Ditching the passie?

[cruiserkaren]

It sounds strange but this worked for us....
We had the Nunny(our word for the pacifier) Fairy come and take it away one night. We told DS when he was about 3 1/2 that the Nunny Fairy comes and leaves a present for kids when they give up their pacifier and gives the nunny to babies that need it now. We didn't do it right away but kept telling him about it and asked him what he would like if he left his pacifier for the Fairy. After a few weeks (ok, not an immediate fix LOL) he found a $5 space set he really wanted. He though about it for 2-3 days and then came to us and said he was ready. We said goodbye and thank you to the nunny, and he left it on his night table. The next morning he had his space set and he was thrilled. He asked about his pacifier a few times but he wasn't really upset that he couldn't get it back. We just explained to him that another baby boy needed it more than he did now that he was a big boy.

Fortunately, my DD-17months, never wanted the pacifier at all, but she also doesn't have any kind of "lovey" which makes me a little sad. But that's a whole other topic!

Good Luck to you!!

This is the first I've heard of anyone else calling it a nunny besides my imediate family! I get some crazy looks for calling it that around here! Interesting thread since I have a newly turned 2 year old that goes nowhere without her nunny. I now know that's DH and I's fault as we didn't put limits on it in the first place. (Our first and only kid, I plead ignorance! LOL) I hate those things. It is such a hassle always having to have one, knowing where one is, keeping up with it, ugghh, driving me crazy. We had talked about getting rid of very very soon but now DD has started waking up at night, EVERYNIGHT and wanting me. Her and I haven't slept thru the night in the last 4 weeks. This from a formerly wonderful sleeper. So now I figure I need to get her to sleep again before moving on the nunny thing. Excuses?? Not sure all I know is I'd love to sleep in my bed for an entire night.

Sorry for my rant...needing to get off my chest I guess!

 

[auntie k]

compared to fairy's, Buzz and the like, this seems mean, but it's what the Pediatrician suggested and it worked. I too was a new mother of one and didn't have any better ideas!

Throw it out the window on the way home and say "gone gone"...they get this concept early - which is easier time to break them.

My son asked for his the first night and I reminded him we threw it out the window and it was gone gone...and he never asked again. Maybe I was just lucky...he was apx 25 months.

 

[trayletha]

DD never took a passie - but she would NOT give up her baba; this from a breastfed child, who only got a bottle of water for the fluoride. Once she was weaned and drinking out of a cup, we never gave her anything in it Playtex without the liner – so really just a big pacifier. She was only allowed it at night - we only ever had the one. When she was almost 4 Daddy "forgot" and let her carry it into daycare, she was so embarrassed to be seen by her playmates with it she threw it away herself.

OP - I think you said your family was more focused on this than you are - if you and your DH want it gone and DS is ready ... go for it. But you three are the only ones who count in this decision. Do what's right for the three of you.

 

[statefan]

He actually fell asleep on the way home from my MIL's house tonight w/o a passie! Maybe there is hope afterall! We have decided to take a few with us, but toward the first part of the week, only give it to him at nap and bedtime (he usually has them avaible all the time), then hopefuly by the end of the trip, he will be too tired to want it. If not, we will work on it when we get home!
I agree with you on the family! My moher recently passed away on June 1st, and she was the one who constantly harped on getting rid of it. But now my sister (3yrs younger with no children) seems to have taken up the cause even stronger! She will be with us on vacation next week, so it could get interesting!
My DH and I are both ready to get rid of the thing! I just cannot stand the thought of my DS starting school with a big ole Gerber passie in his mouth!

 

[daisyduck123]

We did several things when mine were giving up their passies:

1) the Pacifier Fairy came - each nite we would put one of my DD under her pillow & the Pass Fairy would leave a gift.

2) We also told my DD about Toys R Us having a "Pacifier Exchange"...that we could take her last passy to the toy store & turn it in for any toy. (When I briefed the cashier & told her to please play along you should have seen the look on her face...like I must be nuts, but she went along)

3) With my DS...he noticed his pacifiers were getting cracks so one day I just cut the tips off of them. When he tried to use one he threw it down, said "it's broken" & that was it. If I'd known it was going to be that easy & cheap I would've done that with my DD years earlier instead of all that money for the above mentioned Pass Fairy & Toys R Us exchange.

 

[Amyality]

When DS was 1-1/2 we went to disney and lost all his nookies! If you find your kid freaking out (and I mean FREAKING out, crying and causing a scene, this was the only time any child of mine has ever thrown a full on fit) in Toontown like mine was, they sell them at the big shop there, they are behind the counter. Just ask a sales accociate. They sell the orthodontic "Nook" brand.

Fast forward to 2-1/2. Again we lost all the nookies, this time at home right before bed. We just toughed it out and he was fine after the following night.

Personally, I would make the switch before vacation. There are enough changes going on. DONT POKE THE BEAR!

 

[mommystieg]

I tried lots of these suggestions with DD#1 to no avail. She finally lost the very last passy and we didn't replace it. She did find the missing passy a few months later and we told her that since she was a big girl now she could just throw it away. She threw it away and promptly burst into tears. DD#2's babysitter threw her binkie away one day and she did fine without it--only asking for it occasionally for a couple of days. One suggestion I heard was to take the binkie to Build-A-Bear and put it inside one of the stuffed animals. Don't let other people pressure you into doing something if you don't think your child is ready. Good luck with whatever you decide

 

[MazdaUK]

Make sure your child is ready. Our DS(5) traded his for a cuddly Mike and a Monsters Inc baseball cap in Woolworths when he was about 2 1/2. We had no trouble with him asking for it, but it was harder to get him to take his naps and to go to sleep at night - not because he played up, but because he didn't recognise he was tired! With the dummy, we would hand it to him at bedtime/naptime and as soon as it went in the eyes would droop and off to sleep in a few seconds! (Oh, I miss that little look with droopy eyes and sucky mouth )

I'd wait till the last day of the holiday because with all the excitement you might need it sometimes - especially if something is scary/noisy!

I think its a good idea giving it to a character- perhaps the character could swap it for a small Disney toy (which you sneak them in advance)

 

[princesslily]

We traded the passie for a kitten! It worked like a charm! My daughter was 3 1/2. We took her and let her pick it out, name it and everything! She does a great job of taking care of it as well. All I have to say is Madi take care of the kitty and She feeds,waters and brushes him.

 

[robinb]

I wouldn't do it at WDW. There are too many things going on and you son will need his pacifier to comfort himself. Do it after you get home. My 6 year old is a thumb sucker. Believe me, it's easier getting rid of a pacifier than a thumb!

 

[newtowdw1]

This is the first I've heard of anyone else calling it a nunny besides my imediate family! I get some crazy looks for calling it that around here! Interesting thread since I have a newly turned 2 year old that goes nowhere without her nunny. I now know that's DH and I's fault as we didn't put limits on it in the first place. (Our first and only kid, I plead ignorance! LOL) I hate those things. It is such a hassle always having to have one, knowing where one is, keeping up with it, ugghh, driving me crazy. We had talked about getting rid of very very soon but now DD has started waking up at night, EVERYNIGHT and wanting me. Her and I haven't slept thru the night in the last 4 weeks. This from a formerly wonderful sleeper. So now I figure I need to get her to sleep again before moving on the nunny thing. Excuses?? Not sure all I know is I'd love to sleep in my bed for an entire night.

Sorry for my rant...needing to get off my chest I guess!

This is not about pacifiers, but I DO have experience with those, too (see below). When I was about 8 my mom decided that since I could not sleep through the night (although I didn't bother her, I just didn't sleep) maybe I was lonely. She picked out a great big monkey for me at the toy store. I was thrilled for many reasons:
1. My mom loved me enough to realize that I never HAD a comfort item. And she spent the little money they had on a very expensive stuffed toy just for me.
2. I was the third kid, and very unassuming. To have her think about ME and buy ME something was pretty special.
3. When I was awake, at least I knew I was loved.

So, try to pick out a really special stuffed toy for your DD. Tell her that it is her special friend when she is lonely at night. That when she is sad, awake, upset, to hug her special friend, and her special friend will hug her back.
Might not work, but then again...it might.

 

[newtowdw1]

This is a strange thread for me. I strongly advocate independence in my kids, but have never had an issue with them having their comfort items.

DD8 had a binky until she was 4! I never worried too much, her dentist wasn't worried, so we let her bring up the fact that no one at the sitter's or preschool had a binky anymore. She only used it for sleeping. Well, one night she decided that she didn't need it anymore. Fortunately for her, the binky fairy (whom she didn't know about) brought her a Barbie doll (her first) the next day! Wow! She must really be a big kid now!

She still has her first stuffed toy, a wonderful Peter Rabbit. He's been joined by his brothers, RePete and NewPete. Old Pete has a special place of honor and is only cuddled when life is REALLY bad (bad school bus day, bad injury, hospital, etc). NewPete went to Disney with us, where he was honored for his old age and obvious wisdom by Isabel, our mousekeeper. Many little bunnies appeared around Pete, and he was found reading to the younger stuffed animals quite frequently.

DS is a thumb sucker. While I wish he would stop (he'll be 5 in two weeks) I sucked my thumb until I was 8 or 9. Some of us just need more comforting than others. He has a special blankie and a kitty that are also comforters. Blankie got left at Grandma's and he's ok with that for now, but I'd never make him get rid of it. Kitty gets left outside on adventures, but still makes it to bed most nights.

I guess binkies and comfort items aren't a big deal to DH and me. We don't go out of our way to make sure that the comfort item is available...that's their responsibility. After all, DH is MY comfort item, and it's my responsibility to take good care of him and not leave him outside in the rain!! Oh, and if I'm sick both kids will leave me a stuffed animal to make me feel better. If Daddy goes away overnight he takes along TravelPete and PillowPuppy so he doesn't miss anyone too much.

I guess we're all just crazy!!

 

[A M&Asmom]

My daughter is 2 and a few months and I got rid of hers by cutting the tip off with sizzors. I thought she was going to freak out, but she didn't. She just kept saying "mommy broke it"...and she would put it in her mouth and take it right out. She finally just quit trying.

 

[keishashadow]

We always called it a "ninney-nooney", no idea why!

The Easter Bunny had a habit of making off w/my DS's ninneys when they were approaching 1 1/2 - 2 years of age. The Bunny brought them lots of other goodies (movies, games, stuffed animals, toys & candy) so not much of a fuss was raised. We told them if they wanted itback, they had to trade in all of their presents - not one of my boys took the offer. They were usually so tired from the day's activities that falling asleep wasn't a problem.

 

[CleveRocks]

It sounds strange but this worked for us....
We had the Nunny(our word for the pacifier) Fairy come and take it away one night. We told DS when he was about 3 1/2 that the Nunny Fairy comes and leaves a present for kids when they give up their pacifier and gives the nunny to babies that need it now. We didn't do it right away but kept telling him about it and asked him what he would like if he left his pacifier for the Fairy. After a few weeks (ok, not an immediate fix LOL) he found a $5 space set he really wanted. He though about it for 2-3 days and then came to us and said he was ready. We said goodbye and thank you to the nunny, and he left it on his night table. The next morning he had his space set and he was thrilled. He asked about his pacifier a few times but he wasn't really upset that he couldn't get it back. We just explained to him that another baby boy needed it more than he did now that he was a big boy.

WOW! We did almost exactly the same thing just after my son's 3rd birthday (he's 5.5 now). He called it his "B" from when he was little and it was his best attempt at saying "binky." We told him the B fairy would be coming soon, and after a few days of thinking he said the gift he wanted the B fairy to leave was, of all things, a mommy penguin and baby penguin. You can imagine how difficult it was to find 2 differently-sized stuffed penguins, but we eventually did it!

It worked pretty well. He was down to using it only during sleep and while in the car, anyway. There were screaming fits in the car the first day or two, and I think the same at night, but all's well that ends well, right?

Our daughter just turned 3, but she's in the midst of pretty successful potty training right now AND just switched to a new pre-school (her first time without her big brother in the same building!), so we decided to drag it out and ruin her life slowly rather than doing it all at once. She's still got her binky at night and in the car, and it's a whole one day after her 3rd birthday.

I'm just so annoyed that they got started on them in the first place. Both times it was by accident. My wife is a pediatrician, and before she delivered our son she told the nurses in the nursery not to give our child a pacifier. On our last night before discharge, a temp nurse (who didn't know my wife and also apparently couldn't read a chart ) gave him one, and we didn't have the heart to take it away. We successfully had the nursery nurses not give one to our daughter. But, she was hospitalized with RSV when she was 3 months old, and a nurse on the pediatrics floor gave her one, and since it seemed to soothe her during such a rough time in her little life we decided tnot to fight it. But looking back, I wish we would have nipped it in the bud both times. Live and learn ....

 

[estherhead]

We got a book on Baby Miss Piggy giving up hers and read it over & over and then went to Wal-Mart and DD picked out a toy and "paid" for it with her last binky. I whispered to the clerk ahead of time and handed her my credit card. Then my daughter handed her the toy and the binky and the clerk put the binky in the cash register and handed my daughter the receipt and the toy. Never asked for one again.

 

[MazdaUK]

But looking back, I wish we would have nipped it in the bud both times.

Before I had my eldest son I always said I'd never have a dummy - couldn't stand them! Guess what changed my mind? A colicy baby who wanted to breastfeed for hours at a time night and day!

Its easier to thow away a dummy than a thumb!

BTW, if anyone finds they can't persuade their child there's a very good book called "The Last Noo Noo" about a monster called Marvin who doesn't want to get rid of his dummy.

We read that nearly every day in the run-up to making the break and it really helped.