Hello,
DD is 2 yrs. and 3 months old. Her best friend and first love is her pacifier. Six months ago, it rarely left her mouth. We started taking it out when she was happy/calm then. Since, we've scaled down to it only being used for sleeping. It stays in her crib at home and in a drawer at DC when she's not napping. It's not always easy as she asks for it when she's board and even cries for it at home, but she does seem to understand it's only for bedtime now that she's older.
I'm expecting DD#2 in late January. I'd really like her to be off the pacifier a month or two before then......(three reasons: the potential of it messing up her teeth, she wakes up at night screaming for it sometimes, and she's 2 - she doesn't NEED it)
I'm thinking of having her wrap up her pacifiers for her little sister in December. (I'll throw them out, but this way, she's part of the weaning process and feels like a big girl etc)
DH is gone for the first ten days of December. (Sometimes we find it's easier for her to do what we want when one of us is gone) I know I'll be in for a few nights of tears when she cannot fall asleep with the pacifier, but I think she can eventually do this.....
How long should this take? (Note: daycare will not give her the pacifier either) A few days? a week? more?
Re: pacifier weaning......how long should this take?
*Child 1 turned 2 in July. In order to "get" his presents he had to trade his pacifiers. He did and never looked back or asked for them again.
*Child 2 turned 2 in April. Her parents have tried everything short of just throwing them out. They want her to be part of the process (like Child 1 and it sounds like you). Nothing has worked and they're still struggling.
Daycare REALLY helped us out on this one. We started trying to wean from the pacifier by dropping naps first, then eventually bedtime. It was a disaster. 2 weekends in a row and even though he said he would nap without a pacifier, he didn't. Just cried and begged for it. We got daycare involved. They said they would try to get him to nap without it. Day 1 he whined for it, but they pointed out all his "big boy" friends who didn't use a pacifier. He took a nap without the pacifier. Day 2 he didn't ask for it, and told us at bedtime that he was a big boy who didn't need a pacifier. I think having daycare insert a little peer pressure really helped.
I took it away cold turkey at 18 months (DS only used it for sleeping). It really only took one bad day. Here was my experience:
First night - awful. Don't plan on getting much sleep. Don't give in. Explain calmly that pacifiers are not allowed for big boys and he can't have it anymore.
Naptime the next day - he went down after a fight and didn't nap long.
Second night - pretty easy. He tried to resist, but recognized I wasn't going to give in. He decided it wasn't worth the effort (and by this time, he was pretty tired).
And that was the end of it. After that it was completely forgotten about. Just bite the bullet and get it over with. You will be thankful that you did.
MMC 3.30.16
I wouldn't make the loss of pacifier relate to the new baby or she may resent the baby for it.
We did the exact same thing at 18 months. Cold Turkey all the way!