What Is the Best Way to Take a Baby off a Pasifier?

We first tapered down to only night time use. While I was trying to figure out how to get rid of them completely, my husband threw them all out. My son did fine without them.

Hi S.,

we struggled with this as well with our daughter. at 18 months, the doc said she needed to get off of it -- cold turkey. lucky for us, our daughter lost her pacifier that day and we did not want to buy a new one. well, it took about 5 days. it was more like a mourning kind of cry. she was grieving over her friend, the pacifier. the only time she would use the pacifier was during sleep time. well, it did involve a lot of crying. the first night, it was like 45 minutes of crying. no matter if we held her, etc. she was crying wanting her pacifier. but by the third day, it was like 10 minutes of crying. after the 5th day, we'd put her down, and no crying. she learned to soothe herself other ways. it does get easier. as she got older, the routine changed. bath, then story and something to drink, that whole bit. but no need for paci.

Hope that helps.

Hi S.! This isn't really going to help this time around, probably... I never used pacifiers with any of my three, but my mom always said that the best time to take them away is at nine months old. They will notice they are gone, but they are not old enough to ask for them. If you think you could just make the pacifiers disappear now that may work. Or you may just replace them with another special stuffed animal or friend. If you do get rid of them then make sure that they will not be found. Hope you can do it without too much trouble!

My little guy liked his pacifier too and so when he turned 17 or 18 months (don't remember exactly) I just gave him it for his naps and bedtime. Then after 1 month or so (I think less than that) I didn't give him a pacifier for his nap and bed time.
He woke up couple times during a night but I was able to calm him without paci. Next night went very well and he was paci free before he turned two.
I didn't want to deal with paci and 3 yo as they can be very stubborn ;-)

I am not sure what others have posted, but this worked really well for my mom with my now 16 yr old sis and my twin 2 year old sisters.

She started cutting the tip off of the pacifers a little at a time. Not Taking them from them, but making it so they were losing suction which makes it difficult for them to keep them in their mouths. Every day over the course of a week or so whe would cut more off and eventually they did not want them any more, but it was their choice to give them up not her forcing them to do so.

We did the whole binky fairy thing. Our son had his forever, only using it at naps and at night. We told him there were babies all over the world less fortunate then him who needed a binky, and if he gave his to the binky fairy, not only would he get a treat, but it would help out a poor baby. We had him go outside with us, put it in a little decorative box, in a basket, and then hung it in a tree after dinner one night. We replaced it with two dinosaurs and a lollipop. He was very excited. And whenever he asked about it, which was a few times, never with tears, we reminded him of what we did, and he was all "Oh right, binky fairy, baby." No problems!

Good luck,
Richard

Our 2 1/2 year old still uses her pacifier for sleeping only--it never leaves the bed. We started that rule before she ever turned 1. She happened to fall on our coffee table about 6 months ago and we had to go to the dentist for the first time due to injuries to her teeth. On a side note, they reccommended first time parents to go to the dentist as soon as your child gets teeth. Not so much for the child per se, but to inform parents on dental habits for their child. For example, I did not know that your child should be using flouride toothpaste at 18 mo. I always thought you started flouride at the age of 2. Anyways, to make a long story short, he told me not to worry about the pacifier right now. He said we will conquer it later. No permanent damage will come of it now. We go back for a follow up to her tooth injury and her first real dentist appointment in December, I was going to revisit the subject then. I was also going to take away our 11 month old's pacifier-also only used in the bed, although sometimes in the car, when we take away the older girl's.

I heard cold turkey is best?!?!?!?! Good Luck
K.

i saw this on tv somewhere. The mom and baby had a party to celebrate her growing up and she told her daughter that since she is bigger now, God needs her pacifiers to give to other babies. They found all her paci's and bought helium ballons and tied them to it, then they went to the park or backyard to release them.

i thought it was a good idea.

I am a firm believer that almost all children need to suck for comfort at some stage and many children need to continue that a little older. My 2 were pacifier users and in turn were great sleepers for me. I weaned both off before 18 months. (There are some studies that suggest that many habits are formed around that age making it more difficult to change or change easily).

With both, we started with the rule that pacis stay in bed. (So pacis were for naps and bedtime only). This was fairly easy to do (we actually did this around 12 mos). We then weaned from naps, and while they had some trouble falling asleep without it, by day 3 they were fine. (This was around 14 mos) At this point, we only had 1 paci in the house. Finally we stopped it at night by putting a hole in it. When they went to suck it was not as comforting. Both told me it was broken so I suggested THEY throw it away. They did and when they asked for it again, I reminded them that it was broken and that they threw it away. Both fussed little after that and continued to be great sleepers.

Good luck!

S.,
Here's my best on advise on easing...
Keep her hands busy when you see her reach for it, keeping most of them tucked away in a ziplock in the pantry (out of sight-out of mind), new toys that are age specific and hand held, encourage a lot of distractions like ring around the rosie that involve singing and movement or itsy bitsy spider with hand gestures/word play. I realize she's not going to be doing a ton of singing at this age but mimic mom for some of it to keep busy. Keep books at her level for her to open and "read" out loud to you.

While all this is going on, give her lots of positive reinfocement about all her new accomplishments and what a big girl she is. When you decide she's ready to understand the binky fairy story, explain that she's such a big girl that she's ready to pass on her paci to the binky fairy. It's cute and provides closure if she is able to comprehend it. Or they may just all disappear before you know it like the bottle does for some kids. Careful not to go for the gold too soon, though or she may just turn to the thumb:) Wish you the best! HeatherL

My daughter loved her binki too but she was too busy to bother with it during the day. Binki had to stay in her room in the crib. Exceptions were made if she was sick, hurt etc...I thought my daughter would never give it up and if I took it from her I was sure she would never nap again. But guess what? Shortly after she turned 3 she decieded she was a big girl and threw it away with out any prompting from me or dad. And she did nap with out it.

So I don't think that taking it from her is worth the trauma. My daughter also never had a "blankie" or favorite animal until she gave up her binki. The binki was her security item. Why would I take that from her?

Also, she did go to the dentist while she still had the binki. He said it wasn't doing any harm to her teeth and not to worry about it.