Getting rid of the pacifier after age 2 - how did you do it?

tri_bride05

At M's last dentist appt., the dentist said we should think about getting rid of the pacifier now and definitely before age 3 as it's creating problems with his bite. We have cut down use to naps and bedtime, but he loves the thing and I don't think it's going to be easy. DH and I were talking about it the other morning at breakfast and M said, "what did the dentist say?" and I told him we had to think about putting away his pacifier soon and he didn't say anything, but his eyes filled with tears so I quickly reassured him that we weren't doing it that day, but had to do it sometime in the future.

So...how did you do it? Harder than you expected? Easier? Would love any tips/suggestions for making this go as smoothly as possible.

BlissfulGurl

Amaya kept biting through hers and I told her once you break it, no more paci.  The first day at naptime was the hardest and then it got way easier!  GL!

everydayeve

We made a huge production of it. We told Eve for a few days about the paci fairy who would come and take away the pacis to give to the babies that need them and in turn, leave her a present.

One morning, I had her put all the pacis in a box and we put it out on the doorstep for the fairy. While she was playing, I sneaked outside and replaced the box with a certificate that had one paci attached to it. Later, we checked to see if the fairy had come. I explained to her that the certificate said that we were supposed to take that paci and put it in a stuffed animal.

That afternoon, we took the last paci to Build-a-Bear. Eve picked out an animal, gave her paci one last suck and we placed the paci inside the bear. The paci was in the bear's foot where she could still feel it.  We told her that whenever she felt like she needed her paci, she could just give her bear a hug and it would help her to feel better like her paci did.

She loved it. In fact, she still sleeps with the bear. When we found any pacis that the fairy left behind (because you know they hide everywhere!), she would pick it up and run it to the trash can. It was amazing how well the transition went. She didn't ask for her paci a single time.

Good luck! I hope whatever you decide to do goes well.

futrkingsley

I have no tips because C ditched his paci against my will when he was 9 months old, but the idea of M getting all teary eyed about his paci makes me want to cry.  Sweet boy!

My older brother's kids were addicted to their pacis.  When the oldest was 3, I was pg with C and they made a deal that when the babies came, he would give his old paci's to cousin C.  I wasn't thrilled with the concept (I thought he'd transfer his resentment to C!), but it worked like a charm.  But he did start stealing his sister's pacis.  And now his sister is almost 3 and only gets her one paci at bed or nap time.  And when it is lost or broken, she won't be getting another. 

My.ABC.Life

My niece was still using her paci all the way up until almost her 3rd bday. All through my PG my SIL told my niece that when Aunt Alison's baby come... you have to give the paci's to the baby.  She LOVED that idea (although still sucked on her paci).  When they came to visit me and Baby Andrew in the hospital... they brought along a gift bag... filled with all her paci's.  It was very sweet... and effective!  My SIL says she never asked for it again.

SeasonalCook

We're trying to get E off of her paci, too. Just like M, she only uses it for naps and bedtime. This week the nanny has managed to get her off using it at naps. She told me she told E that the paci was for babies and she was a big girl. Apparently it went pretty smoothly, but DH tried the same thing last night with no luck. I'm going to give it a go tonight (I'm a little more persistent than DH), but we'll see. I finally weaned her from the sleep sack by telling her it was broken, but it really was broken b/c the zipper was stuck and she could see that so she accepted it. I'm thinking about cutting the rubber of the paci in half today and telling her it's broken. Even if I can get her to accept not having it at bedtime, I'm so worried about the middle of the night when she wakes up looking for it.

Good luck to you!

kbrodie06

got katie to start taking it at naps and bed time only and told her we need to leave it in the crib, its the only one we have. Then after that was all fine, got her to say we could give it to the pacifier fairy soon for other peoples new babies. Once she was ok with that idea, we gave it to the pacifier fairy. Never asked about it

Kristin

tri_bride05

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm not sure the big boy/give pacifier to the baby angle will work for us since he just wants his pacifier more when he's sees the baby with one and he doesn't want to be called a "big boy" (knows he's not a baby, but happy to be a little boy). The pacifier fairy might work... Ugh, ugh, ugh. I hope this is one of those things that turns out to be easier than I expect it to, but I really hate the thought of taking something he loves from him :-(

SeasonalCook

tri_bride05:

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm not sure the big boy/give pacifier to the baby angle will work for us since he just wants his pacifier more when he's sees the baby with one and he doesn't want to be called a "big boy" (knows he's not a baby, but happy to be a little boy). The pacifier fairy might work... Ugh, ugh, ugh. I hope this is one of those things that turns out to be easier than I expect it to, but I really hate the thought of taking something he loves from him :-(

Ditto this. The "big girl" argument doesn't work for anything at our house. I don't know how our nanny got it to work. After reading this post, I asked E yesterday if she wanted to give her paci to Isaac and she said no.