Last updated on May 7th, 2024 at 07:39 am
You may have some anxiety about weaning your child from the pacifier. It does such a good job at, just that… pacifying!! But surprisingly we got a lot of positive response when we asked how parents have gotten their kids to give up their pacifier. It may not be as bad as you imagined. Here are some creative ideas from twin parents just like you.
“On the night before her birthday we gathered all the binkies and put them in a box next to her bed and told her the nuk fairy was coming to bring them to new babies that needed them. When she fell asleep we threw them all in the trash and left her a cute little present from the nuk fairy. And that was the end of it.”
– Kelly S.
“I just snipped the top of them so they wouldn’t suck anymore and said they were broken. My boy was over it instantly and wanted nothing to do with it my girl didn’t care… she still wanted it so over 2 daysI snipped it so she couldn’t even hold it with her teeth and she was over it after that…. For my oldest daughter we took her to build a bear and she put her paci in a bunny and they sewed it up inside its belly. She is almost 4 and still loves that bunny to death.”
– Lisa L.
– Melissa B.
“My kids were just over 3 when we got rid of them, and we used the dentist as the “bad guy” I had been prepping them about their visit to the dentist and suggested that she might say they need to get rid of them. They were only using them at nap and bedtime, so we went to Target after the dentist and bought them “cuddle toys” to cuddle with while sleeping.”
“We went cold turkey at 18 months. One day there were no more pacifiers. We had some fussing at bed time for a few days and that was it.”
– Allison H.
“We gave it to the pediatrician at the 2-year visit. He said that new babies needed them. To this day, 41/2 months later, they still say ‘Dr. [Z] took the pacis for new babies that were boooorrrrn.’”
– Amy G.
– Hope L.
“We replaced the paci with a stuffed monkey after our little boy was down to just using it at night. We ended up worrying about it more than we needed to. We just stopped giving it to him after a couple of nights of forgetting to give it to him and him going to sleep on his own. It was much easier than expected and we did it at 15 months.”
“Only one of my twins took a pacifier before she turned two she got a stuffy nose and had to breathe out her mouth at night… I hid them all then and she never looked back.”
– Bethane R.
“We kept telling the boys that if they wanted new toys we could grow them with the nookies. One day they decided they were ready and we planted them in our garden. The next day we put toys in their place. It was really kind of funny and whenever they asked we reminded them we grew them into toys. Worked great and we were never the “bad guy”… the only problem is that they try to steal their baby sister’s to plant them in the garden whenever they want more toys!!”
– Bronwyn R.
“I started about 15 months only letting him have it at nap times and bed time and then when he turned2 we decided he was a big boy and let him throw them away since they were only for babies and he only whined for it one night!!! I think because it was his decision it was easier!!”
– Natasha B.
“I did it slowly. Around 1 year, I stopped giving the kids their pacifiers, except for bedtime. Then, I slowly stopped giving it to them at bedtime – if they didn’t ask for it, I didn’t give it to them. They didn’t seem to miss it. Although, I do have to say I also did this right before a vacation – I didn’t bring the pacifier son vacation with us. I should have waited until after the vacation to start. It would have been easier.”
–Sandra R.
How did you get rid of the pacifier? Did you trade it, break it, hide it, give it away? Please share your success stories below.
Contributed by Jill Marcum.
