No More Pacifier (I Am over It!)

get dad on board before the 9th. If he caves, you are in big trouble for power plays from now on where they will play you against each other.

Good Luck!

We've had friends who made a big deal out of decorating a paper bag and "mailing" all of the binkies to the babies. They literally go to the mailbox with the kids and put the bag in there. Seems like a little bit easier to take than throwing them in the garbage. I mean after all, they are their soothing item, whether you're over it or not.

I agree with the other posters who said to substitute a more "age appropriate" item in place of the binky.

Good luck!

My son was almost that age when we got rid of his pacifier.
He was a TOTAL UBER MEGA pacifier user. 24/7.

What we told him is: we explained calmly, that Santa needs his pacifiers for the other little babies. That he is a big boy now. Then with him, we went all over the house and collected his pacifiers. Put it in a bag. Then put it away "for Santa."

He did fine.
He did not get all miserable.
He still slept and napped fine.
He said he missed it... and we let him express his feelings openly. We 'allowed' him to. He needed to vent about it and have closure.
BUT he also had a lovey, too. Which he cuddled for sleep/naps.
It took him about 2 days... to then not ask about his pacifier.
But he has 'fond' memories of it. Just today, he saw a photo of himself with his pacifier in his mouth of when he was younger..... and he told me "I miss my binky..." It was a real fond memory for him. I just repeated to him, "Remember, we gave it to Santa! You were a big helper for him..."
and then he said "yah I remember... but I still miss it..."
but he is fine, without it. He is now 4... and we got rid of his pacifier just when he turned 3. I year ago.

Kids that age, have no tangible concept of when the "9th" is. To them, 'time' is either immediate or later.... they don't know the 9th is 2 days more nor when exactly.
So... keep that in mind.
AND... they will need to have a 'lovey' too... or anything else they can use, instead, and for sleeping etc.

all the best,
Susan

Hi. I have 2 daughters (21 mos and a little over 3 (in June). My 21 mos old used her binky whenever she wanted. A little too much for me but hey, it made her happy. My 3 year old used it only at nap and at bedtime but was OBSESSED with it at those times. Finally this past Friday, my hubby and I decided enough was enough. We told them the night before that Thurs night was their last night with the binky. On Friday afternoon we took them to Build-A-Bear where they picked out a teddy/bunny of their choice. They stuffed the animal and put their binky/binkies into the stuffed animal. That first night was tough but not nearly as tough as I anticipated. My 3 year old was a bit worse than my almost 2 year old but it didn't take them much longer to fall asleep than usual. Sat/Sun were a bit easier. I made up a story about the invention of the binky and how the inventor specifically stated that binkies were for babies and that big girls did not need a binky. They enjoyed my little story. My 21 mos old has asked for it for a few times during the day since Friday but I just keep reminding her that they are in her bunny and that she does not need one in her mouth. Tonight, they didn't even ask for them at all. I am sooo glad they are gone. Moral to the story.... it was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. Good Luck, I am sure it will be fine.

I strongly recommend that the girls get something in exchange for their paci's. Doesn't have to be big (my daughter traded ALL of hers for a couple of cake topper toys from Publix: Dora and a Winnie the Pooh see-saw, when she turned 2).
Get Dad on board. Maybe an "exchange" instead of tossing them could help him, too? My daughter only asked about her paci's ONE time... the next night at bedtime when we were rocking reading her bedtime story. I reminded her she had traded them for her new toys, and that was it. She wasn't upset, just wondered about them. She'd forgotten what happened to them. I personally don't like the idea of cutting them up and throwing them in the garbage. Just because they don't "need" them anymore, doesn't mean that they don't carry some emotional attachments. I mean... just because you stop sleeping with your Teddy Bear, you don't have to rip it's stuffing out and throw it in the garbage heap, right?! You put it up on the shelf or something. So, give your girls a sweet memory for their paci's as well. Let them exchange them for something else. (A small stuffed animal of their choosing, or an animal figurine, or something that they can look at).

Get them each a little substitute--a lovey, stuffed animal or blankie.......

I agree with MR...just go cold turkey...take a pair of scissors and have a "cut up the binky" party...let them take turns throwing pieces in the trash. Don't leave any of them around the house or you and Dad will be SO tempted to use them when the going gets rough!!! Maybe you could get each of them a stuffed animal to sleep with to ease the transition. It will be tough for a day or so but they will survive and so will you and Dad!!!

Sounds like you have done a good jog getting them ready. They may surprise you and just move on and not look back..

If THEY bring it up, just say, "you are 3 now. No paci's for 3 year old big girls.".

Do not mention it again.

Just make sure they are ALL gone. Check the cars, under furniture, toy boxes,,

Throw them all away otherwise you'll (or dad will) be tempted to use them again. Just go cold turkey and distract them with activities, toys, play time, etc. Their world will not end and they will bounce back after being supremely annoyed for a little bit.

We told our daughter that the Binky Fairy would come to take her binky because she was a big girl now and the Binky Fairy needed it for new babies being born. We told her this for a while until finally one night I decided it was time, got her a special box, and she put it in the box and left it by the window for the Binky Fairy. She was okay and went to sleep no problem, but the next night was expecting it back. She fussed at nap and bed time for about a week but got a little better each day and finally realized that it was not coming back and she was going to be fine. She was almost 3, and there was only 1 binky that she was using, so it was getting pretty grubby and gross and just needed to go. The Binky Fairy did bring her a wonderful big-girl present in its place.

Also want to add that she has a number of comfort objects, including her teddy bear, some blankets, and whatever other random stuffed toys she decides she needs with her...and those are not going anywhere, so it's not as if getting rid of the pacifier left her high and dry.

If you and your husband aren't on the same page with this,
there may be some problems.
I like the way you have prepared them for this.
But if these are their comfort items only at nap and bedtime,
why is it such a problem for you?
Do you have something(s) already prepared as a transitional object.
Now that they are big girls and no longer need the pacifiers,
what do big girls get to go to bed with instead?
Just asking.
S.

My daughter used a pacifier until she was three also. Thankfully we were starting gymnastics at the time so I called her teacher ahead and we decided to have her take it to gymnastics. When we got there the teacher just said "oh, no pacifiers in gymnastics" and she took it out of my daughters mouth and threw it away. That was that.

Since your not in that boat, maybe you should take your girls to the store and have them pick out a special animal or doll to take to bed instead of the pacifier. Just tell them when little girls turn three they get to trade their pacifiers for babies. Then you could have them gather all their pacifiers in a basket to give to another baby who needs them.

Good luck, I hope it's not a struggle and I hope your hubby sticks to it!

We used the "pacifier fairy" approach. We talked with our son for a few days about how the pacifier fairy was coming soon and she would take all his pacifiers to new babies who needed them. This happened to coincide with moving him to a big boy bed, and it worked well for us. We gathered up all the pacifiers in the house one night before bed and put them into a gift bag I had left over from a baby shower that was decorated with pacis. The fairy left my son a big boy toy when she took the pacis.
He never looked back.

Take them away and make sure they are all gone. If you try to remove them and then give in , they will never give them up. Once they are gone, that's it. Stick it out 2-3 days and they'll be fine.

We got rid of the nuk around my daughter's 3rd birthday (can not remember if it was before or after)... anyway I just made up a quick chart in word that was a calendar of the whole month, diagonally divided each day into two... one section of that day is for the nap the other bedtime, each one that they sleep without the nuk they get a sticker in that box. I actually went cold turkey so there was no option to even have one (get the things out of the house, if they are not there no one can give in, that was key for me) but still my daughter was excited to wake up from nap and bedtime to put a sticker on the chart.

After two weeks she got to go to Toys R Us and pick out a toy under $10 (could do a smaller amount too). Then after two more weeks we were going to go back to Toys R Us for another toy under $10 but by the end of the third week she did not even care about the chart anymore and the nuk was gone :)

Just a side note; my daughter has a lovey, a jingle teddy head on top of a small blanket. This is what she attached to and made the transition easier because she needed something to soothe comfort her when in her room trying to fall asleep.

I've always done exactly as you have done with my daycare kids (and am alway the first to break them of the binky habit). I just keep telling them that pretty soon they're going to be too big for a binky and it will be time to throw it in the garbage. I just keep repeating it until they agree with me that they're too big. I remind them that once it's in the garbage it's gone forever, but that's okay because they're too big for a binky anyway. I ask them if they're ready to throw it in the garbage and as soon as they say yes, we do it. I let them throw the binkies out, which makes it more fun for them. I make a huge deal out of it, praise them, lots of loves, excitedly tell every single person we see that day and tell them how proud I am all day long. The next day they usually ask for it, but I just remind them that it's gone, they threw it in the garbage because they're too big for binkies now. Then down for nap they go. There might be tears, but replacing the binky with a lovie or "swapping" the binky for something else is a bad idea. I equate it to quitting smoking, but chewing nicotine gum instead. Just another something to cling to instead of getting past the attachment and growing as a person. Number one rule is to make sure EVERY SINGLE BINKY IN THE HOUSE GOES IN THE GARBAGE AT THE SAME TIME. If there is a binky to be found, they will find it and it will make everything that much harder.
I wish you lots of luck! You're doing a great thing for your girls and going about it perfectly!

Haven't read the responses. Our youngest was a binkie addict, and we cut the tips off of all her binkies. She stood there at the binkie drawer (yes, we had a whole drawer of them), and tried one after the other, and finally she looked up and said, "They're all BROKEN!" And after that she never asked for one again. I was shocked that it was that easy.