Weaning 12 Month Old off the Binky.

ok, i wish i could help you, but i am in the same boat! my daughter is 13 months old (born 6/22/07)and I am worried that the longer it goes..the harder it will be to break, but i don't want her to have any kind of residual anxieties because it is gone. to tell you the truth, i am addicted to using it to soothe her as well.

if you get advice..please let me know.
A.

I've heard of people using the "binky fairy". They tell the child that when he is ready to be a big boy, he collects up all his binkies and leaves them for the binky fairy, and she will leave a prize in exchange for the binkies. The next day, they have balloons and some little gifts that would please a one year old, binkies all gone. That has been pretty successful for people. They understand that the binkies are gone for good that way. You coudl also make a big deal of throwing them all away, so that the little guy knows that they are gone and not coming back, but that might be more traumatic that the binky fairy.

I have to tell you that with both my kids that were total addicts to the pacifier, in the end I found out the there is no weaning! If they have it any time then they know its around and they want it all the time. It was a bit different for my daughter and son. My daughter, at the time I decided to get rid of it was about 18month and she used to hide the pacifiers b/c at that time I was trying to wean her off and she only got one at nap and bedtime. Well, she would find one somewhere and hide and I would find her with one at some random part of the day. So I decided to use her own game against her, one day when she was sleeping, I took all the pacifiers I could find and threw them away in the outside trash. Then we were down to only the one she had in bed with her, soon after she woke up that one went to the trash too. anyway, next time she asked for one, I said we're did you hide it, I can't find it! So together we looked and looked, like we were playing hide and seek. She was a little bummed at first, but she realized that it wasn't me saying "no" she couldn't have, it was lost. and every day since then we'd look for them and just couldn't find them and she was fine with that.
With my son it was different he would cry at nap and bedtime for it, nothing else was soothing enough even though he had a favorite blanket. He was closer to 2yrs when I finally got it away completely and long story short i had to cold turkey him too. If they are around in the house, you either feel bad and give in at some point or b/c they know its there they want it all the time, even if its more than they usually want it. So, my best advice is just throw them all away, and you may have a tough day or two, but then its over and they're gone! I will tell you one thing that helped my son a little was that I got those small Nuby sippy cups with the soft nipple like spouts and gave him a little water at nap/bed time and that helped the transition from having something soothing to suck to nothing at all. But only put water in it, juice and milk is bad for their teeth! Good luck, Jennifer
P.S. I tried that snipping a hole at the end of the pacifier and didn't work, both my kids thought well something is better than nothing!

My son used his pacifier until he was almost 2. Even though he only used it to go to sleep, we didn't want him to have it anymore, so since it was around Christmas time, we put it in the cookie plate for Santa & told him that Santa needed to give it to a baby that didn't have one. It worked AMAZINGLY well. He only asked about it one time and when I reminded him that we gave it to Santa he was fine - no crying or anything!! Good luck =O}

I have no advice to give sorry. my daughter is 18 months and still can't get her off it. i am guessing i am just going to have to throw them all out and just deal with it. I have tried only doing it at naps, only giving it at bedtime. nothing worked she always cried for it. i am hoping you get a lot of responces so we get rid of this darn binky :)

I have three kids; all have been pretty attached to the binky. I made the rule around the time each started crawling that "binkies stay in bed" and that one worked pretty well - my youngest would actually hand it to me when I walked into the room to get him up. I cut the tip off of one at about a year old for each of them, and threw the rest away. At that point, they were broken and they didn't want them. We're at day 4 for my youngest (14 months), and while he still fusses for a minute when I lay him down (and he never did before with the binky) the fussing time is getting shorter. I've let him have it a bit longer than my girls since baby #4 is due the end of August and I didn't want one to be associated with the other, but his teeth were starting to show evidence of his habit - it was time!

J.,
This is what I am doing: My son is 17 months old. He had 4 nuk's. He has chewed the silicon nuks, 3 of them until there was a hole in them (teething). I explain that every time he chews a hole in one it goes in the trash and we do not replace it. Now he has 1 left. He gets it only for his nap and bed time. At bed time in the evening he hands it to me right before he falls asleep and that is that. I would let her know that it is only for sleep time. Then eventually every other sleep time then once in a few days then I would stop completely. That is what I plan to do. I used to let him have it around the house and in the car but now that he is down to one, he gets it at sleep only. He is doing great but maybe try that with your daughter?
Good Luck,
Christina

Hi there. This can be and foe some is a major problem! My daughter FINALLY lost hers a month before she turned 2!! But you see, she really did lose it, in the house. She slept fine the first 1-2 nights, then decided to ask for it. I explained to her that we had to give it to other babies that needed it because she's a BIG GIRL!!!! The Binkie Fairy came and took it for the babies! I'm not sure if she's too young to understand that, but it worked for us. Also, does she have a favorite blankie,animal, baby doll? That may help with her separation from the bink!!!
Good Luck!
~C.

Hi J.,

With my boys I tell them it has to stay in there bed and they do fine with that. They can't get up until they put it down. My 18 month old I let him still have it in the car once in a while because if I don't bring his in the car he sucks him thumb. I don't want him to become a thumb sucker because that I can not take away. Be careful that she does not start sucking her thumb if she is not ready to give up the pacifer. Good Luck. I need to get my oldest off the pacifer after we move in the next few weeks.

Oh the binky dilemma!!! 2 out of 3 of my kids were totally addicted to the binky! I didn't sweat it. One of my kids was actually old enough to understand that he needed to give his binky to santa and he did and never looked back. He didn't have any trouble and never asked for it again. You want to make sure the child is really ready to give it up or they may pick up thumb sucking to replace the binky. Thumb sucking is a MUCH harder habit to break and you can't take the thumb away :)!! I, as a mother, am not a big fan of the binky at all but the children do let it go in their time. You can help by starting not to let the child have it during the day while awake and playing and only for naps and bed time and then go from there. Just don't force the issue or you may find the child will want it even more and it becomes a control issue. My youngest just gave up his binky about 4 months ago and he'll be 3 in August!! Just be patient and before you know it you'll be binky free!!! Good luck!

I dealth with the very same issue twice. For my son I told a little white lie and said... we were "lending" his binkies to his baby cousin (who lived in another state). I packed them up like I was shipping them away and he even drew a picture to put in the box. They immediately went into my closet to hide away :) For my daughter I gradually "lost" a binky every few days. She used about five binkies and alternated them through out the day. When we got down to zero I told her we'd "take a good look" around the house/car/playroom etc and see if we could find the "missing" binkies. A few days later she said, "mommy, I don't need those binkies... binkies are for babies"! We never did "find" those "missing" binkies ;)

Hope that helped!

-M.

J.,
My best advice is to JUST DO IT! No trick or gimmicks...just take them away. Your child will most likely be upset for a couple of days but then it will be over. Honestly, my experience with both kids was that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Especially with my first son...I kept putting it off because I thought that he was so attached and when I finally took it away he was fine! I think that the binky was a crutch for me as much as for the kids because it was something that I knew would settle them down right away and stop the crying. Also, you are correct about it getting harder as she gets older and can cause more of a fuss and bigin verbalizing about the bink.

One more thing-they really do mess up the teeth. My oldest sons teeth are really bad because of the binky. He is 6 now and I feel so bad every time I look at his teeth knowing that I could have prevented it. He will undoubtedly need extensive orthodontia in the future.

Good Luck!

I don't think anywone would judge you if you waited untill she was old enough to understand the binky fairy. 12 months is still tiny. One of my daughters was 2 and a half. I waited untill the new baby arrived to explain that she needed them and they were for babies. Take your time and it will be fine :-)

I snipped the tips off all the binky's! A women I worked with told me this trick, and it worked great. My daughter was 2 when I did this, and I never took them away, but I made sure to find each of her binky's (she had about 3 of them) and snip the tips off. It worked so well I was shocked! She put them in the garbage and said "Broken" and that was the end! Good Luck!

My sister-in-law was told by her dentist to get her 2 year old off the binky, but then my niece started sucking her thumb to supplement!! It is alot harder to get them off the thumb! Binky's are also considered orthodontic excersizers, and I think most doctors and dentists say it's o.k. until they are at least 2 years old. Remember to switch to a sippy cup with the straw by age two as well!

J.,
You could do the cold turkey thing--be prepared for a few miserable nights. Or have her give them to the Binky Fairy (and replaced by the binky fairy with a new special lovey animal toy, etc.)
I like the idea of snipping the tip off--never tried that myself, but seems like it would work.