Toddlers: 24 Months+

taking pacifier away from toddler.

so we had DD give her pacifier to Santa in exchange for a new play kitchen- (the my first kenmore set, super cool :) She will be 3 in April. I expected the first night to be miserable and I was right. BUt it is night 3 and it still isnt getting any better. Screaming and sobbing "help me mommy daddy! I dont know how to go nigh night! I dont sleep no mo!"  She is breaking my heart. Two hours til she passes out from exhaustion. In the morning we talk about how she does know how to go nigh nigh and she's  big girl and evryone needs to sleep. And she hasn't been napping. She usually still took a two hour afternoon nap.So she's sad, miserable and over tired.

Any advice?

Re: taking pacifier away from toddler.

  • I'm no help, but this breaks my heart!! DD still takes a paci for sleep only and I am so worried about taking it away. I've heard that poking a small hole in it helps. They see it a "broken" and eventually don't want it. Good luck, I feel for you! 
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  • Ugh... that is tough.  I'm a wimp and waited until he was kind of ready.  Last week, he chewed through a bunch, I told him if he chews through another - we say goodbye to them.  He chewed it, I made him throw it out, and no tears!  

    Maybe you can snuggle with her for a bit until she calms down and gets drowsy? 

  • Yeah, we tried a few months ago and it didn't go so well.  She doesn't use it as much during the day but if she gets hurt/upset she wants it and at night time. She has also chewed through all of them but still prefers that to none at all. We're going to try again soon.

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  • if she's that sad- i'd just give her a paci back... having it just at night is not a big deal - Griffin had his until he was close to 3 - he was ready to give it up and had no problems... if he was crying 3 nights in a row like that- we would have given it back and tried again in a few more months.
  • We cut the tips off of them right before DD's 2nd birthday and she just stopped thinking there was something wrong with all of them.  It was a rough few nights at first but she got over it. 
  • We made DD get rid of her "plug" cold turkey back in August. She earned a sticker for each nap and night sleep which seemed to help, but it didn't stop the hysterical crying at bedtime. It actually took about 5-6 nights of hard crying (the first 3 were hell) before she calmed down. 
    Would she go for a bribe like stickers or a hand stamp? Or maybe a new lovey to hold onto while sleeping? Hang in there.

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  • Thanks for the advice everyone. The sobbing lasted a bit shorter last night so hopefully tonight will be better yet. If only we could get a nap back too. She told me this morning she's a big girl and she knows how to nigh nigh. So we shall see. JUst have to stay strong!
  • thats rough. DS takes it at night and nap only. We were thinking of getting rid of it, but he is not good at change and cold turkey would not work for him well. I am realizing the reason we were thinking of taking it away is because society says its bad. If he had it all day long I would wean him down to nap and bed, but he has only had it then since 12 months. 

    We decided to wait to he is ready to give it up or chews through them. I am terrified he will give up naps if we take it away. I need him to nap! I am alone for 21 days stright when DH is at work and with two kids 18 months apart, I need that time when they are both asleep =)

    Good luck to you. I hope it gets better. If it were me, if it didnt get better after 5 nights, I would tell her she can have it back.  

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  • DD threw hers away in exchange for an early Christmas present last week. She asked for them once & that was it. BUT she didn't start taking them until DS was born. So I guess she didn't build up a 2+ yr attachment.

    But I say stick with it....She will catch on quickly. Maybe talk to her about it at bedtime. Offer an extra book or baby. But if you've gone 2 or 3 nights, don't tease her & offer them again j

  • DD threw hers away in exchange for an early Christmas present last week. She asked for them once & that was it. BUT she didn't start taking them until DS was born. So I guess she didn't build up a 2+ yr attachment.

    But I say stick with it....She will catch on quickly. Maybe talk to her about it at bedtime. Offer an extra book or baby. But if you've gone 2 or 3 nights, don't tease her & offer them again j

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  • DD threw hers away in exchange for an early Christmas present last week. She asked for them once & that was it. BUT she didn't start taking them until DS was born. So I guess she didn't build up a 2+ yr attachment.

    But I say stick with it....She will catch on quickly. Maybe talk to her about it at bedtime. Offer an extra book or baby. But if you've gone 2 or 3 nights, don't tease her & offer them again

  • DD threw hers away in exchange for an early Christmas present last week. She asked for them once & that was it. BUT she didn't start taking them until DS was born. So I guess she didn't build up a 2+ yr attachment.

    But I say stick with it....She will catch on quickly. Maybe talk to her about it at bedtime. Offer an extra book or baby. But if you've gone 2 or 3 nights, don't tease her & offer them again just to take them away at another time.

  • I also waited until he was ready on his own to give it up.  But he is a little younger.  He chewed through one of his paci's so I replaced it but that one was different and a few days later he decided he was done.  He only had it at sleep time, and it never came out of his crib. 

    A friend cut the tips off her sons and left them in the normal places he kept them. By a few days he wasn't even interested since they weren't the same.  But again he is just over a year, which I think makes a difference.  If I had done that with my DS he would have just told me it was broken and needed a new one (if he wasn't ready).  

    ((BIG HUGS)) I hope it gets easier!

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  • I feel your pain - it is soooo difficult!  We took my DD's paci away at about 2 and a month later, bedtime is finally starting to get easier again.  My DD started throwing hers away after naps because she was a "big girl", but when it came to bedtime, she would cry and scream for it.  We bought her a special doll for being a big girl, but it didn't seem to help much.  We finally moved a stuffed Santa into her bed and told her she had to go to bed without crying so Santa could bring her presents.  Not sure what to do now that Christmas is over :)

    I do love the sticker idea someone suggested - I might just try that to keep things moving in the right direction!  There were MANY nights I wanted to give in to her, but now that things are looking up, I am glad we stuck with it...Good luck!

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