Pacifiers

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any tips for weaning toddlers off of pacifiers? Seth is still very much attached to his. At daycare, they do limit it to naps and he seems fine with that but at home he wants one (or more! ) all the time. So, I am guessing limiting it to nap and bedtime at home too would be a start. To be honest though, I don’t see what the huge deal is and I have never really pushed it since I read the sucking motion may help reflux but the ped. gave us the lecture today about it possibly damaging his teeth…

[Anonymous]

I have heard of parents cutting the tips off of the pacifier and then the babies don’t like it. I haven’t tried that. I did laugh about the more than one because Colton has decided he needs multiple pacifiers at one time. There are times when he puts two in his mouth and he looks so silly. I don’t know what the big deal is either. Colton loves his pacifiers so I think I will wait a little longer before I try anything.

[Anonymous]

I personally don’t care too much about weaning when they’re only two. Not that I can wean… we have a constant finger sucker around here! And it’s not just one finger but two!!! As for the teeth, that’s the least of my worries- sucking is good for reflux, also for soothing (my personal favourite), and while not good for positioning of the teeth, the salivary production is protective….

Like I said, nothing I can do about it anyhow, so maybe I’ve tried to convince myself! I’ll worry about a good orthodontist when she’s a teenager, but for now, we’ve got other concerns.

I would do what you think is right, and take your peds advice on those things with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, never really answered your question, but our neighbour did something really cute…

They prepared their daughter for when she was three (the magic cut off for tossing the pacis that they created) by talking about how when she’s three, no more pacifier b/c big girls don’t use pacifiers anymore. Then they told her that they need to give the pacifiers away to other babies who need them, and that they were going to send them away by attaching them to helium balloons and having a big celebration. Funny thing is, that after all this preparing, just before the big day they happen to mention that a pacifier can make your teeth all crooked, and their dd surprised them by saying “we’d better throw them away”.

[Anonymous]

I think using a pacifier a lot during waking hours can cause verbal delays, so I agree with your doc about getting him off of it now.

I cut the tip off of Liza’s pacifier and told her it was broken. She took it surprisingly well. But, that might not work if you want to give them to him at bedtime.

I had a nanny friend who used to wean toddlers from pacifiers by insisting that when their feet touched the floor, the paci was put up (on a shelf or in a box or whatever). So if the little guy wanted his pacifier she’d give it to him but she’d hold him and tell him he had to put the paci up if he wanted to get down. The first few days he’d be content to sit and suck on his pacifier a lot, but toddlers are active and don’t want to sit for long periods of time, so he’d get up and down many times at first , but with time he’d forget about his pacifier because playing was more fun than sitting.

[Anonymous]

We weaned Alexis’s pacifer at 2 years old. She was having delayed speech but more likely due to reflux, but her front teeth were not coming in right, they were stuck at 3/4 the way in and they were starting to buck so we had to get rid of it. We first started with naptime and bedtime only, but she kept on finding pacifers all over the house, which I think she was hiding since she knew this day would come. Well, I noticed that she would stay in bed a lot longer since she knew this is the only place for her binky, and she would ask to go to bed a lot earlier. We removed all of her soothie pacifers which were her favorites and gave her Nuk one, thinking that she wouldn’t like them and just give up sucking on pacifer but that didn’t work either. We removed the binky cold turkey during the day and nap time, I gave in a gave it to her at bed but only the Nuk which she didn’t suck on as long at night as she did the soothie. Well, then we went cold turkey as night as well. I thought once we had Taylor she would want a binky again, but she hasn’t cared for it at all. At the beginning she tried to suck Taylor’s binky but thought it was yucky and haven’t tried since. I don’t see a problem in pacifers as long as it is not causing problems with teeth growth and speech problems.

[Anonymous]

I started weaning both of my boys from pacifiers after they turned one. (Bryce couldn’t suck a pacifier because of his cleft palate). I started by only giving it to them at naps or bedtime, and just kept it hidden at all other times. Eventually I started getting them to sleep without the binky. It helped to get them used to another “comfort” object like a stuffed animal. It didn’t take long to transition.
Bryce’sMom2007-3-1 17:49:3

[Anonymous]

Two ideas. With Luke he actually bit the tip off himself and I told him that was it. I did allow him to still take it to bed with him, but would ask him all the time if he was ready to throw it away. After about 3 days he went and threw it in the trash. So, I guess the cutting the tip off would work. I don’t know that I would do it in front of him though. My favorite idea that I never got to try is the pacifier fairy. For us it would be the binky fairy, but whatever you call it fairy. You explain to them that the pacifier has a mommy and daddy and needs to go back to them. You tell them that when they decide to get rid of it the fairy will bring them a present. You have them or you I guess I put it on a window sill in another room other than theirs and ask them if they are ready. If they say no then you try it again the next day. I think you even have them pick out what the fairy will give them. I think it is the mum or mam or maybe even nuk company that came up with the story. Maybe you could google it.I think they have a printable version of the story you read every night. It sounds like a fun way to get rid of it to me. It just didn’t work out since Luke bit through his.

[Anonymous]

I found the link for you. Here it is. http://www.mambaby.com/websystem301/site/index.php?articleid =0&nodeid=284 If you decide to do it let us know how it goes. I just read the story and I might do my own version, but still I think it is a good idea. Justice’smom2007-3-1 18:29:52

[Anonymous]

Sometime between 18 and 24 months, we started limiting Kaelyn to nap and bedtimes. She has never liked to spend much time in bed, so we would just tell her that if she wanted to get up she had to leave the paci behind. She still uses it at night, but we are talking about trying to do away with that as well. A friend of mine told her daughter that the paci fairy would come and take away all of her pacis and leave a present for her. It worked well for them, so I’m hoping that it will work for us.

[hellbennt]

I’m all for pacifiers! I don’t feel ike searching but I’ve posted a bit about my feelings

jonah had his Dewey (yes, he named it when he was about 12 months!) until he was 3 & change…

we limited it just for sleeping- it stayed in the crib and then when he was in the bed, it stayed in/on the bed

we got down to just one and then it was (truly) misplaced one day (cleaning woman changed the bed & she usually put it back on the clean bed but this time it wound up in the laundry room) so after I managed to get him to nap w/o it I realized that was the end of Dewey…

I told him the Dewey Story (basically the story of him being born, getting bigger- you know the drill) every day for a few weeks after that & that was that…bye-bye Dewey

[Anonymous]

My sister-in-law did a variation of the dummy fairy with my little neice- she gave them to Santa at Christmas so he could give them to other little babies. Christmas may be a little far away but you could always give them to the easter bunny! In exchange for easter eggs of course

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the great ideas everyone! I am still not sure if I am ready to pursue the issue or not. I agree that there are bigger and better things to worry about now. I do think though we will try to limit it to bedtime and naps since we are starting to get looks when we are out when he has it!

I did ask him last night if it would be ok to give his pacis to a new baby and he said ‘no, mine!’. Someone also suggested to me to have him leave them for the Easter bunny. We’ll see. I’ll definitely let you know what I end up doing. May be a combination of several of the suggestions.

[Anonymous]

I think when we started to limit the pacifier to sleep times that he started to lose interest in it so maybe that will work for you!

[Anonymous]

Brianna is 14 months and I am not really in a hurry to wean her. Her paci is her lovey almost. She has one in her mouth and one in each hand that she squeezes to fall asleep. However, she is only allowed to have it at nap and sleep time (and when I leave her in the nursery at church. She has severe mommyitus and I want her to be able to have something to help her through that time). She is funny becuase sometimes she will find a paci around the house and she will put it in her mouth. All I have to say is “Brianna” and she comes and puts it in my hand. I agree that there are so many other things to worry about and if it helps him, go with it.

[Author]

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