How to Break a 3 Year Old from the Paci.

I say get rid of the paci's for both kids. Don't get the baby used to it. The fairy idea sounds good and fun for the three yr old. My two kids never got into the paci thing. They had them till they were 2 months and I cut them off. Good luck with it. It will seem hard at first but it's for their own good.

My daughter doesnt use a paci, but when my BFFs daughter was around 3, her parents told her that when she was ready, she could put all her pacis in a basket and the paci-fairy would take them away and leave her a present (like the tooth fairy), but her pacis would be gone forever. her daughter finally decided SHE was ready, and put them in the basket... and she never had a paci again!

Hi R.,
If you can't get rid of ALL binkies due to your 6 month old and the 3 yr old only uses it for sleep I don't see the problem with waiting a while. It is her self-soothing tool and that isn't a bad thing right now. You might try replacing it with something new like a stuffed animal or blanket. Get her involved in picking out the new "lovie" and let her know that the pacifiers are just for the baby and as a "big girl" she gets a special NEW thing. Beware, she could start sucking her thumb if she really needs that sucking to soothe.
Sincerely,
L.

We ended up cutting the tip off all our daughter's binkys. That way they would sort of deflate when she'd suck on them. She got tired of them after about 3 days and never asked for one again, telling us they were all "broken."

Given that your little one still uses the binky, it will be a little harder. You could try making sure that you have one of those binky straps so you can actually attach the baby's binky to her outfit. That would make it harder for your 3 year old to take it and put it in her own mouth.

Or if your baby isn't a die-hard binky addict, you could take it away from them both now or in a few months?

If she only has it at nap time and bedtime, I say just let her have it. She is only 3 and won't have it forever. It is her sense of security. She may want to feel like a baby too since your 6 month old probably gets a lot of your attention. Our paci loving daughter was almost 3 when our son was born. Much as it bugged us, we let her have it for naps and bedtime. By 3 1/2 she was ready to give it to the binky fairy. She just needed a little extra time. And now that my kids are 5 and 8, I see how little I needed to stress about a binky for a 3 year old!

That sucks. YOu could try the paci fariy. it is much like the tooth fairy. Tell her that there are little babies that are very sad because they do not any pacis and that the paci fairy needs them. When we did this with my friend daugther we gave her about a weeks heads up. Every time she got a paci we would remind her that the paci fairy was coming to get them in how ever many days were left. Also tell her that she well get a special suprise that only big girls who don't use pacis get. We did nail polish and makeup in a purse. The night you do it get all her paci's and put them in a bag or what every and find a place outside to hang them. We also left a glass of water for the fariy. Then when she was alseep we did it up. Really try to make it look like a fairy came. We sprinkled glitter all over the place and did a line of glitter from the fence to the tree to show were she flown in. Tie the suprise up in the same place the paci's were. We also put on some red lipstick and drank out of the glass. In the morning her duaghter woke up early exictied to see what happened. She was so happy all day long. She would ask at nap time and bed time if she could have a paci and we would just reminder her the fariy came and there no more. YOu could have a harder time with this since you have a little one who is useing them. But i think this could work out for you and it is really fun. I know i had a blast.

Good Luck
A.

Yes you can take them away completely.

Big girls have big girl priviledges and don't have pacis if they want big girl stuff. Getting to stay up later, go with Mommy to places the baby can't, etc. etc. It is that easy.

Your house, your rules and 3 year olds must give the paci up to get big girl priviledges. Think of things that your 3 year old gets to do that the baby doesn't. The list has to be a mile long just because of her age. You can do it!

God bless -

+B+

Hi there- I read a technique once where the little one would gather all of her pacifiers and put them in a special container. She helped decorate the little container with markers, stickers, etc.. The parents told her that they would be given to babies who don't have any pacifiers. They would emphasize what a big kid thing it was to do and how generous they were being by giving to babies who don't have any. I really feel for you. I'm sure with all the advice you'll receive from all the moms, you'll find something that works for all of you in your family!
I apologize- After writing the above email, I didn't realize someone else had written something similar. Good luck to you! =)

Don't stress, she'll toss it when she's ready. When they really start to talk a lot and dont want that thing in their mouth anymore, it will just disapear on it's own. Both my boys pretty much were dont with them by age 4.

I say get rid of them now for both of the children. I know two 7 yr olds who still sleep with them.

Make it ceremonious, like a right of passage. Make a game of collection (finding all the pacis. Bury them. Send them to children in the world who don't have pacis (AKA the trash can). Hand them to the trash collector with a final fair well.

I didn't use them for I knew they would have to go away.
Stephanie

Just wanted to say I am struggling with the same problem. I did the paci fairy and left a little present under her pillow and she was very happy. She seemed okay about not having it except it totally ruined her taking naps. I wasn't ready to give up the naps yet ( my one break each day) so I caved in and gave it to her. It also affected her sleep at night. She just chewed a hole in one paci and she's got one left. I told her thats it when the last one breaks she won't have anymore. We are having a baby in 7 weeks and I am not looking forward to juggling different sets of paci's. But maybe she'll see how they are for babies and give it up. My luck she'll stop napping too!

Explain to her the pacis are for babies and that now she is a big girl and big girls don't use pacis then tell her to help you find them all and have her throw them away. Take her to pick out a special stuffed animal for comfort. You will have to explain to her thaty the baby does get to have them because he/she is a baby like she used to be.

We just went through this!!! We have a son that will be 3 in Oct, and a 1yr old son as well. Both of them use binkies We dreaded taking them away but went cold turkey one day. We told him he was a big boy now and he didnt need a binky. The 1st couple days were the hardest as he asked for them all day long. After 3 or 4 days its like he forgot about it. My younger one only uses his at nap/bedtime and I tried to just make sure they stayed hidden from the older sibling. I was so nervous about it, but it wasnt too bad. Good Luck!

Before getting rid of it altogether, I would make sure the pacis are different. Like make sure your 3 yr old has pink ones, while the baby has yellow ones. That way when the 3 yr old does stop, they won't be interchangeable. You can have her stop using her color while the baby still get's hers. We had the same sitaution, and as long as you explain that she is a big girl now and the baby will give up hers when she is big too.
A reward to look forward to works too. In our case the Wiggles were coming to town. So we prepared her. She got to be excited about seeing the Wiggles but also knew that the next day the paci was going away. It gave her prep time and it went smoothly.

R.,

I saw something on Super Nanny about a Paci Fairy. You gather all the pacifiers and tell your three year old that she is such a big girl that the Paci Fairy is coming to collect all the pacifiers to give to brand new babies. The Paci Fairy will leave a gift for your daughter in exchange for her pacifiers. Address a big envelope to the Paci Fairy and have your daughter put all of her pacifiers in there. Put the envelope in the mailbox (or porch) and in the morning have her go out to find her big girl gift.

It worked on SuperNanny :-) but I've never tried it myself.

You could just get rid of all of them. Better to break the 6 month old now then to have to do it later when she is REALLY attached. Or just lay down the law and tell her she is not a baby and give her a consistent consequence for taking her sister's pacifiers.

Good luck!

My sister-in-law took her daughter's paci from her around the same age and cut the nipple in half with scissors so when her daughter went to suck on it and saw that it was torn. My sister-in-law told her she must have tore it using it so long and it was time to move on...It worked for her.

This is what we did with our three-year-old: We had him put all his pacifiers in a bag and tied it up in the tree in the backyard. When he woke up from his nap, the binki fairy had come and replaced all the pacifiers with toys. It worked great! (Supernanny's idea) Throw out the pacifiers at someone else's house so you won't be tempted to give in and give them back. Kids will usually forget about them in a week.

my DD had a visit from the "baba fairy" complete with fairy dust and a note about how the baba would go to a new baby...in return the fairy left her tap shoes which she loved!

Hello R.! We were in the exact same situation several months ago. Our 2 1/2 year old was completely addicted to her pacifier during naps and nighttime sleep and her 1 year old little sister had one, too. Our younger daughter was not as attached to the pacifier and so here is what we decided to do and it worked like a charm:

We explained to our older daughter that her sister was ready to give her pacifiers to new babies who need them. I explained that the "binky fairy" was going to be coming that night to pick up her sister's pacifiers and that she would leave a special gift to thank her for giving her pacifiers to other babies who need them. Our older daughter quickly became very interested and wanted to participate. That night, she helped us put all the pacifiers in a bowl outside their rooms and was miraculously fine going to bed that night without one. The next morning she jumped out of bed because she was so excited to see what the binky fairy had left them. The binky fairy had left two cuddly teddy bears for them to sleep with and our older daughter was elated. She named her new teddy "Mr. Binky." I felt only a little guilty that we had made up this story for her but I knew it was better in the long run to stop using the pacifier. One day, I'm sure she will laugh and make fun of me for making up such a crazy story. :-) I'm just happy it worked!!!