Need help getting rid of pacifier for 2 year old

[Minnie824]

I know, I should have gotten rid of it long ago, but that opportunity has passed. Now I need to figure out how to help my 2 yo DD get rid of her pacifier. Any suggestions? She doesnt have it all the time, definitely when she sleeps, usually in the car, sometimes, just when shes tired or for comfort. She does have a blankie and a teddy as well, for other 'comfort' items. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[LoraJ]

I actually remember what my mom did for me to get my pluggie, she bought me a doll. And I was done.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Getting rid of a pacifier is easy. You just throw it out and ignore a few temper tantrums when she doesn't get it. It is thumb sucking that is hard...can't take thumbs away!

 

[Serena]

Throw it away.

I know it's harsh, but the quick way usually worked for my mom. I'd feel sorry for them, not the pacifier but other things, and it just prolonged it all.

 

[mtemm]

this is what we did last spring. our daughter was very attached to her binky, although we only allowed it when she was in bed (naps/night). We never thought we'd be able to get rid of it, but took some advice from friends and came up with a plan. when she was 25 months, we switched her over from her crib to a twin bed. she was so excited to be a big girl, and to have new big girl bedding with butterflies. she was so fired up, it was cute. several people I talked to recommended getting rid of the binky together with the bed transition, but we were scared to the first night. the night went so well in her new bed, that the next day I just decided to go ahead and try.

she and I had a long talk about it, how she was a big girl now and had a big girl bed and how big girls don't need binkys, that binkys were for babies. we talked about my friend's new baby. even though my friend lives in florida, my daughter was really excited every time we got a new picture. anyway, I asked her if she wanted to send her binkys to baby delaney. she said yes, so we called baby delaney's mom and asked if delaney would like them. thankfully my friend played it up and katie was excited. we were already putting a box of baby clothes together for her, so we put the binkies in as well (I did take them out when my daughter wasn't looking).

The first nap was a bit rough, she asked for her binky and I reminded her how we sent them to baby delaney. she pouted a bit, but didn't cry, and went to sleep. shocker. same thing that night. In fact, for the next few weeks she asked for her binky and then we would talk about baby delaney and how nice it was to be a big girl and have a big girl bed, etc. She had a rough patch about 3 nights in and was crying for a bit...this lasted a couple of days and I almost caved, but then suddenly she was fine. she would still ask at bedtime/naptime, but would start to giggle about baby delaney having them.

sorry this is so long. just want you to know it can be done, and good luck!

eta, a few months later an online friend did the same thing, but she had the baby they sent to binky to send a thank you present that a big girl might like. I love that idea.

 

[i3utterfli82]

Don't feel bad, I also have a 2 year old and she acts as if she can not live without her "pac pac" (Her name for it). She searches frantically when she cannot find it before bed!

 

[Celluloidgal]

I haven't done this, but I heard of people leaving the pacifers for the paci fairy.

They have the child tie the paci to a string and hang it in a tree for the paci fairy to give to the new babies. When they wake up in the morning, they go to the tree to find a small thank you gift from the fairy.

 

[eowensby]

I was watching Super Nanny last week and they had a 3 year old who was still super attached to her pacifiers....she had tons and they were all over the house. Super Nanny told the little girl that there were other babies who needed binkies and the binky fairy could deliver the binkies to those babies. The little girl ran all over the house and put all of her binkies in a bag for the binky fairy and they took them outside and hung the bag from a tree limb for the fairy to get them while she slept. They told the little girl the binky fairy would leave her a special surprise for giving her binkies to the babies....she woke up the next morning and went outside and there was a gift bag hanging from the tree for her with a Dora doll in it. It seemed to do the trick.

 

[crazy4disney01]

My daughter never took a pacifer, but I think the paci-fairy is a good idea. A friend of mine told me she told her DD that the fairy needed to take them to babies who needed them, and the fairy would leave her a "special surprise" since she is such a big girl who doesn't need a paci.

When we were at a Wiggles concert, someone held up a sign that said "Dana wants to give Dorothy the Dinosaur roses and all my pacifers." I think it was Murray who came in the audience and got them and everyone clapped. I thought that was real cute. If your planning a WDW trip she could give them to Mickey or another favorite character to give to the babies who need them or something. Just a thought!

 

[RitaZ.]

This is what I did with my oldest, he loved pacifiers. I cut a little piece off the tip of the pacifier. When DS put it in his mouth, he took it out and asked me to "fix it". I told him that I couldn't fix it. He gave it up within two days.

 

[christygobar]

I have a friend who talked a lot to her child about how she was a "big girl" now and that binkies were for babies and how the "little bitty babies" in the hospital really needed her pacifier more than she did.

They talked about it for a couple of weeks.

Then she took her daughter to the hospital, where the little girl gave the pacifier(s) to the nurse in the maternity ward. My friend said the nurse was GREAT about it. She took the pacifiers to the back (assumedly throwing them away), and brought out a fresh one through the window and gave it to one of the babies all while her daughter watched.

So next time she asked about her pacifier she got a "remember? you gave it to the babies at the hospital!"

"oh yeah."

That was that. She was nearly 3 at the time. I think it worked because she never broke her of the type of paci they give you at the hospital.

(I'm telling this story not from personal experience - this was a close co-worker of mine and her daughter who is nearly 6 now.)

 

[momof1princess]

my DH and i told our now 8 year old daughter (she was 2 when we did this) that if she would leave her paci(s) under our christmas tree for santa, he'd leave her a special surprise. unfortunately, she lost her main paci about 2 months before christmas so we didn't get to do it exactly that way but santa still left her a very special gift-a play kitchen, which she dearly loved. i found the missing paci a couple hours after she went to bed on the day she lost it, but she did so well w/o it we just never told her it had been found, lol.

 

[poptoone]

We told our DD that we had lost it when she was 18 months. She cried once at nap time for it and asked about it a couple of times, but after that never heard another word about it.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Cold turkey. It is hard to listen to them ry, but the crying eventually stops and it is over.

My DS was 2, and I had decided it was time. He used to lose them, and I would buy another. He had 3 of them, and I stopped replacing them. When we got to the final paci, he lost it, I explained it went by-by. He cried the 1st night I think. I can't even remember.I do know it was not as bad as I expected.

 

[mamacatnv]

I am in the "Why take it away camp?" Both my kids had their "Ba Ba's" until late 3's early 4's, BTW the dentist had no issue. People/Grandparent pressure was much worse than the Dr. or the Dentist. It is a comfort device and being 2 is quite traumatic I think they need all the help they can get, IMO. We limited use to sleeping at about age 2 - 2 1/2. We eventually gave them to Santa so he could give them to other kids in the world who didn't have one. No drama, tears or tantrums, they were old enough to understand and to let go.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

No advice just wanted to say my 18 month old loves his thumb and I can't take that away. He has blisters on his thumb from sucking it all the time. I hope he outgrows it by Prek!

 

[bzzelady]

My DD had hers until she was 3...it was a constant companion.

She started dance class and one morning, I had to pry it out of her hands before I took her into class. While she was in there, I decided that this was the end of the binky. I threw it away and braced myself

When she came out of dance class and I loaded her into the van, she looked around for her beloved binky and I told her that Santa called while she was in class and needed it for one of the baby reindeer. I told her that if I had not sent it, she would not have received anything from Santa for Christmas (keep in mind...this was the end of October so it was plausible).
She fussed for the ten minute ride home but that was the end of the binky.

So call me "the woman who sends binkys to Santa to give to the baby reindeer!"

 

[tjsmama]

This is what I did with my oldest, he loved pacifiers. I cut a little piece off the tip of the pacifier. When DS put it in his mouth, he took it out and asked me to "fix it". I told him that I couldn't fix it. He gave it up within two days.

This is exactly what we did with our oldest when he was 2-1/2. Although we had to cut the tip a few times, he still used it after the first cut, I guess the hole wasn't big enough! With him, it took a day or two. I kept one handy "just in case", but he never asked for it again!
Now wish us luck with our 27 month old. He starts "school" next week, which is going to be hard on him - he's very attached to me. I am going to try to get rid of the binky after he is comfortable in school, after a few weeks hopefully.

 

[pixie3]

"Nuk Fairy" worked for me

My son was close to three and only used it for sleeping. I told him he needed to put them in a box next to the window and the Nuk Fairy would take them to new babies and leave him a present. But I told him he had to be ready. I started telling him this around 2.5 and right before he turned 3 one night he said "I'm ready". Nuk fairy left him a note saying how happy the babies are and left him a present.

 

[DisneyTeacher]

This is what I did with my oldest, he loved pacifiers. I cut a little piece off the tip of the pacifier. When DS put it in his mouth, he took it out and asked me to "fix it". I told him that I couldn't fix it. He gave it up within two days.

I did that too. My DS loved his binky more than anything, I never thought he would give it up. He was just over 2 years old when I cut a little bit of the end off. He screamed (asking for tape so you know he was too old for a binky) for about 20 minutes and sounded like he hated me but he finally laid down and was fine. Every so often he finds the little bag I have tucked away and looks at them lovingly.