How to Get Rid of the Pacifier with in 2 Weeks from My 30 Month Old!

get a farmers almanac and look up the zodiac sign for the area of the knees and feet. these are the days to take the paci away. this also works for potty training and for taking away the bottle. I have also heard you can put a hole in the paci making it not suck right and she will not want it. I am at work and don't have my almanac with me or I would tell you the days. good luck ! nanny of 2 beautiful girls 5 yr and 15 months.

I have a three year old niece and she had the same problem. i suggested that her mom(my siter) put a drop of luisianna hot sauce on the tip. My neice went and put her pacifier in the garbage and to us that " paci go bye bye garbage" " nasty ma". WHen this happens get all the others and throw them all in the garbage but save one (if they need it). If they ask tell them they throught it in the garbage and can't get it out because it's dirty

Try using scissors to make a small nik in the pacifier so it wont be as comfortable. Each day continue to snip it til it looses its appeal. Eventually it will be unwanted! Sounds mean- but the child will feel like she or he is making the decision. Maybe he or she will feel like its broke. J..

cold turkey is the only way to go. and its going to be harder on you than her! my daughter was the same way and finally i just had to throw them all away and put up with the fits for a little while. she will not be traumatized by this.

We tried cold turkey with our son at about 2.5 and he just cried like crazy and I gave in. A few months later, he threw it away himself and he got a new toy for it. I think he just needed to think it was his idea.

My daughter was 2 1/2 when we decided we had to get rid of her paci because I was sick of seeing it! She only used it at nap and bedtime as well. I actually clipped a hole in hers with some scissors and when she took it the next time, she noticed immediately. I told her it was broken so we had to throw it away. She was fine wit it. I think she fussed a little that first night without it, but that was it. Good luck!

AHHH...the "paci" We had a "sassy" and I thought we would NEVER get rid of it. We got rid of it cold turkey at 32 months. And I am so glad. He looked ridiculous walking around with it! We set it out for "Cupid" on Valentine's eve. When he woke up Valentine's morning he had a new toy in its place. It worked until nap time. He asked for his "sassy" every time he got tired for about three or four days and then he stopped. It was tough the first 48 hours then it got much easier. If you get rid of it, make sure you throw them ALL away or you will be tempted to give it to her if she whines. Good luck!

This may soundharsh tomost parents but it does work. As I found my daughters pacifiers around the house we cut the tops off and left them where she left them, when she questioned the missing tops we told her that they must have known she didn't need them any more. Of course she was only 15 months old and very impressionable.

We had the same problem with our daughter. We cut a small hole in the nipple of the pacifier and she did not like that much. She said, "It's broke." She put it in the trash and that was that with the pacifier. She only cried for it once and I reminded her it was broke and that she put it in the trash. She did not cry for it again.

I saw this on Super Nanny. I am one of the lucky ones, my daughter gave hers up on her own at 6 weeks. But some children are really in love with them.
Super Nanny made a big deal ( with a four y/o no less ) of the whole family finding paci's throughout the house and putting them in a container with a screw on lid. After it was all sealed up, they let the child throw them in the trash and made a huge deal of what a big girl she was and even took the trash to the dumpster.
Another time, she had the child ( not quite as old ) put them in a large manila envelope addressed to the "Paci Fairy" and after sealing, let the child put it in the mail box. You could have a friend drive by and get them during nap time and even if your daughter wanted to go check the mailbox, she would see that they have been mailed away.
These are just ideas that I have seen, but I'm sure that this will by no means be easy. Just make sure to tell her what a big girl she is and give her lots of love and comfort for a few days.
This is what I would try if it were me
T. S

I was just where you are just a few months ago. My son loved his "Bop". One day he put it somewhere and he lost it. I told him it was gone and we didn't have another one. He asks for it on occasion, but I told him he lost his Bop and we don't have anymore. We survived. Good luck!

S.

Hi K.,
One of the ladies I work with said she cut the paci so when her child would suck on it, it would deflate. That seemed to work for her. Or the pacis could start getting "lost" . You might have to deal with some melt downs. sorry, I don't know of anything else. good luck
M.

Hi! Jon and Kate Plus Eight is a reality series about a couple who had twins and then had sextuplets. When it came time for the sextuplets to get rid of their pacifiers, Kate, the mom began to tell them that they were big kids now and only babies have pacifiers. She told them that their little baby cousin needed the pacifiers because he was a baby. She asked them if they wanted to give him their pacifiers, they all agreed. They were so excited about giving him their pacifiers. Kate found all of the pacifiers and put them in a bag. She loaded all of the kids in the car and drove over to the cousins house so the sextuplets could give him their pacifiers. They felt so big and proud that they had given him their pacifiers. Kate said that night only one of the sextuplets asked for their pacifier but other than that, she never heard another word about it.

The Super Nanny was on The View one day talking about getting rid of pacifiers. She suggested telling the child that they were big now and it was time for the pacifier fairy to come get their pacifier. Have the child put in by the front door before they go to bed. When the child is a sleep, take the pacifier and put ribbons, feathers and fairy dust on the floor. When the child wakes up the next morning, it will look like the pacifier fairy was really there.

I think both of these are clever. I am not one to lie to my child so when the time comes for my 14 month old to get rid of his, I will probably try Kate's method.

i have a friend whose 3 year and 2 year old daughters were still on pacifiers. my friend gathered them all up from around the house, car, toybox, ect....she then soaked them in vinegar overnight. the girls went through each paci, tasted it, yuck!, then threw them away. vinegar is not harmful, i thought it was a great idea! good luck....

K.,
My second daughter (I have 2 girls and 2 boys) kept her paci the longest. We only let her have it when she was in bed. She couldn't take it to daycare but if she took a nap at home in her bed she could have it. Eventually we were able to get rid of it completely. I never tried cutting the tip off but it sounds like it's worked for several people. You might try both limiting it to bedtime and cutting the tip off. The main thing with kids in general is that if you make a rule, stick with it. Once they realize that you won't change your mind, no matter how big a fit they throw, they learn to accept your decisions. Also we told them if they were going to cry they had to go to their room and shut the door and stay there until they were finished. They soon realized that it was no fun to sit in their room. The time they stayed in their room became shorter until just telling them to go to their room to cry would get them to stop. Good Luck!

I always use the Farmer's Almanac.I look at the wean dates right before their 3rd birthday. I have done it twice with no problems.I will do it again when my new son gets older. Try it you will see how easy it is. Good Luck!

I know going cold turkey sounds bad, but that is what we had to do with our daughter. She was about 18 months and I noticed what looked like a blister in her mouth, it turned out to be a virus. We were not ready to take hers away because she had just gotten to where she was sleeping all night, if she woke up she would find it and go back to sleep. Anyway, going cold turkey worked best for us. She actually took it alot better then we expected. She even picked up her cousins paci and I frooze because I was not sure if she would put it in her mouth, but she just took it to her cousin and that was only a few days after we took hers away. I guess I didn't give her enough credit. Good luck.

You might try replacing it with a lovey, like a small blanket, at nap time and bed time. Once you replace it, have her put the paci under her bed or in a special box & then have the paci fairy replace it while she sleeps with a new toy... maybe something she's really been wanting.
Good luck!

K.,

When my daughter was 2 years old. We took all the Paci's, put them in a bag and took them to the baby ward at the local hospital. We gave them to the nurses and asked them to please give them to the new babies who needed them.

My daughter was fine and very proud of herself for being such a big girl.

Also, I never gave in to crying tantrums. The ONE time she threw one, I walked out of the room and that was the end of that. Our kids have to know that we are in control and not them and life will be much easier for you as she gets older :-)

The trauma to her only comes from you not standing up as the mother who does know best and giving in to her trying to control a situation that she is not old enough to control.

I hope this helps.

cut the tip off all her pacis but one (for sickness or emergengies ONLY!!) when she sucks on the paci it's deflated and doesn't feel the same and will probably drop it. I did this with my son. We had a drawer in the kitchen dedicated just to his pacis...yeah...that bad. I remember him reaching in and grabing one sucking on it...throwing it on the floor...reaching in the drawer again and repeating the process until they were all gone...since there were so many I guess that's why it wasn't such a big deal. I just kept putting those pacis back in the drawer and he would keep trying them and eventually gave up. I tried to just act like I didn't know what was wrong with them. He was 2...I hope this helps.

i tried the cutting the tip of and my daughter was not addicted to sucking on it i found out but just having it she would hold the end around her mouth with nothing there to suck of chew on so i just decided to throw them all away because she didn't use them anywhere but at home, and after about 2-3 days she was sleeping without it and didn't ask about it anymore and she was 27 months when we took her off of it, gotta remember kids have very short attention spans in a couple of days without it she'll forget about it

Our oldest daughter had three pacifiers at night, one to suck, one to hold and rub, and an extra when one got lost. I empathize with the getting up at night to find a missing one. Our daughter was very interested in trains, so I offered her a trip to Calera to ride a real train to the pumpkin patch if she either potty trained, or gave up her pacifiers. This was a limited time offer since the train trip/pumpkin ride opportunity was only available the month of October. I was clear with her though that she could choose to do nothing and get no train ride, or pick one of the two things to do to get the train ride and it was her choice. I recognize this will not work with all kids, but I wanted her to have a sense of control and make the choice for herself. She chose to give up her pacifiers and after three days of no pacifier use we went to Calera. She was decisive and never looked back. Is there something your child really enjoys that could be earned by giving up her pacifiers? Perhaps she would enlist your help to achieve a goal she would like to achieve while getting done what you need and want her to do? I hope this offers some positive ideas that make this separation process easier for all in your family. Giving up a security object is such a tough thing to do. I really admire little ones who struggle and achieve this growing up step.

I did cold turkey by accident b/c the dog chewed the nipple off the pacifier. haha It worked, but he was less than 18 months. He cried like CRAZY for a day, and then the next day he was fine.

Since your kid's older, my neighbor told their son that he had to give his paci to santa claus, and it worked. Even when he accidently found one later, he came and gave it to my son. He was 3. So maybe something like that could work. I know christmas is far away, but maybe for her birthday or something?

Good luck!

I would just go cold turkey!!! You have tried to talk to her to give it away and it isn't working right?! I had the same situation with my first daughter(2 at the time) and she actually lost it,we decided we would not buy another. She did cry and fuss really bad the first night and all though the night but eventually she basically forgot about it.Everyday just was easier....... I would suggest you give her something else to comfort her in the night, say a favorite blanket or a stuffed bear. That seemed to help my daughter with the transition as well.You need to get her away from it as soon as you can or the older she gets the harder it will be, also it is not good for her teeth and could cause problems later on.

However I did learn not to give a paci to my other 3 children since it was such a issue with my first in getting her away from it.

Good luck and hang in there Mom!!

Hi K.. I will tell you what I did. I took my little boy to the wacky bear store, we picked out a teddy bear, pajamas to put on the bear, etc., and we took all of his pacifiers with us. When we stuffed the bear, I told them that we wanted to stuff the pacifiers in the bear with the stuffing. They said that they had done that in the past and it's a great idea so, my little boy dropped his pacifiers in the bear, one at a time, and he counted them as he did it, then they added the stuffing to the bear and put him together. So now, he sleeps with what he calls his "paci bear" each night. The first night, he whined and cried a little bit for his paci but not as much as I thought because he was soooo attached to it. We had already weaned him down to taking it only at night when he went to bed. Not only did this work really well for us, it also makes a great keepsake for him!! Hope this helps you.! I also am a "late in life" mom. I had my first child at 36, my second at 38 and my last one at 40. I am now almost 44, and my youngest just turned 3 in March.

I didn't want to cold turkey with my son, either. However, he ended up biting the end off leaving me no choice, for safety sake! :) He was about 2.5. I told him no more paci - it's broken... and the first night wasn't a problem because we were out late at friends and he fell asleep on the way home. The second day my mom called and said she'd mentioned it to a friend of mine who said "GIVE IT A WEEK." I thought, a week. How bad can that be? That night I was in tears, he was screaming and my husband was trying to get him to sleep. (Just to give you a heads up - I'm sure you'll get all of our horror stories but I sure wished I'd known) By about day 5 it was no longer an issue! So, it can definitely be done. Good luck, we'll be thinking of you!!!

I too struggled with getting rid of the pacifier for our child - she learned to use one at daycare - So - as ridiculous as this seems - I told her that there was an "ad" in a local toy store - "ANY" toy you want - in trade for a paci.... We looked at their ads - no pressure - and left it be for a few days... reminded her and looked at the ad - and she set a date to go shopping... She was about the age that your daughter is... I think it's important that you give your child the "power" to determine when and how she gives it up - we didn't pressure her to do the trade - it was her choice...and she chose to shop....NOW - sounds good - but how to make it happen at the store - We arrived - and I left my daughter to shop with her dad. (See panic in mom to explain quickly to the sales clerk - that she had to agree to take this absolutely well used and last paci in the house in trade for the toy of my daughter's choice....) It happened smoothly and seemlessly - (her dad retrieved the paci on the side - and out of eye sight of our daughter for the "baby" file - sentimental purposes...) She left the store with a very modest toy - and never asked for the paci again... (but talked about her "trade")
So - I hate the commercialism in this solution - but believe that giving her a choice - and control over the situation made the switch and the ability for her to move forward easy - she was in control -
Now a decade later - she is a great kid - Straight A's and a delight to parent - NOT a shopper - prefers a park rather than shopping...
I too was an "older" mom - I was turned 40 the year she was born...
Just a suggestion - worked for us - but all kids are different - you would know best if this might work for your daughter. I would stress though - the important part of any of this - is giving your daughter the power in some way to control this....
Good luck - as difficult as this may seem for you now - this too will pass..

Because you have built a dependency on the pacifier, so has she. Try to soothe her without it. It will take a while, but she needs to learn how to soothe herself.

With two of my daughters, the process was gradual- not cold turkey. I think cold turkey is asking for complications. I simply put it into the drawer of my nightstand. They knew where it was and would even "check on it" or take a quick suck and put it back. Anyway, I only gave it to them at night if the whining lasted more than 5 minutes. But I always took it away once they went into complete sleep. During the day, we talked about throwing away "baby stuff" because the big girl was coming. This started with things like left over diapers, a stained onezie, baby toy... Then, to my amazement, the pacifier. Each of them eventually threw their own pacifier away and never asked for it again.

Just be patient. Ask the daycare how they put her to nap without it. You may have to make the same accomadations as the daycare for naptime at home. The key is to be consistent and patient. Don't even bring the pacifier out with you when you leave home. Try to get her to behave in public by telling her she can have some "paci-time" when she gets home.

CUT the Nipple in half (in other words----sip the nipple) and then give it to her. SHE will start sucking it and it will not feel right to her. Tell her "O...O....It's broken".....
DO IT TO ALL NIPPLES IN YOUR HOUSE........!!!!
Everytime she tries to suck on it----tell her---O....O. it's broken.........
SHE WILL EVENTUALLY GIVE IT UP ON HER OWN.......
EASIEST---BEST WAY-----
25 years of Day Care----this one is the best!!!!
NOTE...She may walk around with it---but soon she will throw it away herself!!!!
Best Wishes.....
C.
Louisiana

The advice of the person who said they couldn't find the paci after it fell in the floor and was covered by the bedspread, was actually close to what I was going to suggest, my s-i-l had the same problem, and her and my brother's solution was to leave it somewhere it couldn't be retrieved. Then they explained to my nephew that it had been left at such and such and they couldn't go back to get it as it had probably been put in the trash by then and would no longer be there. This worked really well, he never asked for it very often and the few times he did, they just reminded him what happened to it and that was all it took.

One day we were at the doctor with our son, he decided he was going to throw his binky in the trash. We told him that if he did, he couldn't get it back and we wouldn't buy him a new one. That night was hard.. but he got over it. Thank goodness. He was 2 1/2.

My youngest son was also 2 1/2.. We just took it away from him and he was fine with it. :)

Now my daughter on the other hand.... I told her daddy that we were going to go to Build a bear and put it inside the bear so she will always have the binky w/ the bear..

I have also heard that you can put them in balloons and "send" them to someone else..
With my first child I was about to try anything and everything to get him off of it.

With all three of them, they only get their binky when they are going to take a nap, go down for the night, and special places. When we are in public my daughter will put her binky in her pocket. Its too cute.

Good Luck!

When my son was 2 1/2, he gave his Nuk to the Nuk fairy who brought his nuk to other babies who needed them. he got to pick out a special prize for being so brave. the cold turkey approach worked for us. he whined a couple of nights on the way to bed & then he was done!

set a date and a gift for the paci fairy to give in exchange for the paci and she only gets the gift if she doesn't cry for the paci. We did this for my little girl with her bottle and sante claus it was hard but the bottle left and my little girl got her slide.

K.--I don't know if this will help, but the way we got rid of my daughter's paci...which she loved...was, we were driving down the road; she was in her car seat; I took it from her and we waved "bye bye" to the paci as it sailed out the window.............she did not even cry. She did ocassionally ask about her paci and I would remind her that it went "bye bye" and she was fine with that.....don't know if it will work with your little girl, but it worked for mine, who is now a beautiful 18-year-old, graduating high school this Saturday! Good luck and let me know how it goes!

One of my good friends had a bye bye B party they pretended to tie them to balloons and let them go in the air and then had a cake made to celebrate. He hasn't had one since.

Ok, time for some subterfuge.

Tell her that at a certain age, the 'Paci-Fairy' has to come get her paci to give it to another child who doesn't have one.

You can get creative here, but the easy thing to do is have her put it under her pillow like a tooth, and leave money or a small toy she has been wanting.

You could also put it into a small box and have her help you to wrap it up nice and pretty so that the Paci-Fairy will be able to just give it right away to the next child who needs one.

There are lots of ways to do it. This is what I did for my child.

Good luck in whatever way you decide to help her phase it out.
As far as the 'trauma', trust me when I say it won't last for long if you do it the right way.

Well here are a couple of ideas, tell her she can only have it at night not at nap time. I took my sons away and the first night he woke up shaking and scared and i gave it back to him but only at night and then when we moved and spent the night in a hotel it fell on the floor and it was covered by the bed spread and we said we couldnt find it and he was fine with it he never needed it again.

Or something else i do is when big events in their life come up i use that to move them ahead. Tell her now that you are moving up into this next grade you are a big girl now and its time to get rid of the pacifier. When my sons wouldn't give something up or it was time for them to do something i use starting school and their birthday. I would say you are going to be 3 now this is what you do when your 3 or you can't do this now that you are 3.

I hope this helps
have a great day!

Kelley,
I dont know if this will work but on Nany 911 they got helium balloons and told the little girl that the babies in Heaven needed the pacifier. It work for her. My two never would take a pasi, I actually cought my (now ex) husband taping the pasi in my son's mouth.

H. A.

Our daughter, now 15, had to have 2 paci's. One in her mouth and one in her hand for back up! *L* She was 3 or more before she gave them up but only used them at night.
I don't suggest cold turkey! Not only traumatic for your little one, but traumatic for mama and daddy!
In the next two weeks, talk up the move to a different class and tell her that no paci's allowed in class but she will still have it when she comes home. Big girls won't have paci's in the new class but they can have them at night time. That kind of thing.
It will be alright and just remember, she will give it up in time!

My sister had the same problem with my nephew. Finally, his doctor told my sister tell him that the new babies at the hospital needed the pacifiers and since he was big it was time to give them to them. He picked up all the pacifiers in a ziplock bag and they took them to the doctors office. He cried the whole time but did it. Then they went to a store and he got a stuffed animal that he sleeps with now. And he told everyone the story and was proud of himself.
Just a suggestion.

My daughter and son both loved the "binkie". When they reached age 2.5, we made them start using it only when in their own bed. Both were still in their cribs/toddler beds at that time. Then when, they were 3 years old, we bought "big girl and big boy" beds ( a full size bed), the binkie is gone because big girls and big boys don't need a binkie anymore.
I have also had friends who took their kids to Build A Bear and had the binkie put into the bear.
Hope this helps

K.,

I hope this doesn't sound cruel but maybe if you dipped it in vinegar before giving it to her. I've heard that if you do this the child can't stand the taste and refuses to use the paci after a few times.

Good luck,
T. S.
Collinsville, OK

Good Lord, I couldn't use word "binky" in my house for years! They had a Binky brand dollie carrier and I never heard the end of it. You're on the right track tho. My eldest had open-heart surgery at 2, so I didnt want to take it away before then. But I had a struggle afterward, and it had started to deform her front palette. I started my second a lot earlier with bed only. I'd pick her up and she'd spit it out, right onto the pillow, without even prompting after awhile. My advice would be that. No public, no car, just bed. Just make sure its not where she can reach and grab it.

A friend of mine had trouble getting her son off the paci, so she used the "big boy" factor on him. She told him he was a big boy, and since he was a big boy, he didn't need his paci anymore, but there were little babies out there who needed them. She asked him to help her bag them up, and he went about it very happily...he loved the fact that he got to be a big boy and help out the babies who "needed paci's". She says he hasn't asked about his since that day.

My bestfriend did the binky blow off on 4th of july they taped it to a rocket,lit it and everyone at the 4th of july party celebrated and clapped he was excited. But he did well and never had a another binky since.

Hey K.,
Well with my son he had 5 pacy's, he loved them as well. He started miss placing them, I just told him when he got down to 1 I told him that he was a bigger boy now and that he didnt need it any more, and that when he lost it they would all be gone gone... and after he missplaced it that was it, just tell her that she is a bigger girl now and that they are for babies and reward her for not using it

I had a friend tell me and I also read an article about cutting off the tip of the paci a little at a time. This still allows them to have the paci but with the tip gone there is no suction and the paci will fall out. This way you are essentially letting them get rid of it on their own. Good luck. I am going to be doing the same thing in about 3 months. My daughter is 21.5 months now and only take a paci during naps and nighttime but if she doesn't have it she will cry hysterically.

Hi K.,
Both my kids gave it up on their own, but I have a friend who was going through what you are, and she told me that what she did was to cut a small piece off of the end of it every other day, until there was nothing left, and that worked for both of her boys. You might give it a shot and see what happens. At the end she just told them "See, the paci has gone away because you don't need it anymore."
C. P.

Cold turkey worked for me. She cried for 10 minutes that one nap time and hasn't asked since then. Just comfort them when you put her down because she will seem a little scared because the bedtime routine has changed.

If you just take it away, you'd be amazed at how quickly she forgets about it. Have her throw it away herself. Or you just swipe it. or the Paci Fairy is a good idea. The reward with that though is in exchange for the paci....not for not crying for it. For all of my kids, i took it away @ 18 mos. they only asked & whined a little bit for it. after just a couple of days... nothing. but since yours is older, it will probably take a little longer to forget. she'll be fine though.
good luck

My mom cut the tips off all of the pacifiers when she wanted me to stop using them, It's just enough to irritate her and make her not want them anymore. Just cut the tip though if you cut too far down it wont work. :)

My sister (my kids hated them) slowly cut the tip of the paci off until there was nothing left enjoyable to suck/chew on. It was gradual so the children was weaned off, and decided it wasn't enjoyable anymore to use one. You just cut the tip off and slowly within 1 to 2 weeks cut tiny slivers off until there is nothing left, the thinner the sliver the easier to wean because they don't notice that you are destroying their paci but that it is shrinking. Good luck and I hope this helps!

Trust me, it will more traumatic for you than her. If you want to give her something else for rest time, go to the store and hit the stuffed animal section. All little girls LOVE little fluffy kitties and puppies. Tell her she can pick one of them out because she is leaving since she's a BIG girl. Hopefully she will LOVE cuddling and sleeping with her new baby animal. You can name it and everything. After a day or two of some slight fussing it will be over (if she fusses at all). If she does, tell her it's over and gone and don't give it back. She will be fine.