How do I get my 16 month old off the pacifier??

Kathy - posted on 12/14/2012

My son is 16m old too and only uses it for naps & nighttime.He doesn't use it at all during the day and really doesn't even care about it, only at night does he get it. There are times I check up on him at night and he doesn't even have it in his mouth. Then other times, when I lay him down, he throws it, doesn't even want it. Normally, I lay him down either with a bottle of milk if he didn't want cereal before bed or no bottle if he ate well and put his pacifier on his chest. He feels it's there and hold it with one hand. Tonight is the first night I lay him down without it and within minutes, he was standing & crying. I don't have the heart to hear him whimper or cry for more than 5 minutes. Add in the fact I'm 5.5. months pregnant and my hormones are raging, makes it even worse. I love snuggling with him so I cuddled with him in my bed for 10 minutes, he was sound asleep. Slowly picked him up and lay him in his crib. So far, been 10 minutes and he's sleeping! I'm hoping he stays asleep during the night! I don't mind cuddling with him if that's what it takes the first few nights. Especially after today's shooting in Connecticut, cuddling as much as possible with him is wonderful! ♥ Blessings & good luck

Beth - posted on 09/19/2010

our 18 month has just had her pacifier taken away also, we started by giving it to her only at night and in the day she would say bye bye num-num we are now doing the same with the bottle.so far so good

Lynn - posted on 09/16/2010

With my first son (he is 13 now) I told him that the only way santa could bring him the toys he wanted was if he gave all his dummies to a little boy or girl who didn't have any.So we wrapped them in a nice box and took them to a charity shop (I called ahead of time so they didn't think I was mad and so they knew to bin them when we left) and he handed them over to the lady like a big boy and went home to wait for santa to bring him his gifts.He never once complained because he was getting what he wanted out of it too.
I am dreading doing it with 17 month old son now, he is using one while carrying a spare in his hand at all times and boy does he have a violent temper, it is not going to be pretty.

Katrina - posted on 09/15/2010

I was in the same situation as you a month ago. My daughter is now 17 months and at 16 months I decided that she was getting too old for it. This is how we did it. We started off gradually by only letting her have it to sleep with. Just don't have any soothers in sight or they will freak out. The hard part is getting them to sleep without it. I just took it all away once about a week after she was only using it for night time. Some nights I would give in because she would scream for an hour just to fall asleep. Other nights it would only take 5 min. You have to prepare yourself for some screamy nights but after about 4 days she forgot all about it. She found one under her crib the other day and she just gave it to me haha. Good luck.

Angelica - posted on 09/14/2010

I need to do the same thing with my 16 month old. With our 1st we went cold turkey & it was horrible for 3 days. With our second we snipped the slightest bit off the tip & he chose that he didn't want it. It went so much smoother! We are going to do the same thing with our third.

Stefani - posted on 09/14/2010

I just took my 16mo old off of the paci two days ago. Just took it away completely. At nap time i just made sure the room was dark and she had her favorite blankie. She fussed a lot. But i would go in every 5-10minutes and lay her down and tell her to go to sleep. And at night time i let her stay up a couple hours after bed time so she was very tired and she went to sleep fast but still fussed because she didnt have her paci. it's gotten better these past 2 days. but it was hard at first. With my first child he cried for 3 hours at night until he cried himself to sleep. With my daughter, I just keep tucking her back into bed until she finally goes to sleep. She fusses still but after 30minutes she goes to bed.
hope this makes sense and helps.
and this past week, after she falls asleep i take the paci away. So she could start getting use to not having it while she was sleeping.

Cheshmak - posted on 09/14/2010

I'm going through the same thing riht now. ... have to wean my 17month old before he starts montessori where no pacis allowed!! i read that the fastest way is to cut a little piece of it. It loses its enjoyability. then cut another litte piece and continue until there is none left but apparentsly they lose interest way before then. Just be sure you cut in such a way that it's not a chocking hazzard.

Looking forward to suggestions for us as well and thanks for posting this.

Jenn - posted on 09/13/2010

My mom started teaching my daughter when stuff was on the floor ( like food ) its dirty and no good so we take it to the trash and say bye to it no more. And she did the same with her binky and she threw it away and now we play classical music to put her to sleep. She cryed for a couple of days but we stayed to bathing her tiring her out and she was so tired by bed time she forgot about the binky. Hope this helps.

Francesca - posted on 09/12/2010

My lil girl only has her dummy when she sleeps at night. I cut her dummy out completely during the day. If it's out of sight, she can't reach for it or want it. When she does get upset, she's easily distracted by a toy or book etc. I have no prob giving her dummy when she goes to bed at night because it comforts her. At the mo she is teething and I have found the dummy settles her & she sleeps through the night.

Beth - posted on 09/11/2010

i went little by little with my two girls and am now doing that with my 17 month old. i take it away during the day and then at nap time and then at night. they always cry at first but about after a week they seem to be ok. i did make the mistake with my first daughter by giving her a sippie cup to go to sleep. so i got the pacie away but the sippie cup was so much harder to take away. i learned from that mistake!

Amanda - posted on 09/11/2010

I seriously just explained to my daughter that she was a big girl now and that she didn't need it anymore. We threw them all away and just dealt with a day or two of her wanting it (but not having one in the house). She was a little cranky just because she was used to having one, but she finally got over it and now she plays with my son'd paci without even putting it in her mouth. She understands that they are for babies. She even tries to give it to her baby dolls. I hope this helps. I don't know if everyone has the patience to deal with a crabby toddler for a day or two though. Just make sure he understands why you're taking it away!

Sue - posted on 09/10/2010

a friend of mine swears by making holes in them and making them gradually bigger until the dummy is no longer good for sucking.

Tiffani - posted on 09/09/2010

well my 16th month boy he still has the the pacifier and the doctor said that it was fine that she still had it so unless u really dont ur little one to have it i wouldnt worry about it

Ty - posted on 09/09/2010

just do the swap out for the binky. my son has never used one but my nieces did and it worked for them.

Dana - posted on 09/09/2010

For a while, I made my daughter stay in bed with it. Finally, I just took it away cold turkey. It was a week of pure hell but it worked.

Nicole - posted on 09/09/2010

I would try a gradual approach. He's attached to it for reasons you may not know. Start by leaving it in the crib when he wakes up. We always have our son throw it in as a game and we say see you at nap time" E" (what he calls a binky) :-) then after nap we do the same thing. A friend of mine had a special basket on a shelf in her sons room where the pacifier lived during the day and her son felt big putting it in there and taking out for bed. Once our son turns 2 we will give them to his baby brother due in Dec.

Heather - posted on 09/09/2010

We Found www.byebyebinky.com. The instructions really worked!! I was nervous cuz my son was 2 and we had already had another who used a binky & I didn't want him taking hers. Within a week the binky was gone with no substitutions or thumb.

Mariana - posted on 09/09/2010

Hi everyone. Just thought i'd let u know that my brother and sister-in-law waited until the Christmas before their little boys 3rd birthday and told him all the way through December that Father Christmas would only leave him his presents if he left his dummy's out for him. On Christmas Eve he happily left his dummy's on a plate for Father Christmas and went off to bed. He has never had another dummy since. When my little girl is nearer to 3 we will be doing the same at Christmas. Hope this helps x

Jamie - posted on 09/08/2010

I am wondering the same thing myself. My son is also 16 months old. We had it to where he only got his bink or his bebe as he calls it at bed time, naps and in the car. The second week of July I took away his bottles and he did fine with that but seem to get even more attached to his bebe. He is now cutting molars and wants it all the time. Most of the time he isn't sucking on it he's chewing on it. There are times that he will scream and cry till he gets it. Any help is great.

Nicole - posted on 09/07/2010

My son is 16 months. We lost both is pacifiers and for 2 days we had no problem what so ever. Then he went and found them both and got attached. Right now I only give it to him when he goes to bed. Sometimes my daughter will get it for him when he cries, but I take it right back from him. He is playing with it, so I think it is time to get rid of it. So we are going to try and go cold turkey with it here soon. My daughter just decided one day she didn't want it anymore and that was that :)

Yvonne - posted on 09/07/2010

We limited it to the car and bedtime with our first son then went cold turkey at night and within 2 days he was totally over it. Our second son is more determined and much more attached to his dummy but we are tackling it exactly the same way. He knows now when he gets up from a sleep that the dummy stays behind and he throws it back in the cot himself!!

Laura Zoey - posted on 09/06/2010

I would just leave it in his crib, if he is in the crib he can have it, if he wants to get out it stays behind. simple and it makes him choose to give it up. if he cries for it then put him in the crib until he gets his 'fix' but when he wants out it stays in the crib. also you could have one that stays in the car, it doesnt leave the car. same rules if he is in his carseat he can have it but when he gets out it stays there.
try it, i bet it will work. And once he gets to the point where he realizes he doesnt need it sometimes it will be easier to take it away entirely. but give him a bit with just the 2 places, like 6 months of only in the car and crib then you can make the jump to have it gone entirely.
Best of luck! let me know if you try this!

Brittany - posted on 09/05/2010

My son loves his binky too... He is 16 months old now. When he turned 12 months, we only gave him his binky to sleep with. He would always spit it out when he fell asleep. We had to give it back to him full time now because he was biting at daycare so often I was getting phone calls at work about it. I refused to bite him back or anything like that, so that was what his doctor suggested, but that is another topic. He will be 18 months on October 19th. We are planning on doing away with all binkys and bottles. I plan on using the same tactics as before. Only giving it to him for sleep and nap times. During the day time and meltdowns all you can do is enjoy being the one who can soothe his cries and dry his tears. Try everything possible to distract him from the situation of it being gone.



I have heard a lot of parents say that throwing away the pacifier in front of your child gives them closure and they are fine after that. For us, we found it worked better to take it when he wasn't paying attention after he left it somewhere. (example:during nap or while playing). If he didn't see one, he wouldn't have a reminder of it, and in turn wouldn't want it.



After a week or two we are going to completely take away the pacifier. I will admit I am a little nervous about this part. GOOD LUCK! HOPE THIS HELPS!!

JESSICA - posted on 09/05/2010

i have alway just take it . It is vary hard becouse the cry but at the end they will forget about it

Patricia - posted on 09/04/2010

i go all 3 of my boys off pacifier by using it as a toy. it always worked on other kids that i have watched.