Getting Rid of the Pacifier - Fenton,MI

My son had his to sleep only until he was about 2.5. His teeth our fine. The pediatrician said it was fine. I took it away cold turkey one day and he didn't miss it too much. I though it was going to be much worse than it really was.

I often say that parenting is trial and error. :-) And that changes every child.
We always just made the paci's dissappear. But we also did it at 1 yr so they were more worried about learning how to walk then wheres my suckey. Plus we never upgrade to anything bigger than the 3-6 month sizes. :-)
Will he sleep with a teddy? or a different toy? Perhaps Take the suckeys away secretly, and replace it with a new sleeping toy. A gloworm or something like that. Sorta interactive but soothing.
No matter how you go about it you will have some rough times. But just stick to your usual schedule.
I have heard people cut the ends off the suckys...
you know your child and what their personality needs. Just beprepared to be suprized at how well he takes it. We always dread the worst and appreciate the best.
Good luck and keep experimenting. :-)

I think there are 101 ways to ditch the paci. Read about them and then decide what you think might work best for yours. At 18 1/2 months old, we just threw them away. He never cared except for bedtime. We told him we didn't have anymore (or something like that) and gave him his favored stuffed animal for comfort. I won't lie--it was pretty much three nights of hell. . . and then it was all over.

K.,
I just took the paci away from my 2.5 year old. I would have waited until 3, but baby number two is due at that time and I wanted him to be over it for bit before he sees more in the house. I read an article where a orthodontist stated it will not hurt their teeth until about 3 yrs of age.
I can tell you my son now sucks his fingers and blanket. He has a hard time calming himself down. I feel horrible because I know it really helped him. He told me he misses his paci several times. It has been just over a week and every day is better.
Again, I would have waited but I did not want to send mixed signals - since the baby gets the paci.
We had the pacifier fairy come. We made an envelope for all the paci's and set it out. He got a small gift as a token of thanks for giving the paci's to the new babies. It seemed to work.

Let him have it for a while longer - he is not going to go to kindergarten with it.

You are sending a mixed message.

If you want your son to soothe himself (a goal I think is deranged and grossly disrespectful of a small child's need for his parents, but apparently I'm alone in this), why would you take away the tool he uses to soothe himself?

At least until he has some other way of soothing himself, by himself.

Children who get their needs met naturally move on to the next stage as their development dictates. Trying to move them to that stage before they are capable creates enormous stress, which amplifies their need for soothing devices. Is it clear how trying to eliminate the soother creates the stress that creates the horror stories about trying to eliminate the soother?

Let him grow out of it, or don't give it to him in the first place. Making it an issue will make it an issue.

Take it away cold turkey as soon as possible.

My son is 6 moths old and I thought I would get rid of it by now too...its just so hard.
The 2 previous posters have some good ideas. My sisters-in law all had "passi parties". Where the child must gather his passi's, has a small family celebration for being a "big boy", throws out his passi's and gets a new present of his choosing. They all say it worked well and their kids were about the same age as yours at the time.
I also have heard of getting the child to "give" his passi to a younger cousin, friend - a baby that "needs it". You tell the child how th ebaby NEEDS passi's of his/her own and how nice it would be if they gave the baby their passi's. The child gathers passi's, you wrap them up and the child "gives" them away to the baby. Everyone makes a big deal about the "big" child giving the "baby" passi's and the child in turn gets a present.
Like I said- I have zero experience at this- but wanted to pass along the ideas...
Good luck!

My daughter is 22 months old and we just got rid of her "beep" a little over a week ago. I put it off because I was so afraid of the consequences. The day we "lost" it, she cried for about 20 minutes at nap time. By bedtime, she asked for it, I said it was lost and she went to sleep fine with her blankie. Every morning she will say "beep?" I tell her it's lost and that beeps are for babies. She has been fine. I was more worried about it that she has been. Try cold turkey and if you or he can't take it, I don't think it is life or death. I was tired of always looking for one and carting them around. It has been nice. We lost it with our 6 year old when he was 18 months old and he didn't struggle much either.

Good Luck.
C.

Hello,
My name is Jennifer and I have a daughter thats 16mths old. She still has her pacifier and I no longer have thought of taking it away from her. Reason being I had taken Parenting classes and the specialist informed us that it is a type of comfort security for them. I also asked the dentist if it would (make her buck toothed) and he said that is just an old wise tale.
As for other people saying "oh he/she is to old for that thing", who are they to say what is right for your child. You know best, your mommy. Let them decide when it is time. They will progressively give it up. If he is only taking it at bedtime than that is a start.
The professionals also say that a child that goes to bed with one is less likly to have problems with SIDS. It assists the childs brain in remembering to breathe due to the movement of the mouth.
I hope I could help. And that I didn't make it more confusing for you.
Good Luck.

The majic age in our house is 3. At 3 we went cold turkey for your oldest. She put on the dresser when she got up in the morning and we tok them when she wasn't around. We did talk alot about being a big girl and that soon she wasn't going to need her pacies any more. By about 6 to 8 months the only time that they ever get it is at sleep time. My 2nd daughter gave hers up on her own at about 2 1/2. She just thrw them in the trash one day and that was that. Of course there were tears for both of them when they realized that they were gong to have to go to sleep with out their pacies!