Pacificier

HI. MY DAUGHTER WOULDNT GIVE IT UP UNTIL SHE WAS THREE. I WOULD CONCENTRATE ON THE POTTY TRAINING FIRST. I THINK IT IS MORE IMPORTANT....ONE DAY I SAT MY DAUGHTER DOWN AND I TOLD HER THAT ALOT OF BABIES NEED PACIFIERS AND THEY DONT HAVE THEM BECAUSE SHE HAS THEM ALL. THEN I SAID DO YOU WANT TO SHARE YOURS....SHE SAID YES SO I TOLD HER THE NIPPLES WERE TO BIG FOR THERE MOUTHS AND WE NEEDED TO CUT THEM..SHE LET ME! SO WE CUT ALL OF THEM. I TOLD HER WHEN SHE IS READY SHE CAN PUT THEM IN A JAR FOR THE OTHER BABIES..I SAW HER TRYING TO USE THEM BUT SHE COULDNT BECAUSE THE NIPPLES WERE CUT OFF.....SLOWLY THE JAR FILLED AND SHE HASNT HAD ONE SINCE....I THINK IT WORKED WELL BECAUSE SHE FELT LIKE SHE GAVE IT UP, IT WASNT TAKEN AWAY.HOPE THIS HELPS.

I have a 2½ year old also and took her pacifier away at 2. It was VERY hard to say the least. She too only used it when she napped and at bedtime. The only thing that worked was just not giving it to her. It took 3 nights for her to finally stop screaming for her "nanight" (she thought it was called this since she got it at "nanight time." The first night was the worst and the absolute hardest. The second and third night was also rough but because the first night was so bad, they were improvements in comparison. This was the only thing that worked. I tried talking her out of it; "losing" it; telling her the week before and working my way up to it... nothing eased her into it.

The reason why it was so hard is because Katlyn (my daughter) never found another way to cope. She had become dependent on the pacifier and didn't know what to do without it. When I took the pacifier, she replaced her security by sleeping on the floor. I was concerned at first until I read that it was quite common that children do this (more generally when children switch from crib to toddler bed). Only a month later and my second daughter was born. Katlyn has slept on the floor since then (we've accomadated by getting her a "slumber bed" with her favorite character on it).

In my own opinion, from my own experience, I would take the pacifier away first, give him a couple of months to adjust, then start potty training. I put Katlyn through too much at one time (taking pacifier, having little sister, potty training, and all during a time when my family out of state was visiting). Although all these things were spaced out a month apart, it was A LOT of change for her. You don't want to overwhelm him (Katlyn did just fine, but that is what I would do differently if I could change it).

Don't worry about what others think for him still being in diapers. At this point, your main concern is to make him comfortable, by getting to it soon but all in the right time.

Katlyn is 2½ now and besides sleeping on the floor (which is no big deal) has no desire for her pacifier and is fully potty trained. Potty training didn't come difficult for her, because we made it fun and worked with her in her time (it took 4 months). I hope this has helped, and please keep us posted, I have you guys in my prayers.

Hi K.,

A friend of mine started snipping a little of the binky tip off each day. Eventually her son decided on his own that it just wasn't doing the trick for him anymore. I thought that was a neat way to do it, so I figured I'd pass it along.

there are a few ideas to try - what worked with my daughter was cold turkey.. and she was addicted to it! We left her with a sitter one night and forgot the paci and she did fine.. so we threw out the rest.

we talked about the "La La Fairy".. where you tell the child the new babies being born need the paci, so you wrap it up pretty and hang it on a tree or leave it someplace special and the fairy will come and take it to the new babies and leave a present in it's place..

My son, actually bit through his and said, "no more, broken" and that was the end of it for him.. he was a kid who only slept with it though..

I wouldn't potty train and get rid of the paci at the same time.. too much stress on them.. do the paci first, since that will be the easier one.. hold strong and do not save any and give in .. good luck!!!

I can totaly relate to you. My son will be 3 in Feb. I just recently took him off his binky as well and he's potty training too. The best thing to do with the binky is to just keep it out of sight. Start with only giving it to him at nap time and bed time. Make sure to tell the daycare to do that as well. Then slowly stop giving it to him at nap time. Once he stops using it at nap time and is use to that. You stop giving it all together. Make sure to hide any binkys you have. Its the whole out of sight out of mind concept. That worked for me. The whole potty training thing is alittle more complicated. My son just started to show interest in it. I let him tell me when he wants to try and go. I dont want to pressure him b/c then he won't want to go at all. You can also try taking him every hour, to sit on the potty so he gets used to the idea of it. If he resists going potty now dont worry he's got plenty of time to learn. It takes boys longer to potty train than girls. Its a long process. Hope my experiences can help you.

If you have any other babies in your family, or friends families....you can tell your son that you now have to give the "binky" to the new baby and find some other form of a security blanket in the process. My son loved Big Bird and we found him a stuffed Big Bird at the store.....so he was ok with having Big bird after that. Every time your son wants the "binky" just give him the "Big bird" instead and remind him that you gave the binky to family/friend. This worked for me, and hopefully it can work for you too. Good luck.

My daughter was a binky junky - we had 11 of them at one count. She needed two to fall asleep. One for her mouth and one to rub her nose with - I know - strange. When she was turning 3 we took as many binkys as we could find and put them on a plate for Santa. he was going to bring them to all the little babies whose mommies and daddys could not buy them for their babies. We gave her a binky Christmas Eve and took it away when she fell asleep. On Christmas morning they were gone. She was so excited that Santa took them. We had a five minute meltdown that night and to this day no problem. In fact, we found one around Easter time and she left it for the Easter Bunny. We actually found one the other day - two years later and she walked over to the trash and threw it away.

Hope whatever you decide works well.

My oldest daughter was 3 when we took it away from her. Well, actually, at one point I refused to buy more binkys, so when we had finally lost the last one and couldn't find it at bedtime, I made up a story that when we were at the petting zoo earlier that day, the laama ate her binky. She looked at me and said, 'Oh?'. She then went to sleep and never asked about it again! With my youngest daughter, we just stopped giving it to her when she was 18 months. She would cry for about 5 minutes, then conk out. Miraculously, she now doesn't wake up during the night. She used to before because she would search for her binky.

I love the idea of the binky fairy, cold turkey works well too. I also like the idea of 'trading' his binky for a soft toy that he picks out himself at the store. Potty training should wait, though, if you decide to wean him from the binky first. Good Luck!

My son was only interested in his for nap/bedtime. It landed outside of the pack 'n' play just long enough for our puppy to nab it. I rinsed it off and gave it back without noticing the pup had put a small whole in the nipple. My son sucked it a few times, then spit it out and played with it for a few minutes before falling asleep. The next few sleep times he did the same thing - apparenly the hole made less pleasurable. He still sleeps with his binky now, but not in his mouth - he holds it by the handle and clicks it a few times, and then dozes off with it in his hand. I suppose in that regard it's not much different than a teddy now.

Long story short - try poking a little hole in the nipple.

My daughter just stopped using her "binky" but here's and idea to try. I used to have my daughter throw small items in the garbage...pieces of paper,small soda bottles etc. Make sure she knows that if it goes in the trash it is gone for good. Then every now and then open the garbage lid and ask her if she wants to throw binky away. She either will or won't. I did that with my daughters bottle. She said no the first couple of times and one day she threw it out. She only asked for it once after that. I reminded her that is was thrown away and she couldn't get it back. She never asked for it again. But whatever you try I hope it works, just remember be patient.
I also agree that potty traing and getting rid of binky should not happen at the same time. Good Luck!!