OT: What to do with my pacifier addict?!

[fakereadhed]

I personally would wait until after the trip. Being away from the familiar and normal routines can be stressful enough for little ones, so I would hate to be taking away a comfort object so close to a planned time of travel.

I guess it depends on what they use it for. DS uses his as a comfort item when he's distressed. That and a waffle-weave receiving blanket. He grabs them both to comfort himself when he falls down or is upset, then tosses them back in the bed. I won't take away his self comforting until he can replace it with something else, hopefully the blanket alone soon.

If I had to search for the pacifier at night though I would end it...I need my sleep.

 

[livie1205]

my dd1 still uses her paci but i am going to try to break her after our wdw trip in dec. she has been off the bottle since she was 10 months (she drinks her formula (well now next step formula) from a cup...she never even missed it.she will start on milk next week...i think she will have more of a problem giving up the paci though, she loves that thing! lol

 

[conciergekelly]

I waited to until she was about 2 1/2 and the last one broke. Then I put it in an envelope and sent it away for repair. She never said anything until she was about 8 she asked me if it really happend or did she dream it.

 

[tmarquez]

When DD turned 2, we collected all the pacifiers, put them in a box and sent them to new babies that didn't have pacifiers. Over the coarse of the next 2-3 days she would ask for them on occasion and I would remind her what we did. She would remember and that was that. I was shocked at how easy it was...I thought for sure the next few months of our lives would be miserable. Even bedtime was nothing. It probably just depends on the kid.

 

[mom*to*2*princesses]

I would definitely NOT do it before the trip. I think that's too much at once. Both of mine used pacifiers; the first until she was about 3.5 and the second until she was 2.5. We wrapped them up and left them for Santa on Christmas Eve. He took them to give to little girls who still needed them. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! I wasn't stressed about them still using one (even the 3.5 y.o.--not all kids have problems because of pacifier use and people who are hard-nosed about it annoy me), but when it was time to end it, we did, because that was best for us.

It worked very well for us. And I think it would go a long way toward resolving the waking issue you're experiencing. Good luck, and have a GREAT trip!

 

[meeskamouska]

We Took Our Almost 3 Dd To Build-a-bear And She Fed Her "sassy" To The Hungary Bears....she Now Has Her Sassy Bear And Has Never Looked Back!!!!!!

 

[WantToGoNow]

My dd will be turning 3 next week. She was very attached to her "nana" and was waking often at night as well looking for them. We took them cold turkey at 18 mos. and she only asked for it twice after that and she did sleep better. But what I did before we took them - I bought a small gladware container and put about 15 of them (yes, she had that many) and put that in the corner of her bed -- when she woke at night, she knew exactly where to reach for one. We would gather them each night and put them back in the container.

 

[surfer_ed]

My DD does not use one but I also read somewhere that if you cut the tip off first or even punch a hole in it, the expereince becomes less rewarding for the child. Then it is easier to go cold turkey.

 

[PeachesDoesHair]

I told dd3 that all the little babies in the hospital needed binkies. I told her that the Binkey Fairy needed all the big girls and boys to give her their binkies so she could give them to the new little babies. I also told her the Binkey Fairy would leave a surprise for her for being such a big brave girl. So, dd gathered up all 12 of her binkies and we put them in a basket outside for the fairy to come get. In the morning, she got a barbie doll. That first night was a little hard, but she was still proud of herself for helping all the babies. After that, she asked about it occasionally, but reminding her all the little babies were using her binkies seemed to be enough.

 

[tiggger1]

My daughter stopped her Binky, just short of her 3rd Birthday. I told her for pover a month that no more binkies when she turned 3.. We set up a binky box. I took a box and put candy and treats in it.. Every time she found a binky, should could exchange it for candy or a treat ( stickers, stamps or other small toys) She loved this idea and within a week of her 3rd all the binkies were in the box and she never even asked for them.. she liked the trading idea.. it gave her a reason and it wasnt like I was taking them away, she was......

 

[jeepgirl30]

I had a binky addict too. DS had an accident at 18mths, fell and lost 4 teeth. At the hospital they insisted no binkys or bottles. He only had a bottle at night time then but still no sippy cups, binkys bottle, nothing. They said it would break his stitches yet they had him drink from a straw.

So after NO sleep for close to 3 days I grabbed a binky and popped it in his mouth. He let out a big sigh and dropped his head on my shoulder and slept.

He gave up the bottle easily at that point but no way on the binky.

4th of July came and we went to watch fireworks. He had lost so many binkys and we were on his last (this was before his 3rd bday). We thought the binky had fallen out and onto the ground. When we got home we couldn't find it and DD said "oh it fell out" so I told him that the "fireworks blew up the binky". He looked at me a minute and said "okay" and that was that!

So maybe Santa could come and take the binky in exchange for presents?

DD still says her lil brother isn't cute without his binky and wants to buy him one for every holiday! But after the fireworks that was it for him.

 

[yellownovawife]

When my first DD was about 2 we started reading a muppet babies book - "No More Pacifier." We would sometimes talk about how some day she would be ready to give up her "nimmie". One day when she was about 2.5 she threw her nimmie out of the stroller in the mall. I took this as a cue. I got rid of them all. At bedtime when she asked for it I said - You threw it away, remember?- like Piggy in your book - you are a big girl now. 3 nights of minor complaints and she was over it. Now with DD2 we were planning a trip to WDW and we were driving and she LOVED the nimmie in the car so we decided to keep it until after the trip! She trurned 3 just before the trip. When we were there, we told her she could choose any toy she wanted to sleep with because the nimmies would have to go in the garbage once we got home. She chose a Sorcerer Mickey. Very minor complaints for a few nights as well. I still hear sucking sounds in their sleep sometimes and they are 7 and 11. I bet if I put a nimmie in their mouth they would suck it!!! It is funny how some babies just love them and some do not!

 

[rparmfamily]

First off, you are not alone!! I am not going thru this now but have already.

DD is very oral. She is 6 now. She was a binky addict, but I never gave it to her at the ped's office, I always kept it in the car, so my ped never made any comments to me about it.

My embarassment came when she was 3 and at her first visit to the pediatric dentist. Her dentist saw on the forms I filled out that DD still in fact still used one. She questioned me about it...I became and felt like a bad parent because I hadn't had any sucess at getting her off her binky. DD loved it!! It was her most treasured possession and I couldn't just make her get rid of it!!

You know what her dentist said to me?? DON'T WORRY MOM!!!! Really, she said a binky is better than a thumb, most binky's are orthodontic shapped and do not affect the bite in any way. She said that obviously my DD had great speech (the only possible negative affect) and to just chill about it, she'll give it up when she's ready!! She also said one thing that might happen if a child has a high oral need is she could turn to thumbsucking, which is a hard habit to break sometimes and bad for your bite.


Fast forward to her being about 3 1/2, she dropped her last on in the toilet (the others had been thrown away because they were cracking and mommy wasn't buying anymore). She was upset but I had been talking about not buying anymore. I said let's go pick out a new stuffed animal and blanket instead!! She bought that idea, and she's been fine since. Though from time to time she would mention her binky, she never acted upset.

Soooooooo my advice--relax!! Do you know any 20 yr olds with binky's? Nope...


Also, her dentist said not to cut them, they become a choking hazard as small bits may break off.

 

[blessedby3]

When we were trying to break my DS from his paci, the pediatric dentist recommended that we nick the end of the paci with a pair of baby nail clippers. Not to put a hole in it, but to put a nick in the end. He said that it would feel different and my son would not like it as much. Every couple of days he said to nick it a bit more until there was an acutal hole in it and keep cutting off the end until my son didnt want it anymore. He told me not to let DS see us doing it and that by doing this my DS would be giving up the paci on his own time and we wouldnt be taking it from him. We figured that DS would give it up for sure once the hole was in it, but to our surprise he kept it until there was pretty much nothing left. DS would just hold it up to his mouth with his hand when he got in his crib for naps and after a couple of mins. he would give up and put it down. It was pretty funny to see him just hold it to his mouth. It was of no intrest to him at that point and we had no problems. We just told him it must be getting broken as we nicked it and he questioned why it was different. He was about 2 1/2 when we did this.
I would also NOT recommend taking the paci before a trip. Everyone wants to enjoy it and it would be better to take it from your child at home afterwards.

 

[Gillian]

I've got you all beat, because DS 6 still uses one at night. he never carried it around, and has only used it at night for years and years, LOL. He's old enough to know that he should give it up, and since he's down to his last one and knows I'm not buying more, he may be close. He has 2 weeks off in December, so that is probably when we'll work on it. He has never been attached to anything else.

At this point, he's getting up early for school so I'm ok with something that helps him fall asleep. And his teeth are lovely.

DD 3 has always needed her binky & a specific stuffed animal to sleep until recently. She was allowed car & bedtime, but not anywhere else. I took away the car a few months ago. A few weeks ago we noticed that she wasn't using either the pacifier or animal at bedtime. We're shocked because we thought we'd have to start weaning her off them and she's so strong willed that we were scared to do it!

Good luck to all of you! I think gifts would have worked with DS if we had tried it. I may try the nicking for him, leading up to vacation.

 

[Fintastic]

Also, her dentist said not to cut them, they become a choking hazard as small bits may break off.

Only if your kid continues to suck on them after they've been snipped. Mine didn't want anything to do with them after we snipped off the very tips so they all went in the garbage.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

Hi all, We did what a previous poster did. We went to Build - a -Bear and our 2.5 yr old picked out a "binkie bear". We built it up for a few weeks that big girls have Binkie Bears. We had her put her Binkie inside the bear and they sew'd it up. Worked like a charm. It actually went a lot better than I thought it would!
She sleeps with her Binkie Bear every night.

Now the Blankie..thats another story...that will be with her for ever.

 

[wdwluver]

My DD was almost 3 when we finally got rid of the "pop" as she called it. I guess because we would always pop it in her mouth. Like most of the posters said, we just went cold turkey. She asked for it at bedtime and I told her it was lost and there were no more in the store. We did go through 3 sleepless nights, but then it was smooth sailing after that 3 must be the magic number...

 

[Fintastic]

Now the Blankie..thats another story...that will be with her for ever.

Yup, our three-year-old still has hers! She got her blankie as a gift on her first birthday and has been attached ever since. I don't mind it. She can take it on her honeymoon if she wants. It's cute to see my "big girl" so attached to something from her baby days.

 

[wiggles02]

When my son turned 2, we gave the "da-da" to all the babies that needed them. It was actually his birthday. He never looked back. So, cold turkey worked for us! Good luck.