How do I break a two-year-old of a pacifier habit?

1. 70

   JamiJayposted 12 years ago

   How do I break a two-year-old of a pacifier habit?
   
   I am having a hard time of taking the pacifier from my two-year-old daughter. Does anyone have advice on how to more easily break the habit, besides going cold turkey? (FYI, my daughter has them stashed around the house, and when I take them she finds them again!)

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2. 93

   peeplesposted 12 years ago

   Take all of them but one. Then tell her big girls don't use pacifiers. If she is in a big girl bed already explain to her that she is a "big girl" who sleeps in a "big girl" bed and drinks from a "big girl" cup. Start out with only letting her have it at nap and bed time. Then after a week tell her big girls can't have a paci at nap. Allow the paci at night time for one week, then take it at night and tell her that she is all done with pacis. It is best to replace the paci with something else. Maybe go pick out a special stuffed animal or blanket together. While you pick it out tell her what it's for and that soon her paci will go bye bye. By letting her be part of picking out the replacment attachment she will feel like a big girl. When taking anything from a child that young it is best to have something to replace it with and help her be part of the process. As for the stash, when she finds one remind her that pacis are for babies and that she is a big girl. Thank her for giving it to you. Then find her replacement animal and hand it to her for a trade.

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3. 61

   sleepylogposted 12 years ago

   Lol, sounds like my daughter when she was two. I don't know how yours would take to my suggestion but I just told my daughter that they her dummies were old and yucky and that they needed to go into the rubbish bin. I made a game of it by allowing her to throw them into the bin. She thought it was so much fun that she went around the house looking for dummies to throw away. She did ask for her dummies for a little while afterwards but I just reminded her that they were in the bin because they were dirty and old. She just accepted it and quickly forgot them. I don't know how well it would work for your daughter so just have a spare stash to give her just in case it doesn't go down too well once the novelty of throwing her dummy in the big rubbish bin wears off.

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      JamiJayposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That is a really good suggestion on getting rid of her stash. lol. My daughter loves games, searching for things and helping around the house. I think that would work.

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      sleepylogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Please let me know how it goes if you try it

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   Mac31posted 12 years ago

   Take it away....I hid my sons from him and it took about a week or 2 for him to actually forget about it.

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5. 0

   Sarra Garrettposted 12 years ago

   I thought I'd never get my son to give up his pacifier. This is how I did it and I'm still laughing today about it.  One day my son and I were in the car and as all children do, he fell asleep.  Once asleep I noticed his pacifier fell out and was just laying on his chest.  At the next red light, I reached back and grabbed his pacifier (putting it in my purse in case of an emergency).  When he woke up he asked for his 'bubby' (that's what he called it).  I told him that when it fell out of his mouth while he was sleeping it flew out of the window and a truck ran it over.  He seemed to shrug it off and never asked for it again.  LOL.

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6. 84

   peachpurpleposted 12 years ago

   get rid all of them without letting her know. However, reserve one and poke some holes into it. Tell her the the rat came to bite the pacifier and it is dirty, bacteria, if she sucks it she will get tummy ache. Let her throw it away in the bin. She may ask for another pacifier when she goes to sleep, pat her to sleep and give some hugs and kisses. She will gradually get use to it. That's how i did to my 3 year old kid.

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   Bionic Jawnposted 12 years ago

   I am a mother of two. My goal was to free both of my children of the "binky" demon by their first birthday. My oldest was content with the binky disappearing. My youngest was not so easy. We had a battle for the binky until he was 18 months. A friend of mine told me to let him have it and then every week cut a slice off the top of it. The first week, I don't think he noticed it too much. By the second week, he was a bit fussy that he had to suck extra hard so it wouldn't fall out of his mouth. But by the third week, he was so irritated that he could no longer keep it in his mouth without holding it, he got annoyed and threw it out himself. I hope this works for you and your daughter. Good luck!

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   filipinofoodsposted 12 years ago

   I had the same problem. Just make the pacifier taste bitter.

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9. 70

   JamiJayposted 12 years ago

   Thank you all for all the wonderful advice. With all of your answers I have successfully taken the pacifier from my crazy little two-year-old Gremlin. The first day, when she woke up, I told her we were going to play a game and then proceeded to tell her to find all of her "binks". She walked around the house looking under furniture and tables and pulled out several pacifiers that have been stashed and handed them all over to me. Then, when she wasn't looking I snipped the sucky part off of one of her "binks". At nap time I gave her a similar one and allowed her to have the real thing, then at bed time, I gave her the one without the sucky, she took it tried to put it in her mouth and when she couldn't suck on it she looked at me distraught. I asked her, "What happened to your bink? Oh you know what must have happened, since your a big girl now, and you don't believe in pacifiers, the sucky part disappeared! It means your becoming a big girl and you don't need it anymore!" She whined a little and fell asleep. The next day when she woke up I have neglected to give it to her, and she hasn't looked for them. She is now talking a lot more and is beginning to learn how to soothe herself to sleep without a pacifier.
   Again thank you all so much for wonderful advice!

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    AustralianNappiesposted 12 years ago

    My daughter loved her pacifier!  At two years old she gave it to Santa.  We just went cold turkey.  It took her about 2 weeks to learn to settle herself to sleep, and two nights of that were quite long crying episodes but after 2 weeks she was fine.  Absolutely fine without them, though they were her favourite thing!  I felt a little mean but we got through it a lot quicker than I thought.  I just kept reminding her she was a big girl now, and told her that Santa would give her pacifiers to all the little babies who needed them.

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