Pacifiers

As I was reading a few of your posts about getting rid of binkies at 2 and 3 yrs, it got me thinking...

If you could do it over, would you have gotten rid of them sooner? Right now I try to limit their use to naps, bedtime, and extremely fussy moments when nothing else seems to comfort them. I also always have a few in my diaper bag for public meltdowns or cranky car rides. Other than that I try to keep them out of sight. As of now, they don't seem overly attached, although Ben really loves his and if he happens to find one laying around he pops it his mouth within seconds.

In your infinite toddler wisdom, should I just phase them out now? Or does the fact that we've limited them to the times they need the most comfort mean we can hold on a little longer without major consequences? Is it good for them to have this little bit of soothing? I'm just not sure where to go from here.

 

If I could do it over I would have taken them away around their first bday. I haven't given one to Elizabeth at all!

 

I agreee..........maybe start restricting to only bedtime, then do away with all together. My dentist did offer another idea. He said make a pinhole in the binkie so it doesn't "work". Tell the kids the binkies are broken and worn out. I know it's really hard . You want them to have something comforting. I think if they're gone before age 2, the dentist said that's the best.

 

QUOTE(R2cuties @ Nov 1 2007, 11:50 AM) [snapback]476349[/snapback]
I agreee..........maybe start restricting to only bedtime, then do away with all together. My dentist did offer another idea. He said make a pinhole in the binkie so it doesn't "work". Tell the kids the binkies are broken and worn out. I know it's really hard . You want them to have something comforting. I think if they're gone before age 2, the dentist said that's the best.

With my older son I took them away at 1 yr. He never missed it. The twins I took them away in September at 19 months, and still have days and times they want it. Especially Matthew. I wish I'd have taken them away when they were a year.

teri

 

My son couldn't careless for binkie. We limit our binkie with Rianna for certain reasons. We give it to her at bedtime and when nothing else calm her down especially during teething stage. They are 13 months old. I am glad she is not SO into the binkie. Good Luck!

 

Rachel stopped liking it at a few months, but I took it away from Danielle at a year and it was a non-issue. She didn't complain at all. So, I think the earlier you take it away, the easier it is on everyone.

 

I wish I'd done it at 12-15 months. I did, at 15 months, limit only to when she's in her crib (where as I used to give it to her in public if a meltdown came on). And I thought about getting rid of it at 18 months but I wasn't willing to give up the sleep quite yet.

By age two, we are getting rid of the paci though.

 

We've been trying lately to cut back & only have them during bedtimes. Which what I've been *trying* for a few months now, but it always seems like they find one somewhere. However, since our last pedi appt & ds's lateness in talking, I've been trying to cut back in earnest & every time I see one lying around I put it up. It's only been a couple days, but it seems like it's helping already.

I don't wish I'd gotten rid of them completely.....just been a little more diligent about not leaving them where they can find them on their own.

 

I think earlier is better. We got rid of them at around 21 months old. We had not had any restrictions on pacifiers and we got rid of them cold turkey. I talked to the girls for about a week about the fact that they were big girls and did not need pacifiers anymore. Several times, they would say "big girl" and put the pacifier down. On a Saturday morning, I gathered them all up and got rid of them. They asked for them two or three times, then it was over. They hardly missed them. Sleep was fine, but it was a little more difficult at nap time when they really wanted the pacifier. I am glad we got rid of them when we did.

 

WE've only given ds his binkie in bed only or if we are out late with friends and we put them in Pj's for the ride home.

I think we will soon start weaning altogether. He is my only binkie baby out of four so I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

 

You know.....there are times when I would answer that I wish I had done it sooner, but there were some really good things about them having pacifiers for so long. Let me first clarify that after around 11 months they only got them in their cribs, and we finally got rid of them altogether at around 3 or 3 1/2 years old.

The number 1 reason I appreciated them was that they were incentive for my boys to get in bed at night and at nap time. This meant that they continued to take naps long after most kids had given them up. Nice for me because I got that time to myself, but they also really needed the extra sleep (they could still use a daily nap but never get one).

The downside was that my boys got attached to a specific brand and color. This meant I had to stock up on them, drive all over looking for certain colors, and crawl all over the place in the dark looking for misplaced ones at all hours of the night.

In the end, I expected that taking them away was going to be a total nightmare, but it was 1-2 nights of crying for 10 minutes. Then, they were over it. I could have done it sooner, and it certainly would have been fine if I had, but I guess I have no real regrets about how long I waited.

How's that for a wishy-washy answer? :laughing:

 

We took our girls away at 18mths and I have no regrets. My son at 14mths still has his and we will probably take his away between 18mths and 24mths. We limit them to bed (right now my son is teething so he gets his a little more since I prefer him chewing on that than some other things) and also he gets it when out and has a melt down. I don't see a big deal with having them later if they are given at bed and nap time it's a comfort thing for the child. When we took them away from our girls we talked about it all day and said how big they were and I had them throw them out after dinner. That night it was alittle rough but each night it got better. Naps it took longer to get them napping good again but I like when we took them away. One thing I think that makes a difference is to make sure you aren't going to give in when you do do it, age I don't think matters. My niece is 4 and still takes one because her parents don't want to be the bad guy and just deal with her crying for a few days. They have tried a few times but always gave in and got her new ones when they couldn't take the crying after a day or two (sometimes they didn't even last a day).

 

I started about 6 weeks ago weaning both of mine off of their binkies. They have only ever used them for sleeping at night and naps, and earlier on in the car. Every Sunday, I cut another small sliver off the end of the binky. Not once have they complained...and they are down to about a third of the binky left. I did not cut it the past two weeks because they were sick and we were on vacation, but it seems to be working. I often find them at night without the binkies being used. Mine are 16months, and I am determined to get rid of these things by Christmas!

 

We did it at 23 months and I think it was an OK time. I have no idea how it would have gone had I done it sooner, so I can't really say. I liked being able to give them an explanation as to why the binkies are gone and not just taking them away and having them cry. We told them that the binkies were going to new babies, and we had them put the binkies in a box and taped it shut. I had a Mom's Night Out that evening, so when I left, I took the box with me and said I was taking it to the new babies, and DH put them to bed that night. He said they stayed up a bit later than normal and asked for them a few times, but they weren't in hysterics or anything like we expected. The next few days, they would ask for them, but never really got upset. Like Ellen, mine also got attached to one type and would demand certain colors, so I was also digging under couches looking for the green binky. That's what really pushed me to get rid of them.

 

QUOTE(melissao @ Oct 31 2007, 08:18 PM) [snapback]476180[/snapback]
If I could do it over I would have taken them away around their first bday.


Same here. I would definitely do it soon rather than later. Good luck!

 

Hey!

Interesting you posted this. My husband has been wanting to cut it as well. Our dd didn't even take a pacifier until the age of 5 months and son at the age of 3 months. They only use it in the crib. Around 9/10 months, I was using it in the car, but stopped that around 11 months. I was terrified they would become more attached. They just turned one recently and I'm ready to cut it. I guess I'm a little nervous b/c it does tend to help, espcially with my dd. She is not very good at self-soothing. She has a harder time with naps, etc..

What about this, what if we both try to cut it at the same time, that way we could support each other in this new endeavor?! Just a thought.

 

QUOTE
The number 1 reason I appreciated them was that they were incentive for my boys to get in bed at night and at nap time. This meant that they continued to take naps long after most kids had given them up.


The biggest issue with having DS give up his pacifiers now at age 3 has been the sleeping. Not bedtime so much after the first night or so but DS no longer naps consistently and he always took a nice 2-3 hour a day nap. DS is now taking a nap about every other day. I really miss his naps!

DS is now totally pacifier-free. The first few days after I cut holes in them he liked to have them in his bed with him so he could hold them. He never really cried about not having the pacifier, just wouldn't settle down and go to sleep. If I could do it all over again, I guess I think I still would have let them have the pacis until age 2. Especially for DS, the pacifier was his method of soothing himself.

 

Thanks everyone!

Babies@2--funny you are going through the same thing . After reading all these posts I realized that I may not be quite ready to get rid of them altogether. We're going to be doing a long car ride over the holidays and traveling a bit, so we just might need them to see us through that. Although, come to think of it, I'm sure we'll always be able to find a reason why we need to keep them around.

I'm going to assign Jan. 1st, 2008 as our official no-paci day. Until then I'm going to limit them to naps/bedtime and nothing else, but as of the new year we are done. If you decide to go off of them now, keep me updated on how it's going!

-Tracy