bink, push past the crying and it will all be over in a week or two. Whatever you do, once you put your foot down and say no more binky, don't go back. You must be consistant or she'll assume that throwing a big enough fit will get it back. Good luck! K.

Hi M., My son turned two Nov. 9th. A week or so before his birthday I talked to him about how he's a big boy now and when he turns two we have to give the nuk to the dr. so he can give it to a new baby. Everyday we talked about it until his appt. with the dr. The day after he turned two we went for his well check. I told the dr. "the plan". He agreed to try it. He looked at John and told him he needs the nuk to give to another baby. John didn't say a thing!!!!
Of course he thought the dr. was nuts:) He has not had his nuk since. I threw them away and when he asks for them I remind him what happened to them. It comes back to him and he says dr. baby. Make sure you talk to her about it and make it sound like she is doing the baby favor.
Good Luck!!!!!
J.

Hi,

I have been there with my daughter also. She was almost two when I took hers "away". She actually had 3 of them tied together and would rotate sucking them! And yes, I can laugh about it now, not then. It was before Christmas when we were done with them. She misplaced (lost) them and I told her that Santa took them for Baby Thea, because baby Thea didn't have any, and she was a big girl and didn't need her "suckies" anymore. Santa gave her Chap Stick instead, for big girls. There were tears and some hard times at nap time and in the car, but I made sure she always had her chap stick with and told her how happy baby Thea was and she wasn't crying any more and was giggling because my daughter made her so happy. She really feels connected to baby Thea and that Christmas she recieved a special present delivered by Santa from baby Thea, a beautiful necklace with a heart to show the love of a great gift. We still talk about baby Thea and it has been 3 years now.

The only other down fall to this is my daughter has every kind of chap stick you can think of.

Good luck,
K.

Try to make the nuk less desirable by snipping little pieces off the end bit by bit until it's not something she she don't like anymore. Just make sure that she can't get a piece off it and choke on it. Is she done with the bottle? IF she is still a bottle baby, you might get rid of the bottle too or first. My daughter sucks her thumb and she is 21 months old. She never was one for a pacifier. I play a game with her, I say My Thumb when she has her thumb in her mouth and she'll take it out. She seems to need her thumb for comfort like if she is over tired or someplace strange, like new surroundings. You could try the give the pacifier to a different baby, or maybe show her it's for her baby dolls or something. Good Luck! I know it's hard to convince little ones that they don't need a nuk anymore, but you can do it.

this will work and you won't feel like the bad guy keeping it from her and she will not fight you or scream for it because she will have it......make her nuks in to "big girl" nuks! Cut the very tip of it off, do this to all of them. then give it to her and act very excited that she's got a big girl nuk now. When she puts it in to suck on she will actually get air and have to take it out to exhale. This will be uncomfortable and akward and require alot of in and out of the mouth work. eventually she willl just hold it and carry it around with her. And then not even want it at all the thing takes about 2days. This works great and when she says I want my nuk you can give it to her, and there is no fight, or crying, or power struggles. i have seen this work dozens of times. Make sure you cut all the nuks-if she finds one in tack your screwed. Remember be excited!! sorry no time to prrof read ;o)

M.,

With my son we had 4 nuks left and I didn't buy anymore. I told him that when the 4 were gone, that was it. There are no more. So if we lost one, I would tell him he was down to 3. As they deteriorated, he would throw it away and he was down to 2. And so on. He is one that liked to know what is coming. As long as he knew, he could handle it.

Some friends just cut the end off of the nuk.

With our daughter, I jokingly told my husband to break her of the binkie when I was gone for work for 3 days. I came back and she wasn't using the bikie anymore! He just didn't give it to her at night. She whined a little but was fine. It is the cold turkey approach. This daughter is easy going, so it may be "hell" if your child is a little more independent or stubborn.

I know you'll be able to do it, because I haven't seen any teenagers running around with a nuk!

Good luck!

We've always taken it away right around 2--I think it gets harder if you wait much longer than that. So you should be in good shape. Our first had a few nights that were tough, but then she was fine after that. And our second didn't even seem to notice. I'd say just do it and don't look back! Good Luck!

When getting rid of the nuk with our first child - he was around 18 months old - it had a tear and we showed it to him and said "Uh-oh... it's broken!" Then we said "Let's throw it in the garbage!" followed with lots of cheering! Young toddlers/older infants seem to understand "broken" - cut a hole in one and give it a try! If you get a bad reaction then you know that she's just not ready! Please don't take it away because you think you have to. Pair other coping methods with the nuk when she is upset and she may soon forget about it on her own.

As you mention in your request ...the nuc fairy, we did that with our 20mo old twin girls and 34mo old boy all at the same time. it was a weeklong event. I told them the fairy visited me at work and said she is coming in a couple days for our nucs. Then we had the 'fairy' send a letter in the mail to each of our kids with pictures of her and the nucs in a tree and babies that will get their nucs and toys that may be hanging in the tree the morning after the fairy comes. They loved getting a letter and seeing pictures really helped. We went over this letter with lots of enthusiasm every day for 5 days and had the kids pick out what gift they would like the fairy to leave once she took the nucs to the new babies. I didn't think my girls would understand it either, but they did and that night we all gathered the nucs and they helped me hang the nuces. They all went to bed fine and pointed to the tree with a smile. Not a peep all night from any of them. The next morning we found balloons and a gift for each kid in the tree. They loved it. For the next couple of days they would bring it up, but I reminded them, no we got a tractor, or dolls that we have instead as big kids and the babies need the nucs.... and then show them the letter with the picture of newborns with nucs. Of course my eldest needed to find a new 'routine' for bed so instead of 5min to fall asleep it turned to 20min, but no crying. I was extremely suprised. I kept pushing off the weaning of the nuc worried what a nightmare it would be for all 3. I did have a couple days worth of 'morning' gifts for the kids in case it went bad, but we only needed the first ones. good luc, I know how worried I was about the transition as well, but it went fine for us. The kids did find a couple 'hiding' nucs that we missed when we hung them up, but they actually just brought them to me and said 'baby'. So I know they all understood it.

Don't feel under too much pressure to make the nuk go away immediately. We started *talking* to our son about it a couple months before he turned 2...About how big boys don't use them, etc. But our pediatrician said not to worry as he was only having it to sleep. Then, about 5 months after he turned two, we did take the nuk away and put it in a fancy envelope and tied it to a tree to await the passy fairy. By that age, he was old enough to really participate in the decision and had maybe 1-2 rough nights and then forgot about it completely!

I was worried about it too when my daughter was that age. However neither her dentist or her doctor, so I let nature take its course. Right around her third birthday she weaned herself off of it.

My daughter was harder to rid of it then my son, plus we did it much sooner with him. She was probably 2 1/2 or older by the time we got rid of it. Same here...bedtime, naps, then eventually just bedtime. Made sure it was put out of sight at all other times. We tried the rewards in place of binky, but it didn't work. I would just tuck her in bed and wait for her to ask (hoping she wouldn't). We ended up just quiting one night. It was hard for a few nights...crying, wanting DESPERATELY to give in, but it slowly got better. At one point she even chose binky over her most prized bunny rabbit! That was a SHOCKER!!! I think she brought it up a few times for about the next month, and I would just look at her like she was crazy and say "BINKY!? You don't need a stinky binky, you are a BIG girl!" She had a few other "comfort items" I made sure she had in place, which seemed to help some.

I think it is actually harder on us then them! Good luck, you can do it!

I know you don't want to do the fairy or new baby ideas but this was worked for one of my friends since it was a month long plan. A couple years ago my friends decided to tell their daughter a story at bedtime about the Christmas Angels… it was about the new angels that are born on Christmas that need a pacifier and they give a gift in return for the pacifier.
So, what they did was each Sunday they had their daughter place a pacifier on the tree and Monday morning she got a treat on the tree in it’s place. And on Christmas Eve it was the last day that she got her pacifier. Which worked out perfectly since that next morning was the same morning Santa came so Santa gave her a “Big Girl” gift and a little letter saying how proud of her, her Mommy and Daddy are and how much the new Baby Angels thank her for the new pacifiers. And she actually did REALLY well. This may not work if you do not celebrate Christmas but I always thought it was such a cute idea.
Otherwise we did cold turkey in my house the last one we had was it... when they lost it, it was gone.
Good luck

Have your daughter throw them away herself and then be able to pick out a big girl toy to sleep/cuddle with. It may be tough for the first few days but it will get better.

We just ditched the nuk with our 2 year old about 3 months ago. We were in the same boat, naps, bedtime, and in the car. We started with just in bed (naps or for the night) taking it away during the car rides and substituting toys or books. Then it took just a few loud days of just ditching the nuk and he has been done with it and our daughter has one from time to time and he looks at it and inspects it but nothing more than that. Just take it away. She will cry and it will break your heart and frustrate you at the same time but it only takes a few days. Remind her that she is a big girl and they are for babies.

Do you have a dog?
With my brother, my mom cut the tips off of all the nuks (one at a time) and told him the dog chewed them, and they couldn't get any more. He believed her, and that was the end of the nuk. :)