[sar1]

We would really like to try to stop using a pacifier for our 10-month-old DD. Does anyone have any tips? Right now she only uses it in the crib for naps and at bedtime. She goes to sleep SO easily as soon as she has it, but she's a mess before she gets it.

My biggest fear in getting rid of it is that she uses it to put herself back to sleep when she wakes up at night and I don't want to go through the cry-it-out routine again. I dealt with that for three nights about a month ago and she's back to successfully sleeping through the night again, or at least when she does wake up she finds her pacifier and goes back to sleep again. Are we trying to get rid of it too soon? It feels little unfair that we let her use it as a tool to get herself back to sleep on her own, but now we're taking away her only tool. She has no attachments to stuffed animals or blankets.

Any suggestions on getting rid of the pacifier at this age would be helpful. Thanks!

[Lynda1811]

I have no suggestions for you, none of my kids used the pacifier. Good luck!

Lynda

[_rori]

My DD is the same way. Only takes it at naps and bedtime .. and has no attachment to anything else.

Because of this, I am not worried about her continuing to take it. It isn't going to delay her speech because obviously she isn't speaking with she is sleeping and I don't think it's going to mess up her teeth for her to have it a couple hours out of the night (she spits it out when she enters a deep sleep). I work too early in the morning to fight with her to get her back to sleep if I take it away, which is a huge reason I continue to give it to her.

BUT if you don't see it causing any harm..I would just wait! IMO

[queenbear]

I took it away from DD at 13 months..She too used it to get back to sleep and when she was cranky.It was a lifesaver. Now I think it was a mistake to take it away. Now she cries for a bottle and doesn't even drink from it just sucks on it. I tried to give her the binky back she had no clue what it was shes now 19 months..I beleive that every child will give it up when they are ready. If she only uses it to sooth herself back to sleep I wouldn't be to concerned.

[lhart24]

A way to slowly ween a lil one from the pacifer.... Is to cut the tip.. just a lil off at first.. so there is less nipple there for them to suck on... After a week, trim a lil more.... Keep going till there is nothing left...

Gradually the soothing sensation from the pacifier is lost, however they are able to slowly adjust to it...

[ChristineV]

I do not know if this will be much help, but at 8 months we just took it away. She forgot about very quickly. It actually happened on accident she just started going to daycare and I gave them her paci and told them if she needed it then give it to her. Because they put her down for her nap and she only cried a little bit (expecting this since it was a new environment) they never gave it to her. When I picked her up I found out they did not give it to her all day and decided if she could go without it all day then she did not need it anymore. We also did CIO at the age of 6 months and she cried herself to sleep for many months after that, it was just her way to wind down. She grew out of that and is a fantastic sleeper she is 21 months and has been in a toddler bed since 15 months. You can take it away at naps first and then work on night time.

HTH
Christine

[calstate_brit]

My DS10 had his binky (or "dummy" as we brits call it ) until he was two-and-a-half and it never did him any harm ~ like you say, it's a way for them to self-soothe.

At two-and-a-half, I took him to the dentist for a check-up and asked for her suggestions on how to ween him off of it. She simply told my then-toddler that she knew some kids that didn't have much money who needed a binky and would he mind if she took his binky and gave it to the needy kids? ~ with that, my DS simply took his binky out of his mouth and handed it to her ~ the sweetheart!

He really didn't miss it much and forgot about it within a week. He initially had a small gap in his bite, but as soon as we got rid of the binky, that gap just closed up in no time and now he has near perfect teeth

IMO, it wouldn't hurt for your DD to have the binky for a little longer if it helps her self soothe, at least you can get rid of the binky sooner or later, unlike my DD8 who still sucked her thumb until recently when we had an "anti-thumb sucking" device installed for her at the dentist

Just my Good luck with it!

[sar1]

Thanks, everyone, for the responses so far. We're torn b/c she seems to still need it, but we also feel terrible that she has such a strong need when she's ready for a nap or bed. When she does wake up at night, she cries for less than a minute until she finds it, but I wonder if she wouldn't be so upset if she didn't need it so badly. Like if we were able to help her get rid of it and she woke up at night, would she just roll over and go back to sleep. Thanks, everyone.

[marbear]

I don't know that I can talk b/c none of my kids were attached to a paci, but I think you are fine right now. I'd definitely incorporate other things into her nighttime routine (and maybe help her find a good teddy or something for her bed) so that when you take away the paci she still has something there that is comofrting (bear, blankie, storytime etc).

[therbel]

We just took it away when DD was about 10 months...... she cried for a day or so and then it was over!!! Still trying to get rid of the bottle though!!!

[texassaver]

I'm not going to be too much help either. My DS stopped using a paci at 9 months. He just stopped taking it. He would spit it out the moment I would give it to him. It took longer for me to adjust because I was use to giving it to him when I put him down for the night.

[mcdlady1]

My sons all were walking and we told them when it fell on the floor it was yuck and took it with them to the trash and them took the trash out for trash man. No problems with 3 of them that way.

[LisaArbo]

In my opinion, I wouldn't really worry about it at 10 months. That is great that you are only giving it to her at sleep times. When you do want to try to take it away...........if there is only one kind she likes..........try giving her one of the OTHER kinds. When I tried this with my son, he took the pacifier out of his mouth and looked at it like WTH? I said "that's all we have". He didn't want it and that was the end of that. But, the snipping off idea may work for you too. I would let her have it for a little while longer. Some children just really have that need for a binky.

[sar1]

I tried snipping a tiny bit of the end off of one today and while her reaction started out to be pretty funny to me, she's not really old enough to understand "it's broken" or reasoning with her in any other way. The poor kid just wanted to take a nap and needed the sucking. She tried to deal with it the way it was for about 5 minutes then really got worked up over it. I gave her another one and she went right to sleep. I think we're going to wait a little longer.

I guess my thought was that it would be easier now than later when she's probably more inclined to throw a tantrum. But it sounds like maybe when she's little older there's the ability to reason w/her more. Right now she just doesn't understand. I'll be posting again in 8 months asking how to get my 18-month-old off of the pacifier!

[Susuz]

My DD used one, then we limited to nap and nightime like you. At two years she still had it, and had a slight forward front teeth. I asked the pediatric dentist, and he said not to worry, that it was not causing anything that wouldn't reverse on it's own, but not to keep it past 3 if we could help it. First we gave it up for nap time, then time for the big test.

So I was a terrible Mom and told her that when she had her Birthday and was two Walmart wouldn't sell me any more paci's, they saved them for the babies so when the one we had was lost we wouldn't have a paci. The one that she had I poked a hole in the end, she said it was "broke"... (I had heard others say that if you cut the end and then little by little they would give it up.) Anyway, we asked for it one night, cried for about 15 minutes, then went to sleep, never asked for it again.

I sweated this for a full year and it was SO easy, so I guess the best thing is to not worry about it, if she needs it right now for nap and sleep so be it. You might try to see later if you can get her to give it up during nap, if you can do that then she shows she doesn't HAVE to have it for sleep. Good luck, it is not an easy thing, but in the grand scheme of things is small potatoes.

Oh and DD is now 10, no noticable damage to her teeth!

[jbarber8]

My DS1 used it until about 10 months, and we took it away. We just put it in the drawer the same day we moved him from bottle to sippy cups. He fussed a bit, but no big deal... then he began teething and chewed on our furniture. So we gave it back for a few more months, then took it away for good around 20 months.

With my second, we tried the snipping off the end with scissors method and that worked fine too. They do notice BTW... DS2 was easygoing about it, kept taking it out and looking at it, puting it back, etc. I think 2 snips then they just disappeared. DS2 never ate the furniture; he was more of a paper man, so he never got his paci back.

Both of mine used pacifiers to fall asleep, then threw them out of the crib. Every morning, had to go crawling around looking for them!

[NJMom]

My 19 month old dd uses a pacifier for sleeping only. For months now, she's been handing it to me the minute I walk in her room to get her up from naps because she knows it is only for use in her crib. I put it on a shelf and wait for her to tell me she needs it at nap time, not just grab it every time and give it to her. Your dd is probably too young for that now, but I feel like this puts the responsibility on her a bit.

I personally am not worried about her using it. It soothes her just like thumb-sucking soothes her sister (and there isn't any way for me to take her thumb away so she gets to keep her soothing apparatus ). She snuggles her stuffed animals and sucks her binkie and that's what helps her sleep.

[kristieboyd]

If she's only 10 months and just using it a sleep times, I personally would not worry about it. We got rid of DDs a little before she turned 3. She lost one at the state fair so we took the opportunity to get rid of them all and just reminded her she lost it at the fair! She was upset for a few days, but dealt with it fine.

[latrice0723]

For both of my kids we just took it away. My DS cried for 2 days and my DD cried for about 1 hour. After taking it away we did not mention it's name for a few months and we hide all pictures of them with it in their mouths.

[lpurvis08]

I say wean her off of it at nap time.... then work on bed time. That's what we did with my DD. We just didn't send it to daycare anymore and therefore she forgot about it at nap time.. wasn't a big deal. We didn't take it away at night till she was 1yr old and it only took 2 nights and again, not a big deal. By the time she was 1 she was attached to her 'blankie dollie' and if she had that she didn't care as much about the binky.
Good luck.

[CK147]

My first had it until 18 months and we just took it away but she was much older than 10 months. My 2nd as many times as I tried to make her take one she wouldn't and luckily never sucked her thumb either.

[amora]

Okay...I am an expert at this one! Although, I do believe it is a good thing for them to have until 2 but not longer. On both of my boys' 2nd birthday, I threw them away and then acted like I had no idea where it was - then, I said let's search for it...we searched and searched and couldn't find it. So, I said maybe it'll show up somewhere. Then do another search party for it. They will forget about it and most likely, if you are lucky like I was, they won't cry about it - after all, it was noone's fault that it disappeared!!

Good luck - it's a breeze. IMO, I think it's too early to take it away if she enjoys it - its good for her and it soothes her.

[owutaqt]

I guarantee the child will not go to school with one. They need to suck it is what they know to soothe, I think you are very lucky that she knows how to find it and go back to sleep. Ever hear that old saying let sleeping babies lie!

[Kim Emper]

Some babies have a high suck need-this from my now 17 yr. old's pediatritian when she was a baby. It might not be a good idea to take it yet. My youngest just stopped when she was done at around 10 months. But........the 17 yr. old had hers until she was 3, and still asked for it for a few years, off and on. *(I said 'no'.).

I'll never forget the day I walked into my Mother's bedroom, and, there laying on her bed was my 3 yr. old sucking away on her 'me-me'. I said
"Mom, how could you"? Mom said "I couldn't help myself. She begged me".

[Kim Emper]

In answer to how to get rid of it: When my girls were old enough, they got rid of them. Then, it was THEIR fault it was gone. One flushed it, the other threw it out the window.