How Did You Get Your Baby Off The Pacifier?

[mwieler]

I'm tyring to get my son off his pacifier,but he's Really stuck on it. Our other 2 boys were off the pacifer by 1 year and my baby is now 15 months. I've got him so far that he only gets it at night or naptime,I tryed taking it away from him for his afternoon nap and he just wouldn't stop crying.
How did you do it? Any suggestions?

[teverett]

Our DD was about 2 1/2 before she finally gave it up. We tried earlier than that & like your son wouldn't stop crying. They say they will do it when they're ready.. just like potty training.

[nadiabreckon]

I agree, I would give him a little more time, it's usually just a comfort thing that he will outgrow.

DS sucks on his fingers instead (he's never used a pacifier) and we asked the doctor how we would be able to stop it since we can't just take it away, and she said he will stop on his own. I sure hope so! lol

[jayne_a]

I took DS's away when he was about 6 or 7 months old, just threw it in the garbage. He cried for a few days and that was it. When he turned one, I did the same thing with his bottle, and at age 2.5 ish i threw away the sippy cups. I just told him that when you get bigger you don't need these. I showed him how his daddy doesn't use them, and with the sippy cups i let him help throw them out.
I just did it and didn't give him a choice. It worked for me. My nephew was given the choice and he kept his bottle until 5, and stayed in diapers that long as well. And my niece was also given the choice, she 3.5 yrs, and still has a pacifier. I reallly didn't want to see DS with those things at his age.

[mwieler]

I took DS's away when he was about 6 or 7 months old, just threw it in the garbage. He cried for a few days and that was it. When he turned one, I did the same thing with his bottle, and at age 2.5 ish i threw away the sippy cups. I just told him that when you get bigger you don't need these. I showed him how his daddy doesn't use them, and with the sippy cups i let him help throw them out.
I just did it and didn't give him a choice. It worked for me. My nephew was given the choice and he kept his bottle until 5, and stayed in diapers that long as well. And my niece was also given the choice, she 3.5 yrs, and still has a pacifier. I reallly didn't want to see DS with those things at his age.

That's the way I feel about it too, I also don't like to see kids 2 yrs or older with a pacifier,but think I'll wait a little longer,but not too long,as the longer you wait the harder it is.Me and hubby both feel so bad when he crys (he's a little more spoiled than our other 2 boys, since he's the last one,hopefully.)So I'll have to do it at a time when hubby isn't around,or he'd just give in.

[Zonny]

We gave it up cold turkey, shortly before DS turned two. It was a non-event really, thought it would be much worse. He asked for it a few times after that, but then kind of forgot about it I guess!

[corbinx]

My sister cut part of the tip off of them so her kids thought they were "broken" and gave them up, lol. Not sure how safe this is but it worked!

[AudiMama]

I found with my two oldest there came a time when 'nature' presented an opportunity to take it away. Both of them at some point got a really bad cold with an extremely stuffy nose. They were not able to suck on the pacifier easily as they had to breath through their mouths. They learned to fall asleep without it after a couple days of the cold so when they were better we just never gave it back. They really never fussed or cried for it after that :o)

[orv]

My DD was a sucky ADDICT. she had 3. One in her mouth and one in each of her hands. I would have to put that many in her crib, as she would lose one in the middle of the night and cry until i woke up and gave it back to her. Eventually, she chewed the end off one(at around 1.5 years) so DH cut the end off the rest of them. She carried the plastic pieces around for a few days. and that was it!

[Midnightly]

i don't see an issue if it's just for "sleep" use... sometimes they need that little extra comfort to help them sleep (ask yourself.. would you rather they have a good sleep with a soother or to have a bad sleep waking up every few hours crying without one) with toodles we did the gradual thing "soothy doesn't leave the house" then "soothy is only for the bedroom" (i've heard some parents tying the soother to the bed during the day to keep it in the bedroom) then it became "soothy is for sleepy time only" and it worked for us she was still using her soother at 2yrs old BUT by that time it was strictly for sleepy time you never saw it in the house other then on her pillow or on her dresser

[Stormyrock]

We just got rid of ours. Ds is 2.5. We cut it down to just bedtime about 6 months ago. We made it an event. We tied the soother to balloons, she kissed them goodbye and let the balloons go herself. She thinks they were for the baby birds. We haven't had any trouble since. When she does say something about it she reminds herself. Soother up sky, baby birds.

[MrsShopaholic]

My DD was 2 when we were finally able to get her off of it. She had kept losing her soother and one night at bedtime her dad and I told her we tried to get her a new one but when the pharmasist asked how old our child was and we told him she was 2, that he said I am sorry I cant sell you another one. She was a little upset but we told her to try to sleep without it tonight and when the next night came we told her that the pahrmasist must be right because she was able to sleep without it..and that was the end of the pacifier. She is now 9 1/2 and laughs whenever she hears how we tricked her.
My DS never took to a pacifier so I cant say if the little trick would have worked again or not.

[monkey'smom]

Honestly I found a trip, even just to Grandma's works the best. You leave them at home and there is normally so much other stuff going on they easily kick the habit. For DS1 we did it over Christmas break when he was 14 months old. We knew there would be lots of stuff going on, and I was off work incase he didn't sleep. for DS2 we are hoping to do it this summer after I have surgery. If for some reason that doesn't work we are going on a cruise in the fall and I am sure the boat moving will put anyone to sleep after a day in the sun.

[AmberLab]

Have you tried finding a stuffed lovey that would substitute? DS1 never wanted the paci because he had his lovey, his stuffed puppy and can't sleep without it. DS2 is a paci user for naptime/bedtime only and I noticed he never took to any loveys, the paci was it for him. When I do the switch (which is coming in a few months when he turn 1), I'll replace it with a lovey instead.

[momlifelove]

My sister cut part of the tip off of them so her kids thought they were "broken" and gave them up, lol. Not sure how safe this is but it worked!

We did the same thing, just cut a bit off every few days and he stopped wanting it, once I got him down to 2-3 we went out and got 3 helium balloons, attached them to the strings and let them fly away waving bye bye every time....I video taped it so we could watch it again at bedtime, we watched it at bedtime for a week and he was fine.

My friend got her daughter off them by putting them under the pillow like the tooth fairy and making a big production about it and in the morning she woke up to a brand new toy to replace them