Pacifier Weaning


    Pacifier Weaning

    I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old, both use a pacifier exclusively to fall asleep in bed at night.  It's not allowed at any other time or place.  They can both nap at school without them.

    I know, we should have weaned the older one earlier, but with a new baby and pacifiers in the house we just didn't.  Part of my hesitation is that thumbsucking is a much harder habit to break, and mainly it's simply a tool that soothes them. With such limited use, it's hard to get motivated at the end of the day to fight it.

    The dentist says it's not affecting their teeth at all, but obviously it's time for them to go.  Wondering if anyone has tips on weaning older kids, and also whether we should wean them both at the same time?

  2. You have chosen to ignore posts from jttruong76. Show jttruong76's posts

    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    You could try the "soother fairy" technique that my brother tried successfully for his daughter... it is detailed here in tip #6:

    His family and another family did pacifier weaning sort of simultaneously as you can read in the link. It might work better that way in the "peer pressure" sort of sense?

    Good luck!

  3. You have chosen to ignore posts from rama8677. Show rama8677's posts

    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    We weaned our DD at age 3 years 4 months.  She is very strong willed and we expected it to be terrible.  It actually was ok.  Like your kids, she only used it at night to fall asleep, so clearly was able to fall asleep during naptime without it.  We used a calendar and bought her a present and every day we marked an X on the calendar meaning one day closer to when she had to give up her binky.  We gave her a two week warning (and didn't talk much about it that week), then a one week warning (where we started to talk a little more about how she would have to give up her binky and what that meant) and then a 3 day, 2 day and 1 day warning.  On the last night before she had to give it up we spent a lot of time at bedtime talking about her binky and how it was the last night she was going to be using it but because she was such a big girl she was now able to get her present (which was a playdough ice cream set she really wanted).  It worked pretty welll, she was a little upset at night over the next week or so but she never asked for it back.  Be prepared though that you may face some cranky times over the next few months as they learn to self-soothe.  My DD had some disrupted sleep patterns over the next 3-4 months (actually its been about 5 months now and she still wakes up at night and is unable to put herself back to sleep some nights.  I think she was previously used to putting in the binky and going back to sleep.

    As for your question about simultanous training - it will probably be easier for your little one to give it up than your big one beacuse the habit has gone on much longer for your big one. However, your big one might respond better to bribery than the little one who may not be mature enough to understand. So even if you do it simultaneously I think you should expect to have different results and use different approaches. 

    And, I'm so envious that your dentist told you it wasn't messing up their teeth!  Our dentist said the exact opposite!! MAde me feel so guilty!  Lucky for me, my DD2 gave up the paci on her own at 6 months old.

    Good luck!


    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    My DS is a younger (17 months) but we gave us his binky last month.  We went cold turkey and he did great.  He has however latched on to burp clothes as a result.  He's always like having a burp cloth aroung as if it was a blanky but he wasn't attached to it like he is now.  He now wants the burp cloth at the same times that he was allowed the binky, in the crib and in the car.  And if he's really overtired he will go find one to snuggle. Luckily he hasn't latched on to a single one he likes them all which is great because I have over 20 of them.  It wasn't intentional on our part but perhaps you could find each of them another item to make a part of their bedtime routine? It might help if they have something new to focus on.


    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    I think for the 2 year old you just go cold turkey, the 2 yr old will cry the first 2 nights, but will get over it. 

    For the older one, I'd do the 1 or 2 week warning like was suggested, and I'd suggest that your 5 yr old get to choose something else to start bringing to bed - either a favorite stuffed animal OR you go out together (a special trip for just the 2 of you, no 2 yr old tagging along) and choose the special night time stuffed animal....  and your older one gets it as soon as the pacifier is thrown away. Meaning if after you buy,  if your child wants to throw away the pacifier that night to get the new toy in bed, great.  Otherwise the toy can stay in Mommy's room for visits until PTA (pacifier throw away) Day.

    But once you decide on which day is the last day(I'd suggest the last night be either a Friday or a Thursday so if it's a few hard nights at first it's not a Monday or Tuesday when everyone needs to go to work/school), then that's it - no amount of begging, negotiating, or even screaming gets that pacifier back.

    Now, I'm going to out myself - I had my pacifier until I was 5 years, 3 months exactly like this - in bed, never anywhere else. When I was 2 yrs old  I used to ask to be put in my crib so i could have my pacifier, evidently!  My mother said that I told her "When (cat's name) has her kittens, I will get rid of my pacifier."  (I'm sure she subtly put the thought in my mind that "soon you'll not use your pacifier).  Anyway, the day she had those kittens, I threw away my pacifier and that was it - never asked for it, didn't cry, etc.  So I bet your 5 yr old is more ready than you think.

  6. You have chosen to ignore posts from ash. Show ash's posts

    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    Cut off the tip of the pacifier.  If it works like it did for my daughter, she'll look at it, say "this is broken", toss it aside and never look back.

  7. You have chosen to ignore posts from misslily. Show misslily's posts

    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    I didn't read the tips in the link, but  I saw an episode of Supernanny where she had the kids gather up all the pacifiers and put them in a box. They left them at the kitchen door for the pacifier fairy who was going to take them to tiny babies who still needed them. The next morning there was glitter on the front porch and a small present from the fairy. They were thrilled.
    It is similar to CT's idea of getting a new sleeping lovey when you give up the paci.

    I have no idea if it works in real life - neither of my twins would take a paci at all. Made me crazy when she had colic - but at least I didn't have to wean them!

    Good luck!

  8. You have chosen to ignore posts from Micromom. Show Micromom's posts

    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    So, the other day my 5 year old told me that he wanted to donate his pacifiers to kids that need them (we've been teaching them about helping people in need), and that was that.  Six days out and he hasn't looked back.  Unexpected, but fantastic surprise!

    Now we just have to potty train the 2 year old...


    Re: Pacifier Weaning

    Hooray Micromom!

    Great job!