Pacifiers-When to get rid of them and best way how

Sal - posted on 02/03/2011

ohh the dummy's out not the kids, though giving them to someone else for a week while they get over sounds like a good plan too..

Sal - posted on 02/03/2011

i do suggest getting them out of the house so you can't give in when they get really demanding, the 1st 2 were about 12-18 months (can;t remember as my son is now 15) and my baby was 2 and a bit

Sal - posted on 02/03/2011

my kids would never have a dummy no matter how i tried to stuff it in and no matter what i put on it to make it tasty, all 3 did have bottles how ever and the 1st 2 just took the bottle off them, had a few long nights but realatively successful and i didn't replace it with anything. no 3 how ever was not going to give up so easy, i perservered for 2 weeks and after a visit to the clinic sister where she was showing signs of dehydration and weight loss i had to give it back, a few months later i tried again, no issues i night of sooking but then fine, so i do go with the cold turkey theory had 3 out of 4 goes worked great.

Toni - posted on 02/03/2011

hi when my daughter was 2 and a half she got rid of her own dummy and by that i mean we used to live on a farm and she had a pet pig named 'pig' well anyway pig had 11 piglets and we wanted the dummy gone so we went to see pig and asked my daughter if the piglets mihgt need her dummy and she threw it in there and that was it we had to explain to her that she wouldn't get it back and she was happy to do it. my son didn't take to a dummy but my other daughter did and she's 15 mnths at the moment and looooooves it i'm hoping to be done with it 2 and a half aswell. every child is different you will get rid of it when your both ready. also i've seen kids turning 4 that still have one to me it looks funny...

Chatty - posted on 02/01/2011

Deanna, it has been SUGGESTED that bottles and pacifiers CAN cause tooth and jaw development problems. My not even 3 year old was to the pediatric dentist by 18 months and was given a great review. We actually have another appointment scheduled in March coming up. I specifically asked the dentist if there were any problems with her teeth aligning or her jaw developing and she assured me that as long as the use wasn't excessive MOST children will never experience problems as a result of using a pacifier for sleeping.



I'll say this again....as long as a parent is practicing proper and regular oral care and the child isn't using the soother excessively, there is no reason to assume there will be problems.

Rosie - posted on 02/01/2011

some people dont' like this advice, but it worked well for me. just take it away. if you don't want her to have it, take it. i took my boys away at a year, and they cried more excessively for about 2-3 days and were done. no big deal. if you can't bear to do that, sorry i'm not a big help, lol! :)

Deanna - posted on 02/01/2011

The FIRST TIME she throws it for any reason pick it up gather all the other pacifiers and throw them away. Throw them away in a big trash can where she can't get them and flat out tell her that since she didn't want her pacifier they were all gone. Don't give in and get them our sterilize them, etc. Just let her scream it out if she wants. She will be fine. Pacifiers and bottles past the age of a year and a half have been shown to cause mouth problems. The least of them being buck teeth or the like in which the child later needs braces, or something of the sort. IMHO

Erin - posted on 02/01/2011

Oy... My daughter will be 2 next week and still has her dummy much more than I would like. I'd managed to instill the 'only at bedtime' rule, and then she got sick and spent 4 days in hospital in November. Being in there, she needed all the comfort she could get, and I have failed dismally at taking it back off her since because she is now getting her 2 year old molars.

I am with Meghan though. A 2.5 year old using a dummy at bedtime is not a big deal. Forcing the issue could make the whole thing much more dramatic than it needs to be. I honestly believe some babies/toddlers need to suck. My daughter is one of them.

I am planning on swapping her dummies for eggs from the Easter Bunny. My friend did this with her daughter (who is also stubborn and persistant like mine lol) and it worked like a charm. I think there needs to be some kind of novelty and incentive involved. Simply taking it away with no explanation or encouragement is not the method for me.

Emma - posted on 02/01/2011

we lost ours in the shopping centre, he asked where it was. we just said that it wasnt here anymore, he accepted it and we all moved on gradually, we "lost" his at 19 months.

Melissa - posted on 02/01/2011

wait til christmas, easter or easter and tell her santa needed it for the babies or the easter buny needed it, or wait til her birthday and tell her big girls dont need them anymore. We are planning on taking our daughters dummy away on her third birthday in 2 months. My nanna threw the dummy in the fireplace with her kids and made them watch. I think different things work with different people

Meghan - posted on 01/31/2011

I am a a firm believer that children will do things when they are ready. If she was walking around with it all day that might be one thing. But, if she only has it it for naps, I personally wouldn't worry too much. J never had a soother but he was bottle obsessed. I started to get a little antsy around 15 months months when he would give up his morning and bedtime babas. With some support from friends I decided to back off and take his lead. I encouraged him to let it go, but also tried to empathize with the face the obviously in some way he felt like he still needed it. At 20 months he woke up one morning and didn't ask for it...we haven't looked back since. I guess all I am saying is that in my experience, the more parent's stress and push things, the more reluctant kids can be.

Wanda - posted on 01/31/2011

My 3 yr old would still have a pacifer but he started chewing the nipple part off a few months ago so I took them away. Oddly enough, he didn't whine or carry-on as much as I thought he would. He asked for his 'suce' a couple of times after, I told him if was broken and that I couldn't fix it and he seemed fine with it. I should add that he only ever got a pacifier to sleep with.

Carrie - posted on 01/31/2011

my daughter just turned a year old. she was 3 months premature so developmentally she is like a 9 1/2 month old but I would like to get rid of the pacifier. I'm just not sure how at this point because she isn't old enough to understand so I can't tell her she's too big or anything like that. all she knows is its a big part of her life and if I take it away, its no longer there. I have it down to only sleeping and car rides at this point. Any ideas for trying to get rid of it for those times too?

Stifler's - posted on 01/31/2011

One of my friends just got the dummy, cut it in half and told their son it was yucky and broken and he was a big boy now and never gave him one again. My son just gave his up on his own at about 10 months, just started throwing it away or out of the cot and so I just stopped giving it to him.

Nikkole - posted on 01/31/2011

yea my son will start preschool soon and actually there are kids that go who are not potty trained but im hoping he will get the urge to start soon lol thanks

Bonnie - posted on 01/31/2011

Nikkole, He just turned 3 so don't worry just yet. When my son turned 3, he was barely even sitting on the potty let alone producing while on it. Then a few months went by and we started using him going to school in the fall as a positive to help him along and it seemed to work.

Shauna - posted on 01/31/2011

yeah the thought of potty training scares me... at least i have some time to prepare myself for that one.

Nikkole - posted on 01/31/2011

My son turned 3 on Dec 31st and he still uses his we ALMOST had his gone when i had his baby sister and she uses one so YEA that didnt work but he only gets his at night! And the potty training is going HORRIBLY he refuses to go i dont know what to do we have tried bribing,taking diapers away,and the star chart NOTHING works!

Bonnie - posted on 01/31/2011

Becky, Shauna is right. You have to take control. You make the decisions for your daughter and if you want the pacifier gone then just take it away.

Shauna - posted on 01/31/2011

Becky--- i think your taking that the wrong way. And looking too deep into what i said.
I obviously dont think your a bad parent A) b/c i dont know you. B) my son still has his binky
all i meant by that is your the one in control so if you want it gone make it gone.
Dont get offended, b/c it wasnt meant to offend.

Becky - posted on 01/31/2011

I think that is a little harsh. I am the parent and I find it interesting that you have the nerve to suggest I am not. This is one issue and you need to back off.

Shauna - posted on 01/31/2011

My son will be 11 mo in a week. We just took the binky away as of today besides nap time and bedtime. Hes done fine. Usually he had it in his mouth all day, just got sick of it. So when i decide to take it away from nap time ill pro just throw them away. Be the parent and take charge, if you want it gone.

Becky - posted on 01/31/2011

Exactly. All was fine until my mother in law visited and she was all about the teeth. Our daughter has seen the dentist and we were told the comforting is important. She does not have any lovey or blanket that she has to have. We do a lot of traveling and she always looks for the pacifier for her routine.

Chatty - posted on 01/31/2011

Yea, she's made a lot of progress in the last couple days.

Bonnie - posted on 01/31/2011

Dana, my older son stopped using the soother as a bay, but I had to do the same thing as you for the toilet part and I think it helped. We were 5 months away from him starting school and we just kept telling him that he can't go to school if he can't use the toilet. He was very excited for school. Within a couple of months he was fully trained at that point.

Chatty - posted on 01/31/2011

My most recent encouragement has to do with Roxanne starting preschool in Sept. She's VERY excited so I've tried to explain that she needs to use the toilet and lose the soother. It's been interesting! Good thing we have 6 months....

Joanna - posted on 01/31/2011

We just took our daughter's pacis away a couple months ago, shortly after she turned 3. She just seemed old enough to be able to sleep without them. One morning when she was helping daddy make breakfast, I went up and collected them all and hid them (later threw them away) and put a little trinket under her pillow, and then when naptime came and she asked where they were, I got excited and said "oh the big girl fairy must have come this morning! She takes pacifiers from big girls to give to new babies, but she will always leave abig girl present under your pillow!" and she was so excited and never asked for her pacis again, which I never thought possible with how much she loved them.

Chatty - posted on 01/31/2011

The only problem with the dummy fairy (and I'm not saying it's not worth giving it a shot) but at 2 1/2 they don't have full comprehension of what you're saying so I doubt it will work. I did it with Roxanne to encourage her and she was excited about it and even tried to do without it for a few minutes, before she realized what I was saying meant she wouldn't actually get to have it anymore. Definitely give it a try though.



And, cutting off the tips is dangerous. Yes, it eliminates the sucking action, therefore redering it useless, BUT, most babies will still want it in their mouth and will just get frustrated that it doesn't work. Perhaps they will get so frustrated that they just spit it out and give up on it but, in the meantime it's a choking hazard. They can bite and chew the plastic that's been cut.

Teresa - posted on 01/31/2011

If it's JUST in bed.... I see no real harm in allowing her to continue until she, hopefully, outgrows the need.

That being said.... my twin girls were addicted to their binkies. We had cut them down to just nap and bed sometime around/before 18 months and about 3 weeks before their 2nd bday we just took them away. There was about a week of MINOR adjusting at bedtime and they were fine, but..... they quit napping unless I drove them to sleep (which I did every single day for 6 months!).

My son never took a binky, but he's still breastfed 3 or more times a day and is almost 3......

Sarah - posted on 01/31/2011

I saw on Super Nanny (or some programme like that!) about giving all the dummies (pacifiers) away to the Dummy Fairy......you put them all in a basket or something and say that the Dummy Fairy will come and take them and give them to new babies that need them. Then you leave a special "big girl" present in the basket for them when they wake up.

I don't know if your little one would be old enough to understand the concept, but might be worth a go!

The only other thing I've heard is cutting the top off so they won't want it because it's broken.

At some point though, I guess you might just have to deal with crying and moaning. It is hard, but you'll both get there! That's why I took my daughters away a lot younger, just to make it easier for me later on! lol

Hope some of that helps :)

Chatty - posted on 01/31/2011

Becky, after doing much research and considering MY daughter, her personality and several other factors, I've decided that there is no dire need to take the pacifier away just yet. She's been to see a pediatric dentist who confirmed that everything was developing well and on schedule when she was 18 months and we have another appointment coming up in March. Other than jaw and tooth development, I don't have any other concerns about her using it. We ALWAYS brush her teeth before bed and she doesn't use it during the day so I'm not worried about it causing cavities or impeding her speech.



I'm not advocating for people to shove a soother in their kids mouth to shut them up, BUT, I do feel that if a parent is taking precautions and using the pacifier responsibly, no harm will come from it. Every child is different and you need to do what's best for you and your child.

Bonnie - posted on 01/31/2011

Does she have a favourite blanket or stuffed animal that could possibly help?

Chatty - posted on 01/31/2011

The only full proof method to taking it away is to just take it away. Do I necessarily agree with that? Nope. I think you need to be encouraging and firm with when she's allowed to have it but since my almost 2 1/2 year old still uses hers when she sleeps, I can't and won't say anything.

Becky - posted on 01/31/2011

The crying and the whining is just so hard to handle.

Bonnie - posted on 01/31/2011

Just take it away and don't let her have it. Throw it away if you have to. She will get use to it not being there for her.