No More Pacifer

Hello F.,
I really don't know what to tell you since it was really easy for me to wean my daughter off her pacifier when she was about 14 o 15 months old... but I think it will be hard for you girl to let it go, regardless of the method because of what you have said about her being sensitive and very attached to it. I think the best thing would be to choose one of the methods suggested to you by other moms, gather up a lot of guts and throw them all out. That way, once she starts whining or asking for it, there is no way you can give in, because you don't have any to give her. It will be hard for a couple of days... but I think worth it. Good luck!

My son just turned one and he was very much in love with his binky. I was terrified to take it away because I knew he would go back to waking up every couple of hours. I started by not letting him have it while were at home just in the car and durning naps/bedtime. Then I stopped giving it to him in the car. I weaned him off using it during his morning nap, then his afternoon and finally bedtime. This all took about 1 1/2 months, but I finally tossed them all out a couple of weeks ago. I am not going to lie the first 3 nights were horrible. He was waking up every 3 hours crying. Finally after the thrird day he stopped and everything went back to normal. I really feel that sometime we are the ones that make it much harder than it needs to be. I was so worried about how he was going to make it through the day. After all is done I realized yeah he liked it, but he is also fine without it.

Hi F.,

I've heard that if you make a small hole in the part she sucks on (like with a needle), it takes the suction away and they no longer like it. If that works, she would reject the pacifier rather than you taking it away! Good luck and hang in there. You've got three children under 3 and you seem very happy...so you're obviously doing something right!! :0)

Hi F.,

I saw this on Supernanny last night while flipping channels. Thought it was a pretty good iday. The nanny made an envelope and told the little boy that the paci-fairy needed his pacis for little babies and that if he sent the fairy all of his pacis he would get a surprise. So after she convinced him to put the pacis in the envelope she walked out to the mailbox with him and had him put them in there himself.

The next day she put a package filled with little animals (you could use anything your daughter likes) in the mailbox and told him to go look at what the paci-fairy had brought him.

The little boy was okay with giving it up because he gave it up and didn't have it taken away from him. I thought it was a neat idea. Worth a try anyways.

Good Luck!

Our dentist told us to get ride of the paci when he went for his first dentist appt...he was about 2. We had a 'bye bye binky party' - we went to Party City and bought some balloons and then we came home and tied his binky to it and watched it go up to the clouds. He had one rough night then he was fine. Sometimes when we are driving and its a cloudy day, I hear him in the back looking up to the sky and saying "hi" to binky.
Honestly, the day we let the binky go, my husband and I both cried like babies...it was a milestone that our lil boy was not a baby any more and I do think it was harder on us then him. But I know we had it pretty easy in terms of his reaction.
Good luck to you!!!!

I'm a terrible mom. I let my daughter use her paci until she was 4 yrs old out of fear on how to take it away. I did make her give it up during the day; she only used it at night. But I read about the paci-fairy on this list and decided to try it. I just told her about the paci-fairy and suggested the fairy would bring a princess purse she had been wanting for a long time. You would not believe how fast she gathered up all her pacis and put them in a sack, with a big smile on her face. I asked if she understood that she really would not get them back, and she said yes, she understood but little babies needed them. And that was that. I could not believe how easy it was. Of course now she has replaced the paci with her thumb like her twin sister - have no idea how to get those thumbs out of the mouths...another chapter in bad mommy life I guess.

At our pediatrician's suggestion, we cut a tiny hole in the tip of each pacifier. After a few day, we snipped a tiny bit more off and so on. After about a week, both daughters gave them up without a peep and we didn't have to be the bad guys. Good luck!

I too have a paci lover. She is so comforted by her Baa that I don't know if I will be able to take it away. I have started by only letting her have it in her bed. She now knows she will not get out of her bed with it. It was hard but worth it. She now functions perfect all day without. Good Luck!

My daughter was almost three, and it was definately time, but it was only at night that she was "needing" it. Hurricane Katrina hit and they had the donations drive. I asked her about the situation and asked her what she would like to donate. She said that babies need pacifiers, so we gathered them all up and donated (the new unwrapped ones) her pacifiers to the babies who lost theirs in the hurricane. So, you might come up with a story like that, but the important thing is to have her do it and let her realize that it is not you taking her beloved away!

I wish I could give some good advice on this. My daughter is 20 months and we feel it is time to start weening her off the pacifer. She didnt start using it until she was 12 months old because of the little girl that I baby sits uses it. But her dentist wants her off it by age 2. She really only uses it for nap and bed time and when she is teething. She is also a blankie baby as well....

I am nervous about removing the paci and amprehensive about starting the process. She is going through speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy as well and i dont know if this will go over to well with her.

I know that when she starts to communicate and understand me better that i plan on taking her to her dentist and have her give them to her so she can pass them on to the paci fairy. in return she gets a deploma for being a big girl and some money as well.

my problem is the little girl that i care for during the week uses paci's and her mom is not ready to give it up. i dont know how to keep her from the little girl's paci.

Good luck to you!