When/How did you ditch the pacifier?

[vtdiamond]

DS and DD are 16 month old twins.  We just let them have their pacis for naps/nighttime sleep and in the car. DS is pretty obsessed with his. DD is pretty indifferent.

For the last few months DS has started waking up MOTN crying because he can't find his pacis.  They've either fallen out or are stuck between the mattress and side of crib.  We'll go in and replace them and he'll go right back to sleep then another 30-45 mins later the same thing will happen.  Last night it went on from like 1:30-3:30am.  We've tried mesh bumpers but the same thing still happens, I'm guessing he's throwing them out or something.  We've tried letting him CIO which lasts a while but keeps us awake hearing it on the monitor.  He's cried for like 45 mins to an hour before. He shares a room with DD and for the most part she'll sleep threw all this but sometimes it will wake her up as well.

I'm wondering if we should just ditch the pacis now. Unless someone has another idea.

If you ditched the paci at around this age, how'd you do it? CIO? cut the tip off? Or some other way I'm not thinking of?!

[zarapipe]

a day after her 3rd birthday. We gave them all away.

How many pacis are in his crib? You may have to throw in like a dozen so he can always find it.


You may not want to listen to me, see the age of 3 above

[vtdiamond]

Mar 16, 2016 6:54:06 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

a day after her 3rd birthday. We gave them all away.

How many pacis are in his crib? You may have to throw in like a dozen so he can always find it.


You may not want to listen to me, see the age of 3 above

We've got like 4-5 in there, I'll try adding more!

[anna7602]

We were staying with a family with a dog when DS was 11 months old. The family dog got into his paci stash, chewing them all up beyon recognition and that was that. I never replaced them (I'm not even sure they sold that brand of paci in the country where we were traveling, but I also didn't look).

He was cutting his top two front teeth at the time, so his sleep was crap anyway. For his first wake-up MOTN, I brought him into bed with me (I was traveling with just DS and DD, so had a full-sized bed to myself). Some night there were multiple wake-ups and I just soothed him however I could. We were staying with people, so CIO was not even remotely an option.

By the time we got back home, he never went back to the paci. He also started rejecting the bottle, so we were done with bottles and pacis at the same time.

[numbers]

We're in the middle of verrry slowly weaning our paci addict.

She's slept with 12 glow-in-the-dark pacis since 6 months (it's basically a paci rave in her crib), and lately I've been removing one every few weeks.

Outside of sleep, she's down to only getting a paci in the car when she asks for one.

My goal is to be paci free by 2, but that may be a stretch.

[sunshineluv]

With DS, he was over 3, we took all his paci's to Target and he "bought" a toy with them. He did really well, only cried for one nap.

DD is 2, the dentist told us that if she isn't ready not to take the paci, she may turn to her fingers, and that can be worse for the teeth. I think she is right, DD sticks her hand in her mouth for comfort a lot. We are 90% down to a paci for just sleeping. I will probably wait until she is 3 to take the paci completely.

[numbers]

Mar 16, 2016 7:16:14 GMT -5 sunshineluv said:

With DS, he was over 3, we took all his paci's to Target and he "bought" a toy with them.

This is brilliant!

[SJ]

DD is 20 months and sleeps with two pacifiers. One monkey wubbanub that she holds, and one traditional pacifier in her mouth.

The live in the crib, and are only for "night night". If she tries to take them out of the crib, we ask if she wants to go to sleep, and we put them back in the crib. The monkey in particular is a security item & bedtime signal, but I have been wondering when to get rid of them. I am glad to hear some still had them at 2-3.

[Deleted]

My kid was a pacifier lover. We took it away at bedtime one day. And she didn't even ask for it. It was strange. The next night she did and we just said 'nah' and she whined a bit but she fell asleep.
This was around 18-24 months

[ilikedonuts]

DD1 was like 2 years and a couple months and we just went cold turkey. I told her the new babies that my friends had needed them. She cried for like 5 minutes. DD2 is 2.5 and just uses them in her crib. Honestly she sleeps so great and the one time I tried to take it away she cried forever so I'm not bothering with it right now. Maybe in a couple months we will try again.

[vtdiamond]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, glad to hear that we still have some time until we have to ditch it. I think we're going to try more pacis in there for now and see if that helps.

[countthestars]

DD still has hers at 2.5. I kind of wish we had dumped them around your DS's age (she dropped them at daycare at 15mo so she can definitely sleep without them!) but it's a huge comfort item for her and the dentist said she could keep them until 3. She still keeps 5 or 6 in her bed with her. I'm hoping we can do the toy purchase but we'll see! If you do decide to get rid of them soon I would probably CIO.

[Deleted]

Right before his second birthday. It worked for a few weeks but then he saw where we hid it and wanted it back so we caved for a few days. Then his brother was born when he was 25 months and we took it away, saying pacifiers were for babies.

But he was into Wubbs so we just cut the pacifier off. He still carries his monkey to/from school and sleeps with it.

[kdubs923]

Mar 16, 2016 8:11:47 GMT -5 countthestars said:

DD still has hers at 2.5. I kind of wish we had dumped them around your DS's age (she dropped them at daycare at 15mo so she can definitely sleep without them!) but it's a huge comfort item for her and the dentist said she could keep them until 3. She still keeps 5 or 6 in her bed with her. I'm hoping we can do the toy purchase but we'll see! If you do decide to get rid of them soon I would probably CIO.

This, exactly.

DS is 2y5m and ADDICTED. Pediatrician wasn't worried about it at his last appointment, but she likes them gone by 3 years old. I'm hoping he magically forgets about them. Which is not likely, because he really, really loves them. He sleeps with a bunch. One in his mouth, one in the hand, and extra in the bed for when he can't find the first two.

I'd like to tell you that we limit it to car/sleeping time, but they magically creep out of the bed on the weekends. :?  He can go without while at school or when he's keeping busy. At home, he stuffs his fingers in his mouth, and honestly, I prefer the paci. At least that's (usually) clean?

[vtdiamond]

kdubs923, countthestars. That's why I'm wondering if it's better to ditch it now which will mean a few nights of crying or if it would be better to do once they're more verbal but possibly more obsessed. Glad to hear your perspectives on this!!

[speckledfrog]

DS1 was 15 months and we did it cold turkey. The first night he cried for about an hour. The next day it was less and the third night it was less than 5. I was amazed at how quickly it went.

[carolinagirl831]

DD was crazy addicted. We should have done it at age 2 right before the new baby was born, but we were afraid to rock the boat. We finally decided and told her at age 3 she had to give them up. Her birthday was last week and she hasn't looked back. From age 2-3 we told her she could only have it in the car and at night. For the past few months we'd find in her room sucking on it and asking to take naps so she could have it. She was crazy for it. We thought it would be awful, but she's been great about giving it up. I think she just accepted it.
The funny thing is our baby is 10 months and won't take one.

[tootsie]

We went cold turkey at 2.5. She loooooved that thing so I thought the world would end when we took it away, but she did ok. She cried for probably 45 minutes and I bribed her with a new toy. She had already gone paci-less at daycare for ~6 months so I knew she could do it. I may try to take it away earlier if the next baby is an addict like DD2, but honestly it was such a helpful soother, especially on long road trips, that I may not bother.

[thebreakfastclub]

We held onto the paci at bedtime until DS was around 27m. I noticed he started to ramp up his interest in it, and he was asking for it after school, which was getting annoying. Also, I planned to PT him before 2.5 and wanted it gone before then.

Anyway, we went to TRU and looked at some toys one weekend. DS was very interested in getting Cranky the Crane, so we told him that when his pacifiers went away, Cranky would be waiting for him. He spent a weekend at my mom's, and we bought / set up Cranky and removed the pacifiers. She never let him have one at her house, so I knew it was just a habit.

He was super excited to get Cranky, but he cried a bit and asked for the pacifier on and off for 3 nights. Then it was done. He continued to STTN.

[ny96]

J is about to turn 3 and I'm totally dreading getting rid of the paci. He too is obsessed and uses it more than we should allow. I'm trying to decide whether the paci fairy should take them away or we should cut holes in all of them.

[badtzmaru22]

The Paci Fairy came for DD at age 2. We talked it up a lot, like it was time for the paci fairy to take her pacis to a new baby, and one day DD said she was ready. It was actually one of her first nights in her big girl bed. I was pregnant, and we wanted the paci and the crib distant memories by the time DS arrived.

There is also a Sesame Street episode we watched a million times- Bye Bye Binky.

DD got a little weepy, but we reminded her she got a new toy instead (Bert doll she had picked). She only mentioned the paci fairy one other time after that, which was sad and hilarious at the same time. She had been wanting to play on my phone, but I didn't want her to, so I said I didn't know where it was. She said, very solemnly, "The paci fairy take it." Like, that darn fairy! Taking away all our fun stuff!

DS is 19 mo, and we might try around age two for him as well. I'm not worried about it this time.

[stretchad]

Well apparently you can just have your child stand over the toilet as they're flushing and hope they drop the paci down the toilet while mesmerized by the spinning water...because this is what happened to us this morning...

CHAOS QUICKLY ENSUED.

[magpie]

DD started a new daycare at 18 months where they didn't allow pacifiers in the room. We had already been limiting it to only be used during sleep and walks in the stroller at that point. We ditched the paci then and just unceremoniously took it away and said that she was a big girl now and no more paci. She asked for it a few times and did cry a little bit the first couple nights, but it was surprisingly uncomplicated.

[mandymay]

We took them away at the beginning of January, so 14 months. He only had them for naps and bed too. We started putting him to sleep with a small stuffed animal so he'd be more interested in cuddling that than noticing he didn't have a pacifier. Other than him taking a while to pass out (talking in his crib) and waking up early a couple of days, it wasn't so bad.

[rt2008]

Starting at 1 year old, she only got them at night and naps, and longer car trips.

We ditched then completely at 23 months. DD used wubbanubs, so we just cut the pacifier off of them completely and she still got the animal that was attached. She barely even seemed to notice and there was no issue at all. I even took days off work to be prepared for lack of sleep, and it was a non issue.

[Deleted]

DS and DD1and DD3 didn't want much to do with it.. they were done voluntarily by 6 months... DD2 only used one when DD3 was born and she took hers She was 19 months and it took us until a few months shy of 3 to get her to stop but she finally wanted to be a "big girl". DD3 (2 in May in still going strong with her bottle and she won't stop nursing even though I am pretty sure my milk has reverted back to colostrum for the new baby).

[ginap]

We took C's around 18 mos because her dentist said that they were starting to affect her teeth. I hid all but one and then cut the tip off of it and gave it to her. We had a couple rough nights but nothing too terrible.

[bunch]

I got rid of dd2's around a year. I basically just threw them away. I'm a kind of band aid ripper in general, but I have no regrets about losing them early. It was in conjunction with ferbering so I figured if she was going to CIO anyway that it was a good time for them to go.

[mandapanda18]

Mar 16, 2016 8:11:47 GMT -5 countthestars said:

DD still has hers at 2.5. I kind of wish we had dumped them around your DS's age (she dropped them at daycare at 15mo so she can definitely sleep without them!) but it's a huge comfort item for her and the dentist said she could keep them until 3. She still keeps 5 or 6 in her bed with her. I'm hoping we can do the toy purchase but we'll see! If you do decide to get rid of them soon I would probably CIO.

C is the same way. We ditched them at daycare around 15 months, so i know he can do it... but he won't nap/go to bed a home without them! At first I said after he is done teething (he just got his last molar this month), now I'm not sure since he tends to stick his hands in his mouth and I don't want him to suck fingers instead of the pacified. 5 more months to figure out a way to drop it!

[blueberry10]

Heh...DD had recently turned 3. Her life had turned upside down a bit after her brother's birth so we delayed a little. I bought a set of Magiclip princess dolls and she got to have one each night she went to bed without her binky. After a week she was done. She brought it up every so often in the next few months when she was upset or not feeling well, but overall it went better than I'd imagined. She was a big binky addict.