Pacifier Addict! - Seattle,WA

What worked for my dd was cutting a tiny hole in the tip of the paci which breaks the section. Every few days, I'd make the hole a tad larger. By two weeks in, she tossed the paci.

You might try a method my friend used. Her little girl had a fav doll and MOM told her Dau to let her dolly take care of it for her while she slept so it wouldn't get misplaced.....she soon forgot about it and went on to better things.LUCK!

My son had somewhat of a pacifier addiction too. I had been researching online different things people had done to get their own child to break the habit. Some go cold-turkey...just throw all the pacifiers away, and let the child cry about it for a few days. There are also some unconventional ideas lots of people recommend: cutting off the pacifier tip so it would lose it's suction and the child would think it was 'broken' (ehh...sounds a bit unsafe to me), telling them the 'binky fairy' is going to come pick them all up to give to a baby who needs them (I'm not keen on entirely fabricating things) or my favorite...dropping it in some undesirable substance like toilet water or mud so the child would not want it back (but what if he DOES want it back??). I did ponder these things, but I decided to try something else. I don't know if this will work for everyone 'cause kids are so unique, but it's definitely something worth trying with a toddler:

When he was 22 months, I rounded up all our pacifiers and put them away. The same day, I took him to Babies R Us and told him we were going to buy "new big-boy binkies". I bought the Playtex Baby Ortho-Pro® Older Baby Teether. This ridiculous thing is shaped like a pacifier, but it is big and chunky and primarily designed to be chewed on - the part that goes in the mouth is kind of a thin bumpy piece of pliable plastic, so it doesn't exactly provide much sucking satisfaction. I watched after I gave it to him to see his reaction. I think he was so excited about the idea of it being new that he didn't complain about it even though I could tell he was slightly confused about it being so different. The best part is that the handle of this thing is so heavy, it took effort to keep it in his mouth, so he ended up taking it out to talk which was nice. Another benefit of the heavy handle is that (unlike the standard pacifiers) it fell out of his mouth while sleeping, so he slowly got used to sleeping with nothing in his mouth. Over a few days he was not nearly as attached to the idea of having the pacifier - he still asked for it, but the anxious whining asking where it was completely dissipated. Within about two weeks he stopped using it altogether.

My daughter was also addicted and it's true that it just gets worse as they get older, so the earlier you do it, the better. I like the teether idea myself, but I just wanted you to know that, whatever method you choose, there is an ironic twist. Once she's over the paci, she'll actually sleep BETTER! It's probably because when she wakes up at night, like we all naturally do, she'll just turn and go back to sleep, not cry out or hunt for her paci. Good luck!

We are dealing with this with my daughter now. She just turned 3 and is/was addicted to the pacifier. The rules in our house were only at naps and bedtime and if she came out of her room with it we would send her back into her room until she was ready to leave the pacifiers in her room. When my daughter sleeps she would sleep with 3 pacifiers, one in her mouth, and one in each hand that she would rub between her thumb and finger. For the last few weeks I have been telling her we were going to go to Build-A-Bear and put her paci's in a bear. This past Sunday we went, she picked out her "dog" and put all three paci's in the dog. I made sure the first night she did not have a nap so she would be so tired she would just crash. She did ask for the paci a few times the first night, but we would distract her and she went to sleep without any crying/problems. She slept through the night. The second night she went right to sleep without even asking for the pacis...she even woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and didn't even ask for the paci's when she went back to sleep. It has been quite and easy transition (much more than I thought because she is very strong willed and was very attached to the paci's) but the putting them in her dog has seemed to help. Good luck with whatever route you take!

Can u limit it to only at bedtime? My middle daughter was attached to her binky. We waited until 2 1/2 and she wanted to be a big girl. She fussed a bit but we pretty much went cold turkey. It really depends on you. Do you feel like you can stand your ground if she fusses for it? I think it really comes down to what YOU want to do. Either way your child will get over it. You are the parent.

We haven't gotten rid of pacis at our house yet, so I don't know how to do that part exactly, but we have broken the addiction. I have a 3 and 2 year old. Both of them are ONLY allowed the pacis when they are sleeping. We have a basket they put the pacis in when they wake up. They are not allowed out of their rooms until they have surrendered the paci :-) At first, they would balk and decide they wanted to stay in their crib/bed a little longer so they could keep it. They both now very easily surrender it. It has also helped with our bedtime routine (getting pjs on and teeth brushed used to be a night mare) because they can't have their pacis until that is done.

Our dentist told us the first step was to get rid of all the extras. We had her pick out her favorite paci and we put all the others in a build a bear. She was really attached to that build a bear for a week or two but now doesn't care about it. That was about a year ago. Good luck. I don't know how we'll make the last step! Mine too is very strong willed and also good at "deal making" if it disappears/is broken/etc. I know she will just tell us to go get another one at the store!

My kids both loved the bottle, so what I did with the first one and am about to do with the second one is arrange a visit from the Bottle Fairy. We put all the bottles into a bag and leave them out at night for the bottle fairy. She picks them up to take to the babies who need them, and leaves a present. Then we go to the store to pick out several new sippy cups. My daughter currently is two, so she is motivated by a new toy or reward, so I don't know how it would work for you now, but it might do better to wean her off the nighttime use as she approaches two. For now, tell her she can only have her paci if she is going to bed. If she gets up, she has to give you the paci. You can eventually get it down to just nighttime, then remove it all together.

we went cold turkey at the age of two but looking back, i wish i had done it more gently. she actually took it very well and it didn't take long but she switched over to nail-biting and hasn't stopped. maybe a more gradual approach would have helped?

We took away ALL of my daughter's nuks at age 3, honestly I wished we would have done it sooner because her front teeth are now not striaght because of the sucking on a nuk. Starting at age 2 we did the whole only at nap and bedtime but that was still enough nuk time to do a lot of damage to her teeth.

My daughter is also very strong willed, we told her 'you are a big girl and are no longer using a nuk.' I knew that I would give in if one was in the house so we gave them to a mother & baby place for women who need additional help (we had like 20 nuks once found and cleaned). I also had a month calander that I printed out, I had little stickers and she got to put two on each day if she did not use a nuk (one for nap, one for bedtime), at the end of the month she got to go to the toy store and get a "big kid" game ($10). The first three days were the worse, she did have trouble sleeping BUT she finally figured out how to naturally sooth herself instead of sucking on a nuk. Two weeks after all nuks were taken away she had completely forgotten about the stickers, nuks and I have even seen improvement in the spacing of her teeth :)

My son was easy - Just after 2yo, he got a cold and decided he couldn't breathe with it in his mouth - once he was over the cold, he didn't want it anymore. My daughter was a bit harder. I got rid of all but 2-3 and told her that they had to stay in her crib. She started to chew on them and I was always paranoid she would choke. As she chewed on them, I kept cutting the tip -a little but at a time until there was not much of a nub to even put in her mouth. I would throw away that one but she wanted more, so with the other ones that were kept, I did the same thing. Finally she was down to one, so...every morning, I would put it under her pillow. Sometimes she found it and sometimes not. Once I noticed that it was 3 days since it had been moved, I put it in her dresser drawer (just in case). There it sat for another week without being touched. It dissappeared from there and there has been no mention of it since. The whole process was several months in the works but paid off in the end.

Good luck!

I have a couple ideas, I never had this issue, but a lot of friends have.
1. one friend's daughter (3) happened to break through one of hers, when she cried for another, mom went up to get it and cut the end off. When she brought it down broke the daughter didnt want it anymore. That was it. :)
2. another friend had a paci-fairy party. Like on Super-Nanny. They gathered them all up, put them in a package and mailed it off to the paci-fairy. When they went back to check the mail there was glitter and feathers and balloons all around. Inside the mailbox was a letter from the paci-fairy to the big girl and a special big girl present. (I think it was a baby with a paci for her to be the mommy to).
3. another friend just slowly started throwing away any "spare" paci shw found around the house. Once they were down to one, it suddenly got lost as well...there were some tears for sure, but she got over it...

P.S. I LOVE THE BUILD_A_BEAR IDEA! Kudos to the mom with that suggestion!

I happen to disagree with the "experts" on this one. It would have been nearly impossible to wean my kids at 16 months, but my daughter stopped wanting hers around 2, and my son we weaned at 2 1/2 by "losing" the paci's. No problems there. And I have some of the strongest willed children ever!
I know some kids who have had theirs until age 4 or 5 though, so I guess you have to consider that it might be harder.
My suggestion is just to keep use only for sleepy time (can be a great help once she starts fighting naps.) Then when they get broken or lost, don't replace them.
Good luck!

We went cold turkey with my daughter at 21 months...it was a rough couple of days (suprisingly she went to bed at night with no problem...go figure?!), and she was definitely not happy. You'll definitly need to soothe her in other ways...we would give our daughter her "blankie", sing to her, divert her attention to her favorite toys, etc and after a few days she stopped asking and was fine. I actually found that when she would get upset and cried over something, I was the one who was reaching for the pacifier to soothe her...I discovered I was a pacifier addict too! lol I'm proud to say we have BOTH been off the pacifier for 2 months with no major issues. It's NOT that bad. GOOD LUCK!!

There is nothing unsafe by snipping the top off of the paci and telling your child, oh this is broken. if she still uses it, keep snipping till the whole thing is gone.. . Continue to do it with each of the paci's till they are all gone.

Do you plan on telling your child about Santa and the Toothfairy? If you do then the paci fairy works great.. it is like the toothfairy.. leave the pacis on a table with a note. The next morning the paci fairy brings a "Thank you gift" book and a small plush toy (whatever your child likes) maybe with a note from the fairy..

I also like when parents tell the child that there are little babies that need a paci, so your child can "mail it to the babies".. Again, a Thank you Package or letter could arrive later in the day so the child will know they are all gone..

Lets of hugs and praise for being such a big girl and helpful for others. .

Snip the top of the binkie off and give it back to her. It will be her choice to not use it (and if she does, snip more off). This worked for all of my 3 (very much binkie babies) kids :)

Only keep 2, not multiples around the house. One for the bed and one on a string in your purse for emergencies. Let her keep using it for naps and night time, but take it away if she tries to take it out of her bed (I try to toss it in the far corner of the crib where she can't reach). My daughter's love their pacifiers, they are 18mo and 2.5 yrs. I wouldn't worry about her age, she's so young. I don't think bedtime use will cause teeth damage.

My son was the same way, in fact worse. He had it all the time! We got so much grief from my family the entire time he had it. At his 2 year check up our Ped told us to start thinking about getting rid of it. We were terrified....one evening soon after his check up he was having a tantrum and threw it. My husband picked it up and said he wasn't getting it back. He got over his tantrum and went to bed, miraculously without the pacifier! That night I went around the house and picked up everyone I could find. The next morning he looked for one, I pretended it was no big deal and said "I don't know where they went." He continued to ask and look for them, but he kept napping and going to sleep without them. There were times we wanted to give it back for our sanity, especially during tantrums, but we stayed strong and that was the end of the bink. He has found some and seen his sister's (who thank goodness, doesn't like them) and we ask "what are you going to do with it?" he laughs and gives it to us.
My advice, don't stress. You and your daughter will know when it's the best time to get rid of it, and it may happen on accident. Remember she is not going to be walking into kindergarten with it :)
Best of luck from the mother of a former binky addict!

Your daughter sounds just like mine! She had an uncanny ability to find no less than 5 binkies around the house. Once she turned two we had to go cold turkey. Honestly, it was the worst 3 weeks of my life, but once we got through, she was totally fine. It was probably time to wean her, but it was more of the comments from the family on her binkie use that made me nuts!
Good Luck!

I don't know how badly you want to follow your ped's suggestion...but my son had his paci until he was 3. He potty trained when he turned 2, then we moved (and he switched to a big bed), and I felt like he had made a lot of adjustments with ease in a short time...I didn't want to pull the paci too. We told him that when he turned 3 it was time to be done (he was only using it at bed/nap). On his 3rd birthday, we took all of his pacifiers to Build a Bear - he stuffed them in a bear that he chose and never asked about them again...the bear is on his bed, but even that night he didn't ask for a pacifier...So, I don't know what type of personality your daughter has (I imagine that my daughter who is 17 months will not be as easy to wean as my son - she has a lot of attitude!), but that worked for us...

My daughter was a total paci addict as well. I stressed over weaning her and tried every trick.

The only one that made a difference was when I made the rule that paci must only be used in bed. I put a box up high on a shelf in her room and put all of her pacifiers into it. When she went to bed, she could pick on out, but part of her waking routine was to put the paci back to bed in the box. If she wasn't willing to give it up, I'd tell her that she could keep it as long as she wanted as long as she stayed in her bed. She occasionally went back to her bed to suck on it, but after about 30 seconds, she was bored and decided to play instead.

When she was 2, we went to pediatric dentist (because she fell face first on tile and loosened her front teeth). I told the dentist about our struggle with weaning her from the pacifier and asked how bad it actually was that she was still using it. He assured me that there is no permanent harm done by pacifiers unless they are used after permanent teeth come in. He said if she was only using it for bedtime then he recommended I allow her to use it as long as she needed comfort from it and only take it away if she hadn't given it up by the time her permanent teeth were coming in. You would be surprised how many toddlers use a pacifier for bed, but the moms are too ashamed to admit it.