I have a 18 month old and I am trying to get her off the pacifier. Any advice?

Kristy - posted on 11/23/2009

Cold turkey is good but here is a spin. If you celebrate Christmas tell her that if she hangs them on the tree then Santa will swap them for something really good. I did this with my girl she was still having hers at age 3. Try and find something cheap, i actually just used a chocolate that my little one loves and dangled them off the tree after taking off the Pacifier.

Samantha - posted on 11/21/2009

My little one was almost 2 before she gave it up and what I did was take all of herbinys andcut the ends off of them and when she got upset I would tell her that they were all broken and had her throw them away in the trash like a "big girl". Then the days following whenever she would ask for one I would remind her that she threw them all away and then try to distract her with something that she liked to do. It only took a few days and then she didn't even ask for them anymore! : )

Sam - posted on 11/21/2009

Im going to contradict most people, i think yet again each child is different with my niece I know that my sister ended up making her go cold turkey but my own daughter has slowly herself weaned herself off of her dummy and each week there is an improvement where she uses the dummy less. At the present she is only using it when she hurts herself or when she sleeps and never at any other time. I was the same and at a young age I threw my own dummy away and just stopped using it. I think it really is a fine tuning exercise between knowing when is the right time for going cold turkey and how long you give your child to give it up themselves.

Griselda - posted on 11/18/2009

Have you considered telling her that big girls no longer use binkies? If you had that talk with her I suggest trying the "binky fairy"
The binky fairy comes at night and takes all the binkies away and gives them to other children that need it...or you can say something more creative.
Whatever you do, stick to your word. Be consistent!

Good luck!

Jessica - posted on 11/18/2009

My PED gave us a suggestion, He said that while the child is away(out of the House) Make sure no Binkys go with them... Go around the house chopping the tip of the binky off and putting it right back where your child left it... It is important that you get them all so Make sure you have enough time with child gone. When the child finds the binky just ask them what happened and then say it broke.. It works like a charm.. After about 3-4 days my daughter quit asking about the B. Good Luck I hope My info will be helpful.

Courtney - posted on 11/17/2009

I would suggest you just leave it in the crib and only let her have it at night. Make it something exciting and say bye bye ..(.whatever you call it). Give it time and she will know that it is only a bed time thing. Thats what i did with my son and then a month or so later we got a ballon and put the pacifer it and let him let it go so he kneows it was gone...It made it exciting for him...

Leanne - posted on 11/15/2009

Quoting Amy:

Mydaughter threw it and I told her it was lost, I found it before she did, she helped look for it but never found it. I put it up just in case, but she asked a few times for it I kept telling her you lost it it's gone about two days and she forgot about it.

HAHA  My daughter did something similar. We were walking (her in her stroller) down the road and she threw it in the street. I told her that she wasn't getting it back and it was gone because she threw it out there. She would ask for it a few times for the first 2-3 days. After that, nothing. Good luck!

Tess - posted on 11/15/2009

hi i have a 16month old girl and we were wondering the same thing, but Lily only uses the dummy in her cot. She knows that now that shes a big girl when she gets out of bed she leaves it there. I went to my dads the other day and 4got to grab her dummy so she could nap there, and u know what she didnt even care. i think that she'll go off it herself otherwise jus limit the time she uses it and dont give in. everyone to there own though!!!

Amy - posted on 11/15/2009

Mydaughter threw it and I told her it was lost, I found it before she did, she helped look for it but never found it. I put it up just in case, but she asked a few times for it I kept telling her you lost it it's gone about two days and she forgot about it.

Brandy - posted on 11/14/2009

Have her throw it away... I had to get my daughter off of it and that is what we did with her and when she asked for It we said to her you throw it away cause your a big girl now. Hope that thelps

Amanda - posted on 11/13/2009

get rid of it!!! Throw them all away! After about a week she wont even remember! I just went through this with my 18 month old son. It will be harder for you than it will be for her... Replace it with a stuffed animal or in the car give her a pretzle stick! good luck and remeber take it and dont give in!!!

Virginia - posted on 11/13/2009

Hello Jamila, 18 months was the age I took my sons and it was alot easier than I expected. I waited till he wasn't using it and non-chalantly put it away and just didn't give it back to him. he asked for it a few times but after a few days that was the end of it. good luck

Heidi - posted on 11/13/2009

Just through it away!! That is what I had to do but, the good thing was she only wanted it when she was tired. But, make sure she sees u throw them away. Tell her she is a big girl now, she goes to school!!!!!!

LeeAnn - posted on 11/13/2009

What i did with my oldest is that i told her that Santa needed for all the other little babies. And if she would give him all of her binks, that santa would leave her presents. It was rough for like a hour but i just kept reminding her that she'd get presents and it worked.

A.J. - posted on 11/13/2009

I agree, cold turkey. However, try telling her that there are other babies that really need them and have her put them in a bag for "the other babies" and in return maybe give her a special reward for "sharing". Good luck!

Monique - posted on 11/13/2009

What I did was I let her use the pacifier at night, so she knew when she got out of the crib she had to drop it and leave it there. Then she was always excited to go to bed because she knew her pacifier was waiting. After a week or so I took it cold turkey on the weekend and she just cried herself to sleep for three nights. She would wake up crying once and go back to sleep. I could hear her sucking on nothing right before she woke up. But after that third day, no more pacifiers.

Renee - posted on 11/13/2009

My son was the same wouldn't use it all day then demand it as soon as we walked out of day care. For us we just took it away..but kept one hidden 'in case' When he asked for it we just said he was a big boy and didn't need it. When we picked him up from day care we distracted him so he wouldn't think to ask for it. Surprisingly within 3 days he just didn't ask for it.

Jamila - posted on 11/12/2009

Quoting Kat:

I agree, cold turkey is best! Or you could take all of her pacifiers and put a couple of drops of Tobasco Sauce on the nipple when she's not looking. It would be a shock to her system, but odds are, she'd stop wanting it! lol Also works on sleeping baby's thumb to break thumb-suckers of this bad habit. =] Good luck!

Thanks for the advice Kat, hopefully its a good turnout lol.

Jamila - posted on 11/12/2009

Quoting Amber:

Hello jamila, how are you? in reference to your question...my advice would be to just cold turkey take it away. on the same token be careful because like my daughter... she could revert to the thumb. and now my daughter sucks her thumb all the time!

Hey Amber,

thanks for the advice, i will try it, but it will be a challenge. thanks!

Kat - posted on 11/12/2009

I agree, cold turkey is best! Or you could take all of her pacifiers and put a couple of drops of Tobasco Sauce on the nipple when she's not looking. It would be a shock to her system, but odds are, she'd stop wanting it! lol Also works on sleeping baby's thumb to break thumb-suckers of this bad habit. =] Good luck!

Amber - posted on 11/12/2009

Hello jamila, how are you? in reference to your question...my advice would be to just cold turkey take it away. on the same token be careful because like my daughter... she could revert to the thumb. and now my daughter sucks her thumb all the time!