Weaning from pacifier by having your child "give" to Mickey?

[bdiddy]

Has anyone done this? Has it worked?

What are your thoughts?


I was planning on trying to wean our 2 yr old son from it while we were there because he'll be so busy and distracted and then I came up with the idea of when he meets Mickey if I tell him that it is time to give it to Mickey and see what he does. And then if he does hand it over and then asks for it later I can just keep reminding him that he gave it to Mickey and he is a big boy now.

My questions are: Can the characters hear well? Can I sneak up to Mickey first and tell him my plan so he knows to take the pacifier and then I can just slip it out of his hand when my son isn't looking? If my son does it ok but then freaks out later about it, do you think he'll have hard feelings towards Mickey? (I know that seems silly but it's the last thing I want!)

What do you think??

 

[thegrimdwarf]

Personally, I think it's a bad idea. I've never had to wean a child from a paci, but I'm thinking that traveling is stressful and it would probably not be the best idea to take away a soothing item during the trip. You may find yourself at Walgreen's at midnight, trying to replace it so you can all get some sleep. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

Personally, I think it's a bad idea. I've never had to wean a child from a paci, but I'm thinking that traveling is stressful and it would probably not be the best idea to take away a soothing item during the trip. You may find yourself at Walgreen's at midnight, trying to replace it so you can all get some sleep. Just my 2 cents.

ITA!

 

[mommyoftwo08]

I agree as well. You wouldn't want your child to associate Mickey as the horrible mouse that stole is pappy! He'd NEVER want to go to Disneyworld again!

 

[thegrimdwarf]

I agree as well. You wouldn't want your child to associate Mickey as the horrible mouse that stole is pappy! He'd NEVER want to go to Disneyworld again!

LOL - that too!

 

[bdiddy]

Did your kids self wean then, how old were they? He just seems so addicted and not wanting to give it up anytime soon. I asked our pediatrician about getting rid of it at his 2 yr appt and she actually suggested to try on vacation because they are so distracted and busy.

I was also worried about it being stressful but figured I could always try and if I have to give in then oh well, we'll try later.

Thanks for your thoughts though!

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

My 2 yr old just gave his up on his own one day - stopped using it one day......

My dd still uses it at night - even at 3 but I dont care. I asked her one time which she would rather have - her diapers or her paci - she chose diapers so gave u paci during the day. Now shes potty trained and paci-free during the day. She says she will be ready to give up the paci in a few months.


oh yeah, and my younger 2 never have taken a paci

 

[thegrimdwarf]

Did your kids self wean then, how old were they? He just seems so addicted and not wanting to give it up anytime soon. I asked our pediatrician about getting rid of it at his 2 yr appt and she actually suggested to try on vacation because they are so distracted and busy.

I was also worried about it being stressful but figured I could always try and if I have to give in then oh well, we'll try later.

Thanks for your thoughts though!

I actually never offered a pacifier to my kids after they were a month old. I hate them. My younger brother used one until he was nearly 4 ("just at night"), and even 34 years later I can remember all the drama over it - it was missing, it wasn't the right one, it wasn't the right color.....and it took YEARS of orthodontics to fix his upper teeth. No thank you!

I'm sure you'll get useful advice from other posters. Good luck!

 

[nessz79]

Did your kids self wean then, how old were they? He just seems so addicted and not wanting to give it up anytime soon. I asked our pediatrician about getting rid of it at his 2 yr appt and she actually suggested to try on vacation because they are so distracted and busy.

I was also worried about it being stressful but figured I could always try and if I have to give in then oh well, we'll try later.

Thanks for your thoughts though!

I would agree that vacation would be a good time b/c they'll be busy, but I also agree with the posters not to make Mickey the bad guy!

I don't know. I think I would do it about a day or two before you went on vacation. Worst case scenario is you have to put up with a day or two of crying and then BAM you can go on vacation and they should be distracted enough to give up the last of the fight.

My kids weren't paci kids, but they were bottle kids. We had the bottle fairy come and take them when the oldest was 3 and the youngest was 18 months. It was pretty old for the oldest, I know, and it made it that much harder. Do it now while you can! The 18 month old barely noticed.

 

[bdiddy]

Ok, I think I'll try it but not have him give it to Mickey. That's what I was worried about is that he'd think Mickey would be the bad guy. I've just heard of people having their kids give it to Santa or the Easter bunny, etc... and since it was someone so "special" they had no problem handing it over. Knowing my kid he'll hate Mickey for the rest of his life!


You know the craziest part of this is that he has only been a paci addict since March when he was 21 months old! Our pediatrician said she has never seen a kid take to it that old. He found one in his sisters baby doll stuff and popped it in and has been addicted ever since. I didn't have the heart to take it from him because he's alway been a fussy kid and it calmed him down (he wouldn't take one as a baby!) and seriously made us all happier but now I'm kicking myself for not taking it that very day!

 

[kloh1002]

My 2 year old just got rid of his paci 3 days ago. We decided to have him trade it for something he really wanted. We went to Wal-Mart and he picked out a kids digital camera. We brought it home and agreed we would not open it until he threw his paci in the trashcan. He did and the first two nights he cried and wanted to take his camera back, but we did not give in and reminded him HE threw it away. Last night he did not cry or even ask for it and slept all night. It is GREAT!!! I think the key is to have them do it instead of taking it from them.

 

[Narnia]

I believe like any addiction cold turkey doesn't work. First Do it over a few weeks. Week one no paci when playing,week two no paci when out of the house, week three no paci unless in bed week 4 no paci at bed, I weened all of my kids like this even the non stop sucker DD.

 

[disneyandme]

I know my kids are tired and a bit cranky at the end of a day at Disney World, so I would give up that self soothing that a pacifier provides. My kids used them and we just limited them a bit at a time-- ie in bed only, only a night time, only on weekends, until they started to forget to ask for it. (we kept in on a high dresser when not in use to discourage sneeky using)

 

[kacaju]

don't make Mickey the bad guy!! My now 8 year old gave hers up to her speach therapist (Debbie) when she was around 2 or 3, (I can't remember) Anyway, we would see that therapist when I was taking her older sister to her PT therapy and everytime she would see Debbie she would say to her *you stole my paci!!* Even though she clearly *gave it up* in her mind Debbie stole it from her!!

 

[MinnieMouse73]

I don't know if it helps, but my dd was 2 when she gave hers up. There was some toy or other she wanted, and we told her it was for 'grown-up' kids - if she wanted it she had to give up her dummy (we're in the uk! dummy = pacifier over here!). She put it under her pillow for the 'dummy fairy' (I guess 'pacifier fairy' would work!) to take away, next morning the toy was there instead, and she never asked for the dummy again.

 

[katie111]

My DS3 actually gave up his on the Disney cruise. We didn't plan it, it just happened. He did actually just stop asking for it when we were on the cruise, I think because he was so busy & tired. When we left the boat we left the pacifiers behind. And it went great. We told him that we left them on the boat for the other babies that were getting on. The funny thing is that he still sometimes asks to go back on the cruise & go back to the same cabin so he can get them back (and he is now almost 5!). With my daughter (now 6, 3.5 at the time), I let her go pick out a toy at the toy store and then she had to give up the pacifiers. That did not go well. She cried so hard for about 6 weeks every night in bed, it was awful! She wanted them back so bad. Both of them were only using them in bed when they gave them up.

Good luck, I know its not easy!!

 

[imthatgirl]

of my 3 kids only one of them used a paci.
i honestly dont think having mickey take is the answer. my son was about 2, maybe it was just before his second birthday when we had had enough of it. we started talking about how he was a big boy and he wouldnt be needing his binkie any more. we talked about it a lot. then when i was sure he understood, i said well tomorrow is the day it will be gone. so all day that day i just kept reminding him that it would be gone tomorrow. i never said how it would be gone, just that he was big now and it would be gone. but i made it a happy thing. i acted as though it was the most exciting thing ever for it to be gone.
then while he slept i got rid of it. when he woke up it was gone, just as i said it would be. he was a bit lost at first, but i just kept that smile and acted as though he was a big boy and this was so exciting. i even had a cake for him. it was a big day for him. children tend to emulate your emotions, because i was so excited about it, he started to show excitement for it also.
there were monents he would look for it, or ask for it, and i would just remind him it was gone and that he was big now.
it was fine.

 

[delmar411]

I can tell you our experience with weaning from a paci. DS #1 is the only one of my kids who was addicted so I wasn't sure where to start. What we did is at age 2, he was only allowed to have it at naptime and bedtime. We did keep one in the car in case of true meltdown emergencies but those were rare.
Once he was solidly in the routine of bedtime/naptimes, we started not offering it up and only giving it to him if he asked. Which was every night. LOL Eventually he stopped asking though and we started making them disappear. One by one they were tossed w/o him noticing and one night he just didn't ask for it anymore. We kept the one last paci for about a month before tossing it too. Of course then he asked for one but we told him that he was a big boy and that was that. Self weaning seemed to be very easy for him and went much faster than I thought it would.

Unlike weaning from a bottle the paci is security item and shouldn't just be considered this unnecessary item to get rid of. You need to help them wean away from it and depending on the child they may need to wean onto a new security item for bedtimes.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

My oldest was 2.5 when we took her to Build-a-Bear and had her stuff her own Binkie Bear. Which is what big girls have instead of a binkie. (we talked it up for a few weeks) Before they sewed it up we had her say goodbye and stuff her binkie in.

When she asked for her Binkie..we would just hand her the bear. She cried a little bit..but got over it quickly. I caught her a few times trying to get into the back of the bear..but gave up

I agree with the other posters .. vacation might not be the best time to try something new. Your child might be stressed out by the change in surrounding and need that binkie to get thru.

 

[daisyduck123]

I would never do that. Your child will associate Disney with "sad" feelings.

Here's what we did:

Take a pair of scissors & cut a big slit in each paci. My DS put them in his mouth, went "blech!", realized they were no good anymore, & threw them on the carpet. Honestly! That was the end of them.