How Do I Ween a 14 Month Old off a Pacifier?

J.,

I did the same as Noelle. My daughter was 17 months and we cut the tip and told her it was broken. She said "Oh no what happen"? We told her it was broken she said "Oh shoot". When it was nap time we reminded her it was broken, we gave it to her and she agreed :0) Then she didn't ask for it again.

Good Luck
T.

We had friends whose daughter wanted to ride a pony, REALLY WANTED that ride. So the deal was made. They found a pony that would let her ride, but the cost would be all her binkies. She agreed. Helped dig out all her binkies, put them in a plain brown bag. After the ride she thanked the pony and placed the bag on the fence (staff was alerted.) and walked away. No tears. When she asked for her binkie, she was reminded it was used to pay for the ride. No whining. Good luck!

Take it away completely. Out of sight. Out of mind.

Greetings J.: I am the mother of 5 and the foster parent to many children and now have several grandchildren.
We have learned that each child is different and is ready at different times. You can do as one my children does and lets his child go to sleep with it and then takes it from her. Another son decided not to let his child use one and his child took to sucking the fingers and those are so much harder to give up!!
I have generally found that when I think a child is ready /or I have had enough, I will take them out to get a special stuffed animal that they can exchange the plug for.
Now you may have that animal go off to college with them.
My granddaughter is not 2 and when she comes in the door here she will hand hers to me and not need it again until she is ready to sleep.
Good Luck in the great adventure of parenthood- this will be the first of many things that will come your way. But I can say that it is the greatest thing that I have ever done and the most rewarding as I get the hugs from the next generation to cherish. Nana G

We also had our son "buy" something from the sore with it. It worked like a charm for him. Before we did this, we had him get used to hugging his blanked and using his pacifier before he went to sleep to prepare him for having something else to be comforted with when the binkie was gone. Good Luck.

I've read numerous posts and responses to this and thought I was armed with great suggestions that would work on my son when he turned 2. Perhaps I waited too long, but I wasn't successful and caved in a day and a half into the process. I still think the suggestions were great, but I was not determined enough and gave in. I took the suggestion to let my son pick something at the store and told him he had to pay for it with his pacifier. He didn't nap well that day (no surprise) and that night was awful. The next morning he was looking for the paci and fell apart. Then at naptime, he looked for it again and I again explained he paid for the new cars with it. A half hour after putting him down for naptime that day, he could not calm himself to go to sleep. He worked himself up so badly, it took a good 45 minutes to get him to calm down. He was the one who decided he wanted to take his cars back and get the paci back. I never told him, he came up with it. All in all, I probably waited too long to get rid of it and he still has it. I received lots of encouraging advice from moms who said it wasn't a big deal to just let him keep it for naps and sleep time. That's where we are at now. He has to leave it in his crib for one of his animal friends to watch it while he is awake. It's working out fine and he is used to not having it available all the time. There are moments when he seeks it for comfort, but I gently remind him his animal friends are watching it and he'll get to use it later for sleep. Every kid is different in how much they are attached to a paci if they use one. I know my son is extremely attached, so I'm just not going to stress over this one and feel comfortable with it. I've heard many successful stories of kids who willingly gave up their pacifiers past 2 years of age and had no teeth problems develop. Go with your gut and stick to your choice. All the best to you, M.

Unless your pediatrician has said she shouldn't be using it, it's probably not a problem for her teeth. Generally speaking, at 14 months they're still teething quite a bit, and just not as able to express themselves verbally as they will be at 2 years old - so unless it's causing a big problem with her teeth, why not let her have it for now?

However if it is causing an issue with her teeth, it's simple enough to break the binky habit. Just cut the tip off her binky! It won't work right anymore and she'll probably decide it's not worth it to even have it in her mouth.

Hi J.,

My grand-daughter, who just turned 3 last week, still uses her binkie to go to sleep and when she is emotional. I am happy to say that it has not affected her teeth, but also at a loss as to permanently get it away from her. There have been times where it has been lost and we have gone through the 'trauma' of the sleepless night and very emotional day thinking it will be over soon and the need for the binkie would be gone only to find her with it later. She is very good at finding that thing! So I will be watching carefully at your responses for help. I was only writing to tell you that our grand-daughter's teeth have not been hurt. Sorry so wordy. God Bless you and good luck.

B.~

I agree with the 'broken' binkie solution. That's what we did. We just would take one, cut off the tip, then leave it around. Pretty soon they get tired. You say, "uh, oh, broken, throw it away". It can get a little upsetting for then, but it really does not last. A couple days of discontent on their part, but it pays off, just be consistent. (With our oldest, we gave it back to her when she got sick, then it was even harder to get rid of it the second time, so when you are ready, stick with it!)

Good luck

D.

We cut the tip off the binky. Each of our children declared it broken and decided they didn't want it anymore. Worked like a charm.

You can make it her responsibility by saying that binkines are for babies and now that she is a big girl she has to through ot away. She can self sooth at night with the edge of a blanket by rubbing it most often on the cheek or arm. I have also heard of parents taking the bion kie or bottle and throwing it out the car window not littering of course one parent would pick it up after you round the corner and dispose of it properly but to the child they know it is gone.

Hi J.-

I also had a pacifier child. My husband and I didn't want the misery of the cold turkey approach and we didn't feel our daughter had the personality for it.

Instead we began limiting the use- starting with "forgetting" them at home to only for naps and bedtime. Gradually we got to where the pacifier stayed in the crib, period.

During this time, we had been telling her about the Pacifier Fairy who comes and takes the pacifiers to the new babies but leaves you a super cool present. We talked about it happening 'someday' but didn't push. One day my daughter decided she wanted the Pacifier Fairy to come so she tried napping without it. She couldn't do it and was surprisingly disappointed. That night she tried again and was successful. We tossed all the pacifiers and I made a late-night run to Target for that special toy she'd had her eye on. We wrapped it in beautiful paper and bow with a special note from the Pacifier Fairy for her to discover the next morning. The Pacifier Fairy told her how proud she was of her and how she had given the pacifiers to a baby who was so happy to get them. My daughter was so proud of herself and couldn't wait to call Grandma and tell her about it.

All in all, this took longer but because my daughter bought into the idea, I think it was a positive experience in the end. Good luck to you.

J.,

Cut the tip of the pacifier- She will lose interest quickly. Good luck!

Molly

Hi, so I have heard of a few things working like poking a few pins holes in the "nipple" part of the pacifier to stop the sucking ability of it, you can poke more holes in a few days until it deflates and is no fun to suck on. I think she is too young to understand the binkie fairy
Good luck

Hi there! I have an almost 3.5 yo who still uses here binky. We've tried THREE times to get rid of it. We tried giving the Paci's to "Babies of the world", the "Paci Fairy" and all. The last time, I gave in after 5 nights of 3 hrs of screaming at bedtime and then another 2 hrs when she awoke to go potty. So much for the 3 night rule!

So, meanwhile for the last 1 yr +, we've been reading "Bye BYe BInky"; and "The Binky BABA Fairy" books. She's starting pre-school so we are telling her binkies are for babies and she's a big girl now - no binkies allowed in preschool. She has only had the binky for sleeping. Recently, we've had to throw some of her binkies away as they had holes in them. She had chewed holes in the nipples. So, we are down to 2 left. I took those 2 and poked holes in them. I am hoping that she will eventually say "these dont work so well" and throw them all out. We've also been talking about getting a "cinderella" balloon and sending the binkies to the Paci Fairy/Babies of the World..

Some of her friends suck their thumb now since they gave up their binky's too early. I would much rather her use a binky than suck the thumb.

It might be easier when they are younger to get rid of the paci, if you can handle the crying, before they get too attached. But, at 14 mos they still need to soothe themselves; and might end up sucking their thumb

My son was a binky fiend. He used it well past 2 years old and we had to go cold turkey because his bottom front teeth were starting to bow in. Surprisingly, after the first night, he was OK with it. But that first night, my husband had to hold him and rock him to sleep while he cried like his heart was breaking. In retrospect it was pretty funny, but at the time we were all a little traumatized! After no binky, his teeth straightened out just fine. Good luck to you.

Hi J.!
I'm not speaking from my personal experience,as my daughter sucked her fingers/thumb instead of taking to the paci, but my friend who's daughters are now in their 20's had told me what she did & it worked like a charm. Here it goes:
Her daughter was very attatched to her paci & would scream until she had it to sleep. so little by little she decided to cut the nipple on the paci...snipping off more each week till the nipple was almost gone & then her daughter threw the paci down & that was the end of it. Not sure if you've heard about that tip but its worth a try!! good luck!