How do u break a two year old of their pacifier?

Question

any suggestions? I just want to know how i can do it slowly not "cold turkey" Open to any ideas one may have

Answer 1

We had this same problem. Our sons teeth were actually suffering because he sucked on it so hard. Our doctor said that it takes three days to 'break a habit'. If you can deal for three days you are in the clear. It is hard but this totally worked. It totally worked for the bottle, pacifier, 'blanky', sippy cup. It works... here is what we did..
We put a new bag in our trash can and brought him in the kitchen. We told him that the pacifier was yuck and needed throw it in the trash! We made a big production of it and took one and threw it hard in the trash, giggling and making it look 'fun'. So, he took it out and pitched it. One of us then took the bag out and replaced it and put the bag up, the other took him to do something cool, like watch a cartoon or play with the dog to divert his attention. This all took about 5 minutes. Then later he went and looked in the trash but they were gone. He did cry but after about the second day it was no biggie. He was good with it and that was it. Our second son we did the same thing and he really cried but sure enough, by the third day he was pretty much over it. You just have to get through the third day.
We tried the whole backing off thing and it pretty much equated to 'teasing' him. He couldn't have it then could and so on. They are too little to understand that they have their pacifier whenever they want and now can only have it at certain times. They don't understand. If they think it is in the trash then it is final.. Definate. The pacifier is gone and it takes a couple days but stick to your guns and it is over. Do it slowly and you will stretch the tears over weeks. Guaranteed. We tried that with our first son and he would just cry and cry. Then we would give it to him for bed time or what not and in his head he figured that he cried enough to get it back so that caused him to cry and cry for it whenever he wanted it. My kids are older now, but from experience... in all things... make a president and stick to it. Do what you say and say what you mean. Weaning him off it is only confusing to him. If you 'throw it away' (as far as he knows) Then when he crys for it you simply say 'It went in the trash remember'. It is final, there is nothing you can do so he will see that and it will be over.
I am telling ya, we did this same tactic with all their 'vises' and it totally works. You just have to stick with it for a couple days and you are in the clear.
Good Luck!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

My son had quite the pacifier fetish. He was obsessed with them, often displaying two at a time in his mouth, and one in each hand. He had them stashed in places all over the house.

We tried cutting the tip back slowly, but that didn't work. Once the tip is cut, he had no desire to use them. He was very sad, and it broke my heart, and I relented and let him continue with them.

Then one day, when he was nearing his 3rd birthday, he was making a fuss about dropping his pacifier on the floor while I was driving somewhere. I reached down, grabbed the pacifier, and said, "NO MORE Yam-Yam!!" And I threw it out the window.

My wife was horrified, and even I was ashamed of my behavior. But, you know what?" He accepted this. We went home and cleaned out all the pacifiers we could find, and threw them away. My son never again asked about a pacifier and he's turned out great!

Like you, I was against the "cold turkey" method, but it ended up being the best option for us.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

A friend of mine told her child that the pacifier ( she called it a Susy) fairy would come on her third birthday and there would be no more Susy's because she is a big girl. On the night before her birthday they went around and collected all her pacifiers and left a dollar under her pillow ( much like the tooth fairy ) This process helped her daughter adjust to the idea of no more Susy's and was rewarded for being a big girl. This worked extremely well for her and I hope it will help you.
Good luck

Answer 5

Start by limiting it to the car and house. Tell your child, "No paci in public anymore". Do that for a couple weeks till the kid is adjusted to that idea. Then cut it down to only the house. AFter a couple more weeks, cut it down to only sleep times. Eventually it will have to be taken away "cold turkey" during sleep times, I mean, there's only so much you can do gradually, but the process should accustom your child to doing without it more and more often.

Answer 6

Try cutting the tip off. Make it a bit shorter every day or so.

Or, purchase a preemie pacifier which would be uncomfortable to use.

Don't put any hot sauce or chili powser on it! In some states that is considered abuse.

Answer 7

my brother had a hard time of it getting rid of his pacifiers. he is autistic, so my parents let him have it a little longer then he would have under normal circumstances. we broached the subject to him, offering him the option of being a "big boy" by throwing away his "binkys" but that didn't work, he said he wanted to be a baby. i think what we ended up doing was telling him that the easter bunny would give him a treat if he got rid of them. he collected a bunch of them from around the house, and we told him we were taking them to give to the babies. whenever another binky would turn up, he would want to use it, but we would remind him that the "babies" needed the binkies. there was a lot of them, so many that after a couple of months there were still some turning up. by that point though, if he saw a binky he would laugh at it and tell us we needed to give it to the babies.

note: whenever he would tell us he wanted to be a baby, we would start treating him like a baby, telling him it was time for his bottle, and that he needed to go take a nap like a good little baby. whenever we would put on the "baby routine" he would spit out his binky instantly and yell "i'm not a baby!" we helped enforce that binkys were for babies by showing him every baby we knew and emphasizing on what a baby they were for using a binky, and how cool their siblings were, for not using a binky.

Answer 8

We stopped buying new ones as the old ones wore out. We told our son these were his last ones. As they finally got so worn out they wouldn't "suck" well, he finally just threw them in the trash. One by one they dwindled until the last one and we had him say goodbye and made a big deal about what a big boy he was. Worked great!

Before you go there, limit pacifiers to stressful times (doctor's office, etc...) and bed time. The transition to giving them up is much easier. You can do this by making bed the paci's "home" . Every morning we put the paci to bed. We get to "wake it up" at bedtime to keep baby happy! It gives your toddler control over the paci and thereby makes giving it up "controllable" and voluntary!

Good luck!

Answer 9

Take a needle and poke a few holes a day in the pacifier and give it back to your child. Eventually it will go flat.

Tell your child that the passie fairy is coming and needs to take his passie to little babies.

Tie it to a balloon and tie it to a tree limb.

The next morning have a toy tied to the ballon in place of the passie. Tell your child that the passie fairy came and took his passie to the babies and left him/her and big boy/girl toy.

Give the child lots of hugs, kisses and praise.

The toy just replaces the passie in the childs eyes.

Best wishes!

Answer 10

Cut a little hole to the silicon part of the pacifier. He won't like sucking on it anymore. I used to be a nanny and this worked for everybody.