Darn pacifier!

We broke our son of the habit at about 15 months. It wasn't fun but he got over it. We cut the tip off so there wasn't any pleasure in sucking it. Then after a day or so, we told him it was going "bye bye'' and he had two or three rough naps/nighttimes. We stuck to it and he gave it up in less than a week.
He only used it for sleep so it was a lot easier than taking it away from a child who uses it all the time.
Good luck

Susie is a discussion leader in the east valley for arizonamoms.com. She has two sons, ages 6 and 2.

I took off Pacifier when my son was about 4 months after seeing some toddlers were still on it.

My idea is to throw away all pacifiers at your home and don't turn back. The kid may not be happy about it, but later on, she will be over with it.

Thank you and Good Luck!

Have a beautiful day!
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It's been suggested to wean the child off a pacifier around the age of three. Most children stop sucking on pacifiers by the age of four or five before the eruption of the permanent incisors. If it continues through eruption of the permanent teeth, there might be a problem with eruption and alignment. At this time, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I would disagree that you shouldn't worry until their permanent teeth come in. It messes with their palettes now. My 8 year old has a palette spreader - there is no pain, but it does cost money. Her teeth look fine, but her bite was bad because she sucked her fingers and it messed with her palette. Anyway how about telling the child that the pacifier fairy needs it for new babies.

KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.

We broke our older boy of the pacifier at about 3 and a half. He'd wanted it nearly all the time, throwing sobbing screaming fits if one couldn't be found, and absolutely refusing to sleep without it.

We started out by introducing no-binky games, where he couldn't play the game unless he handed over the pacifier. Those went over very well, to the point where he'd hand it over and then ask to play one of those games. We also started having him hand it over when we walked out the door, telling him that we don't use them outside and that Mama would keep it safe until we got home. That didn't work quite as well, but we did have some success in getting him to cut down on using them.

Finally, we snipped the tip out of them during the day, without letting him see us cut it open. Then we handed it to him when he asked for it. When he put it in his mouth, he took it right back out and looked at it, and wanted me to fix it. I told him it was broken and we enacted a very sad goodbye to the broken pacifier, letting him put it in the trash himself. This was repeated with the rest of the pacifiers in the house, and was totally successful. I really think that one of the keys in this was not letting him know at all that we were the ones cutting the pacifiers, but letting him think that they'd gotten broken some other way.

He asked for a binky about three times over the next week, and accepted without question when I reminded him that they were broken and all gone.

Oddly, our younger boy never wanted a pacifier - he prefers to suck on his two middle fingers.

We weaned my son from the pacifier at around 4-5 months. Mostly because one night we had to get up 10 times to give him the pacifier as each time it'd fall out he'd cry. It was too exhausting & at that age they don't know how to put it back in their own mouth. It took 3 days to break the habit. So what we did was remove it all together (believe me it is hard to see them cry for it) but in its place we gave him a blanket which he kept close to his face as 'security'. After 3 days he no longer cried for the paci and to this day he must always sleep with his blanket (he's going on 3 now.) A wonderful trade-off!

LisaMommy is a 38 year old discussion leader for arizonamoms.com from the Paradise Valley/Scottsdale area. Her two boys are ages 7 months and 3 years old.

It is one of the hardest things to do in their younger years, but we have all been through it. My daughter did the same thing at school, she gave it to her teachers and then threw a fit with me when I wouldn't give it back. I slowly weened her off by only giving it to her at bed time. It was rough when I was at the point that she went all night without it, but she only had about 3 days that it was an issue I would offer her a reward in the morning for going all night without it like fruit snacks. She eventually would wake up at 7 am and tell me that she was a good girl and went all night without her paci, can she have her treat?

I disagree with the parents who take the pacifiers away at 4 months. It is important for a baby to suck a lot for the first year. You are not doing yourself any favors by taking it or the bottle away from them before they a year old. In fact you should encourage you baby under six months to keep the pacifier if they are not interested. Any pediatrician will tell you this. As for weaning the older children cutting the tip off is the best way to go. Some children are insecure and need extra comfort during these times.

ANDREAKAY

I got lucky - neither of my daughters like to use a pacifier. I remember when my sister wouldn't give up her pacifier, my parents put the stuff that makes you stop biting your nails on the nipple. She put it in her mouth once and never used it again.

jesshod is an arizonamoms.com discussion leader living in Surprise.

Cold Turkey is the best way to handle it. it's like pulling off a bandaid.

soccermom