Pacifiers??

[helene1108]

Okay, ladies, I've tried everything but standing on my head to get Cole and Bella to give up those dreaded pacifiers and nothing has worked so far!! I even did the whole "Pacifier Fairy needs to take them to the new babies who need them" and even that didn't work (well, they gave the Fairy all their pacis except 1 each).

I've finally gotten them to only have their pacis for bedtime but they refuse to give them up. I was hoping if they lost them that would be the end of it but then we had to endure hours of crying and neither of them could sleep.

Any suggestions??? They have a dentist appt in a couple weeks and the dentist had told she'd like to see them not using pacis after their 3rd b-day...ooops...

[maryk]

I'm right with you on pacifiers. Mine would use them 24/7 if I let them. I've backed off a bit, since at their 3 year check up their pedi told me his 3 1/2 year old just gave up hers, so I figured I had a little time yet. But I'd like them gone tomorrow!

[mylittlelovebugs]

Okay, ladies, I've tried everything but standing on my head to get Cole and Bella to give up those dreaded pacifiers and nothing has worked so far!! I even did the whole "Pacifier Fairy needs to take them to the new babies who need them" and even that didn't work (well, they gave the Fairy all their pacis except 1 each).

I've finally gotten them to only have their pacis for bedtime but they refuse to give them up. I was hoping if they lost them that would be the end of it but then we had to endure hours of crying and neither of them could sleep.

Any suggestions??? They have a dentist appt in a couple weeks and the dentist had told she'd like to see them not using pacis after their 3rd b-day...ooops...
This forum rocks!
Helene we are in the same boat! I stopped the ninny's during the day - well except for Reagan has his melt downs and has to have a soother to regroup and focus. But the main use is only at bedtime, even with my 4.5 yr old :anon: Our dentist was not worried about the pacifiers..his g'children stopped using their just before they went to school and they did it on their own. So with THAT incentive I have stopped worrying about when I was going to take them away. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/lovingmytwins/phew.gif

[helene1108]

I'm SO relieved I'm not the only one dealing with this...I was starting to think I was the only one in the world with 3 yr olds attached to their pacis!!

Well, I won't stress about it then...I guess they'll give it up when they're ready.

[mrsljb]

The boys didn't really use the pacifiers long, maybe 2 or 3 months. But DD used them FOREVER. I think that she was 2-2 1/2 though when I finally got rid of them...I gave her one and she told me 'not blue one mama, want pink'...I was done with them at that point. If she could tell me what color it was, she didn't need to be using them anymore.

At the time we lived in an apartment, and I went through the whole apartment with a fine tooth comb and found every single one and put them in a baby wipe box in the closet. I gave her one and told her that all the other ones were lost or broken and that when this one was gone that was it. She was only using it at nap/bedtime and I would go in after she fell asleep and take it away from her. She would look for it or ask for it most days, but one day she didn't and that was it. But I didn't throw the others away until I was absolutely sure that she was done...Lord knows I didn't want to be running to the store at midnight to get a pacifier if we were having issues!!!

[Steph211]

When you decide to ditch the paci's you have to DO IT. Trust me, your kids will survive. You will have a few days of trouble getting your kids to fall asleep, but then. . . nothing. We did the Binky Fairy here when they were maybe 2 1/2. When we decided to do it, I rounded up all the binkies and threw them in the garbage (not just the trash, but the icky outdoor garbage barrels) so that I couldn't give in. The Binky Fairy brought them each a toddler pillow for their cribs and a little stuffed animal. She also wrote them a note congratulating them on being big kids. It was no worse here than when we switched them from bottles to sippies at 12 mos.

Good luck!!

[Larkynsmommy]

We had the same problem in our house with all 3 kids. For dd she was 3 1/2 and only used them at night, I was preggo with the twins, so I wanted her to stop using them before the boys were born. I put a calendar on the fridge of the month we were in and told her for each night she went without a binky she would get a sticker. If she got 14 stickers (two weeks w/out a bink) she could get a trip to Chuck E Cheese. It worked and she never asked for her bink back after the 14 days. The boys, we did the BINKY fairy at age 3 and a couple months. It was a hard couple of days, but it worked, except my babysitter says Matthew steals one of the younger kid's bink at her house sometimes for a sucky. LOL:nono: He was the one most addicted to it so it does not surprise me. Now he has adopted a "blankie".

[catarina]

We went to visit a friend of mine, they took a nap at her house w/out it, so that night we just told them that there binky's are at Becky's house. It was a rough couple of nights but nothing uncontrollable. They did occasionally ask for them every couple of nights for a about 2-3 months.

I was so happy to get rid of those things.

[Kim-mom2MnEm]

My two were 3 1/2 when they gave up their paci's. I did the pacifier fairy thing similar to the tooth fairy. (We took them ALL away.) Except they put their paci's on the ledge of MOMMY's window and in the morning a special treat was left for them under their pillow. They loved that. My son gave me a few issues for 2 nights and then it was no big deal that they were gone. They started school soon after that. So it just worked out for us then. :)

[KSMom]

I did the exact same thing as KIm. In fact I think I got the idea from one of Kim's posts. (Thanks KIM!!) We used the pacifier fairy. We told them for two months that one day the fairy would come, take their paci's to little babies that needed them and they would get something in return. We then wrote the fairy a letter telling her to take the pacis to the babies and please bring me a Lightening McQueen car for being a big boy. We also moved them from cribs to single beds the same night. For us it worked like a charm! They just were convinced that they were big boys and didn't need cribs or paci's anymore. They NEVER asked for the paci's again. We did this at 3 yrs, 8 mos.

Good Luck
PS - they only had the paci's for sleep - night and nap.

[rockin_grandma]

We had to take away Megan & Morgan's pacis right after they turned two. They were really attatched to them... and so were we. They had preferences in color too like Laura's DD. :snicker: Their teeth started to get crooked so that scared us into taking them away.:shrug: I know that doesn't happen with all kids that suck pacis though. Thank goodness they straightened up really quickly. They asked for their pacis for a couple of days but it was a LOT easier than we thought it might be. :D

[helene1108]

Oh man, I dunno if I can handle the whole cold turkey thing but I may have to do that if push comes to shove (if the dentist gives us a hard time). Their teeth don't seem to be messed up but she could definitely tell upon first sight that they use pacis. So far, I've gotten them down to only taking their pacis at night....that's a huge step for them.

[hutile]

Only one of mine was really attached to the pacifier.
There was one day last summer, we where out and about really busy so she didn't really have time to ask for a pacifier. So when we came home they were just gone!
It was 2 nights of crying, a few new snuggle toys but we got through it.
Now the other day we found one and someone gave it back to her and she tried to put it in her mouth and I quickly told her it was for babies. Not for big girls. So she went and found one of her babies and tried to put it in her mouth. (The next time I found it on the floor I took it away though, I didn't want to coming back to haunt us)

Good luck.

[Mom of 5]

Oh man, I dunno if I can handle the whole cold turkey thing but I may have to do that if push comes to shove (if the dentist gives us a hard time). Their teeth don't seem to be messed up but she could definitely tell upon first sight that they use pacis. So far, I've gotten them down to only taking their pacis at night....that's a huge step for them.I hear where you are coming from, Helene. I am not going force this to happen. IMO it's just not that important.

Molly is very attached to her binky. She only gets to suck on it at bedtime, though. I am not worried about it. She'll give it up when she is ready to do without it. No child goes to her first second-grade sleepover with a pacifier!

What really used to annoy me were strangers in stores, or other people we'd meet, who were just compelled to comment on a 3-year-old with a pacifier.

Seemingly well-adjusted adults are everywhere, addicted to alcohol, compulsive shopping, cigarettes, other unmentionable things. So a three-year-old wants to suck on a piece of rubber...so what!:offsoapbox:

[Nursechic]

ISeemingly well-adjusted adults are everywhere, addicted to alcohol, compulsive shopping, cigarettes, other unmentionable things. So a three-year-old wants to suck on a piece of rubber...so what!:offsoapbox:

Oh my god Beth - that is so true!!