Pap Pap Help!!

Have you tried to nip the tip, so the sucking satisfaction is gone? Then you just tell him that it is broken and you don't have any more.....

I don't see a problem. Nap time and bedtime are fine. It is comforting. Why make him miserable by taking it away. So not worth a battle. I always compare it to someone taking away my morning coffee.

Keep it a bedtime/naptime item only. When he turns three, make sure there is only one left (don't replace) and start snipping off the end a little at a time. It will no longer work properly. Note that after we did this with my daughter, she was still emotionally attached to it for several months.

Don't worry about forcing the issue right now. Our pediatric dentist told us that baby mouths are pretty flexible for a while, and as long as you are restricting the paci use to bed/nap, it shouldn't result in long-term problems for the teeth if they use it until 3yo.

ETA: Let me state for the record that "cold turkey" is NOT the best for all children. Know your kiddo and figure out the method that causes everybody the least angst while getting the job done.

Friends of ours poked little holes in them. They said their kids lost interest really fast that way.

At first I thought that sounded cruel, but then I realized it's actually brilliant. The child thought it was his/her own idea to not use it anymore, and the adult didn't have to take something away from them.

Cut the tip off of it. (I just realized I should have said this, so I'm adding - NOT in front of him.) That way sucking on it will be different. In a week, cut a little more off. The next week, a little more. In a month, there should be nothing but a nub. He will lose interest.

Make SURE any and all pap paps are treated exactly the same so that there are no normal ones for him to use.

This is actually the easiest thing in the world. Cut the tip off of the pacifier. Let him have it whenever he wants it. It's not as satisfying to the child when the tip is cut off (because it won't hold air anymore), and he will give it up on his own. My youngest was a binky addict, and our dentist told us we had to take it away from her (she had just turned 2).

On the advice of the mamapedia moms, I cut the tips off of all her binkies. She stood by her binky drawer (yes, we had an entire drawer of them ;) trying out each one, and tossing it on the floor when it didn't meet her expectations. Finally she threw down the last one, looked at me indignantly, and said, "They're all BROKEN!" and ran off to play. Never asked for one again. I had expected a whole battle with her over it, but nope! They were "broken," and that was that!

Is this really a big deal? If he's not sucking on it all day, just to fall asleep, I don't think it's a big deal. When my kids turned 3, I made a big deal about how big kids don't use them, and then asked if they wanted to be a big kid. The answer way yes, and they voluntarily gave them up. But that wasn't until age 3 when we could have that kind of conversation, and your baby just turned 2. I'd let it go for a while.

Is there are reason you think that he needs to not have it? I know for my boys it was a security thing. I did not try to take it away till they were ready to have it gone.

What the heck is a "pap pap"????

I'm getting the feeling it's a pacifier. If that's the case, then over two years old is too old to have one anyway. Just my opinion!

if it is only during naps and bedtime (and you are firm on this) i don't see a reason to rush it. he's barely 2. let it go. it is a source of comfort to him. my 6 year old still has his blankie. he quit sucking his thumb on his own between 3 and 4 years old. i never once bugged him about it. whatever reasons you have for taking it from him, google the reasons not to. you'll find just as many credible arguments.

Is there a medical/dental reason to be concerned about, or is it just bugging you? If there's no physical problem, just let it be.

Why not just let him have it at home , before sleep? It's a security object... he doesn't use it all day, but it comforts and soothes him at home, right?

The ONLY thing I can suggest is to replace it with something else which he will bond to. I'm not knocking working or using daycare, by any means, but I think that if he is subject to everyone else's rules *most* of the time, having a little comfort object before sleep would be a kind thing. Comfort and ritual is an important aspect of life-- if someone took away my Advil, my morning tea, or my heating pad, I'd likely feel pretty hurt, angry and betrayed.

you get rid of it by taking it away and then not giving in. the same way you change any behavior. You inform of the expectation and then help you child with communication and positive reinforcement.

Now - with a soothing crutch.... you are going to have to *swap* it out. Your son is comforted by this routine, so to just take it away from him without teaching him another method of self-soothing is just cruel and it will teach him that you don't care about his needs. Since that is not what you want, and since YOU are the one with the pap pap problem, it is up to you to find something that he can substitute.

My advice is to find something that you are OK with him using as a self-soother through kindergarten....... a stuffed animal, a bedtime ritual etc. Some parents will teach their kids to rub their ear lobe as a source of comfort - they can do it anywhere and it's not typically disruptive.

Your other option is to let him have his source of comfort until HE is ready to give it up.

Maybe you can find a special toy that he can take to bed instead?
When my daughter was about this age, she insisted on taking TWO to bed with her. But we noticed, she didn't suck them much/long. She held them in her hand and squeezed them. So we bought her a soft squishy toy to hold and squeeze instead. it worked.

All of my kids were about two and a half or three when we got rid of the nuks. We just had to go cold turkey, and throw them all out. We had 2-3 nights of crying and then that was it. The one bad thing was my youngest completely gave up napping when he no longer had his nuk.

Cold turkey is the best approach.

If he isn't using it at daycare, that means he can live without it. You need to buck up and deal with it. Most kids are hardheaded at this age (and beyond). Tell him that he is a big boy and pap paps are for babies. I don't see why a fairy tale won't help ease the transition. Make up something. Maybe an adventure story that involves a boy with a pap pap. At the end he gives up the pap pap and is glad he did. Or maybe a fairy can take it but leave something really cool as a replacement, like leggos. But once you take it, don't give it back. Good luck. It won't be easy.

For those Mom's who don't know.....A pap pap is a pacifier.

We had a hard-headed baby boy, too. What worked for us was when the "binkie" actually broke. The rubber finally gave way and a hole popped in it. We told him that it had broken and we had to throw it away, and that it was time for him to not have it anymore 'cause he was a big boy. He tried sucking it one more time, realized that it didn't work and HE actually was the one that threw it in the trash. He never asked for it again, ever!

After having a bunch of kids and watching a bunch of kids I have come to the conclusion that when it bothers the parents enough they will get rid of it. It never is as big a deal as we anticipate it will be. If he is strong headed, I would suggest that you deal with that strong headedness sooner than later. The bigger they get the stronger they get if you don't have a handle on it. Think of it as teaching him self control, it will benefit him greatly in the future.

My son used his at bedtime until he turned 2. One week later his Grandpa (who couldn't stand them) threw them away while my husband and I were out of state for a wedding. All of them. None left hiding in his crib, or in the corner of a diaper bag. There were two nights of a bit of crying, 10 minutes the first night, about 3 the second night, but then it was done. I thought it was harsh at first, but looking back, I am SO thankful that he did what my husband and I felt too bad to do.

Good Luck!

My son was about the same age when we finally got rid of it. For several weeks/months beforehand I just stopped replacing all the pacifiers that got lost so we were whittling down the "back ups." (He also never used one at daycare.) My plan had been to do a binky fairy thing on a particular night, but we actually LOST the very last binky a few days before that! Anyway, he did great--I think we worry that they won't be able to handle it but they can really surprise us. I think my son asked about a binky at bedtime for a couple nights after that, but that was it. And I wasn't tempted to give in because I literally had no more binkies in the house to go to. Gone, over. I did find that last binky a few months later after moving some furniture around and I put it into my memories box. :-)