Anyone stop the Binkies around 4 months?

Just wondering if anyone discontinued the Binkies at 4 months old or so? Is it too soon - are they able to self-soothe or is that closer to 6 months?

And once you stopped them, what did you do to stop the crying if they were upset?

We have relied heavily on the Binkies with my older set and as a result they didnt STTN until 10 months. They could not fall asleep without them, and they worked like magic to settle them if they were upset during the day. This time I'd like to take them away as soon as possible & ferberize early so they learn to fall asleep on their own.

 

We have never given pacifiers to our kiddos so there is no taking them away...Just never a road I wanted to go down. If the boys are upset I sooth them by fixing what is wrong or just rocking and cuddles. Having never relied on anything else I know no other way. We do not CIO in this house but our boys fall asleep on their own most of the time now at almost 4 months. We don't let them cry unless we have no other choice...like one of the big kids needing a new diaper or something.

 

Thanks - I don't let the babies cry either but the are in daycare Tues - Fri and I know from the first set that sometimes babies just cry, you can't figure out why. The thought of them being inconsolable without me being around upsets me a lot - and the binkies worked great with the older girls for that (still does). But because of the sleep issues we had with the first set, I'm thinking of getting rid of them for the second set in the hopes that they won't look for the binky during the overnight hours when they stir. (My older set was 8 months old before they reached for them themselves). Just wondering if anyone had success with getting rid of them sooner rather than later.

 

Id love to hear responses to this too. When is a good 'early' age to take them away?

 

Around 6 months, we limited pacifiers to naps and nighttime only. Around 10 months, we took them away at night. They do still get them for naps, though, even at 21.5 months. We've tried taking them away during naptime a few times, and it has been a total disaster. After about 4-5 days of a 30-45 minute nap, I decided to just give them back and figure when they stop napping, they'll stop using them.

 

It never occurred to me to take them away when they were infants. If it's soothing to them, why take it away? My boys were stopped before they turned two. By that time, they had them for naps and bedtime only(and pretty much from the beginning). Annabella was shorty after she turned two, probably a month in. There were no issues(dental, emotional) when all was said and done!

 

Like Meaghan, I didn't take mine away until later on. My oldest son was 2, my oldest daughter was 3, and the twins are 2.5 and only get them at nighttime. My concern with taking it away that early is there's a greater chance they'll start finding their thumb/fingers to soothe themselves. We decided we'd much rather deal with taking the paci away, than break a thumb sucking habit Just wanted to throw that out there Good luck!

 

The reason I'm tempted to take them away sooner than later is that they all wake up in the middle of the night looking for the binkies. They can't fall asleep - or fall back asleep - without them. We will be moving the babies into their own room in the next 2 weeks so getting up to walk down the hall to put the binky back in 4, 5, 6 times a night (which is what we had to do with the older girls, some nights 5 or 6 times EACH) -- I just really don't want to do that anymore.

I'm wondering if, by taking them away, they can rouse & fall back to sleep on their own easier. And at what age does that make most sense.

 

I would throw about ten pacifiers in there with them!

I, personally, would wait until six months at least. Kinda goes with the CIO. I wouldn't do CIO before six months. HTH. Good luck! I will say-all three of my kids were fine when they lost the pacifier, so I never had the issue of getting it in the middle of the night.

 

We stopped them around 4 months too. Mine were also in daycare, and they were allowed to use them as little babies, but the infant caregiver (whom we loved) was kind of set in her ways and didn't think "older" babies should have pacifiers. Plus, Amy started rejecting hers around 3-4 months anyway, and Sarah would still take one but didn't care that much.

At daycare, they used the swings a lot, or just tried to cuddle them as much as they could. Sometimes they did cry, and I didn't much like to think about it, but it's just a reality when 2 adults are taking care of 8 babies. It doesn't seem to have done them any harm in the long run.

Soothing them was hard for me for a little while because I didn't quite know what else to do when Amy was fussy except shove a binky in her mouth! But since the binky was no longer helping anyway, I had to find other methods (rocking, bouncing, swaddling, etc.). She didn't learn to self-soothe for a while longer, but her fussiness declined a lot around 3.5 months anyway. (And Sarah was never as fussy to begin with.)

We did do CIO (around 5 months), and I remember being glad at that point that we didn't have to deal with binkies. Weaning off the swaddle was hard enough....

On the whole I'm really glad they quit the binkies early. It's MUCH harder to take them away, the older they get (or so I have been told). Neither of them ever turned to sucking their thumbs or fingers -- they chewed on their lovies instead, but not till they were a lot older.

 

Mine stopped taking them around 4 months and I was happy...I hate pacis! We gave them loveys and when they would fall asleep we would take them out of their cribs...once they were standing up on their own we let them keep them in bed
Hannah stopped the paci at 6 months...she LOVED that thing and I didn't want to deal with it when she was older...and man am I glad!! She's a sassy skirt for sure! She also had a blanket she loved and we never took it out of her bed...even now we have a hard time getting her to stop dragging it through all the dust bunnies all over the house
I think its fine to take it from them and start giving them a lovey as a replacement so when they are at daycare they have something from home

 

I did not intentionally stop one of my twins use of the paci at 9 weeks but it did happen then.

I did not "want" them to take a paci as infants but the nurses at the NICU gave them to them. I did not argue but I also was not happy. Neither infant latched for feeding. One because she had a cleft palate and the other because she was so small (3.12 lb) I pumped and bottle fed them and allowed them to continue with the paci's also.

Finally my smaller baby latched on to feed and from that moment she just straight out refused the bottle and the Paci. I was told by others that breast fed babies should not use a paci. I don't know if that blanket statement should be stated. But because I had that in my head I never offered it again after she refused it once she started breastfeeding.

At 9 months old my other twin had surgery to repair her cleft and we had to take her paci and bottle from her and start cup feeding. We decided that once she was healed we would just continue with the cup and not go back to the bottle or paci.

I must say that my twins both started thumb sucking after they came off the paci. and they both continue to do it from time to time at age 12. My triplets who never really took to a paci were never thumb suckers.

I think all children are different and if you remove the paci and they don't do well you will be able to tell and adjust how you are transitioning them off them. Trust your instincts.

 

I was wondering the same thing why take away something that soothes them... BUT I totally get the whole thing about them not being able to find them when they fall out! UGH!! I'm not "up" on what's safe for infants anymore, but I used a paci clip on their PJs some thought that was dangerous... I never did. But recently I think I saw one of the small security blankets that had a velcro loop or something on it to hold a paci on it. maybe that's an option... surely they could find their blanket and then from that find the paci??

again I think that falling asleep and not needing anything to soothe themselves is great, but maybe they are too young? not sure about that.

good luck!! we kept pacis until right at 2 yrs and taking them away at that age was fine - I was really worried that it would be real struggle.

anyway, not sure how you feel about thumb sucking (I see the pp poster mentions this), but that was something that I was worried about, and thankfully we were spared.

 

Both of mine got RSV at 4 months and couldn't breathe well enough to take them and we never started back. They were never really big on them, but I didn't see any repercussions from doing it at that time. They learned to soothe themselves to sleep in ways that can last and didn't seem to miss it at all during the day.

 

I think that's a great idea. I never did do pacifiers with my kids because I remember reading the Baby Whisperer early on and having her refer to them as "props". And props are anything your baby needs to get to sleep that they cannot REPLICATE BY THEMSELF (so, rocking, pacifiers, driving around, whatever.) Meaning.. you end up doing it for them.And in this case, doing the "paci shuffle."

I didn't want to go down that road. If they never have them, they don't miss 'em. (And if you take them while they're still little, they won't miss them either.)

So, yes. I'd do it now. They can learn to self soothe in another manner. There is no way in HECK I would get up after they were off bottles at night to replace a pacifier! No thanks!

There are other ways.

GL!

 

I am pro binkie. I was not before having my 1st child but I had a horrible delievery and was treated for excessive blood loss and had multiple transfusions etc so I had to rely on the nurses to do what was best for Bella. I couldn't nurse anyway so that wasn't an issue for me. I started doing research and talked to mulitple peds and they all agree'd that there is convincing research that shows the use of a binky can activly reduce the risk of SIDS. I weighed my options Lower SIDS risk vrs braces and the binky won hands down. Bella tossed her's at 4 months and never looked back but I would have let her have it until 1. With the twins they had them from the get go in the NICU. Willa Grace LOVED her's. Wyatt could take it or leave it. Willa Grace also started sucking her thumb at 10 days old LOL and she was still my champ nurser. Wyatt didn't do binky or thumb and refused to latch on so I really think it just depends on the baby. I have a friend who has twins, both used binkies and didn't sleep through the night til 8 months and I have a friend who refused to use binkies and her baby still isn't sleeping throuhg the night at 1. SOOOOO it is all based on your child. If your main reason for wanting to take the binkie is STTN just be prepared that taking a soother from a baby will not guarentee sttn. 4 months is still so young. 4 months is also IMO to early to do CIO. Trust your instincts though. Watch for signs that they can soothe themselves. Look back over your 1st year with your older ones and you may find other reasons they didn't sttn other than the binkies or you may not but just because binkies stopped them doesn't 100% mean it will stop the younger set.

GOOD LUCK!