My daughter is almost four and will not give up her pacifier, how can I help her let go?

Question

She is very smart, looks and talks like a 5 yr old, is very stubborn and is very attached to her binkie. She sleeps with it and walks around a lot of the time with it in her mouth. We discourage this but she speaks with it in her mouth (we don't respond to her when she does this but she still does it a lot). I stay at home with her and her father and i are together, there are no specific stressers at home that involve her, we are a happy family. Please help me get her past this attachment without traumatizing her.

I just realized I should have put this question in toddlers/preschoolers, how do i switch where it is posted?

Answer 1

I used to work at build-a-bear workshop and a lot of times parents would come in, and then have the pacifier sewn inside of the child's favorite stuffed animal and tell them that the child is so grown up now! and make a big deal about how shes a big girl now and will still have her pacifier in her bear. It gets rid of the thing without taking it away! If you can sew, you could do it yourself.

Answer 2

Letting her keep the pacifier will traumatize her more than taking it away. Speech and dental problems will follow her for years. Set a date a week away and every day tell her how many days are left. And then throw them all away. Dont have a backup. And then go to the store and let her pick out a no more binky toy. I watched a show on tv, and they had a neat idea of a 'binky fairy' similar to the tooth fairy in that they get a surpise toy in thier room if they leave thier binky under the pillow.

Answer 3

I had the same problem. What I did is that I used one of her favorite characters. At the time it was Dora and i told her that she was a big girl and that Dora was not walking around with a Binky in her mouth. So we agreed to throw it away. She threw it in the trash can and she let it go. At night she would ask for it and we got her a Dora doll and reminded her that she was a big girl and that Dora didn't have a Binky. It was hard at first but then she got used to the idea of not having it. Also be care full because the dentist said that the Binky can mess up her teeth. Well good luck.

Answer 4

As you said she is very smart. but you also said she is very stubborn. If persuasion doesn't work you have only one way. Put the pacifier inside a plastic bag in front of her tell her that she is a big girl and not a baby anymore so she doesn't need it anymore and it have to go into the garbage . Then through the garbage bag with the pacifier inside in the garbage in front of her. when she is not looking at you take it out in case that you have Mayor crisis controlling her. Remember you are in a mission and you have to be strong try to comfort her give her treats for been without the pacifier. keep her busy so she forget about it. Gave her carrot sticks to eat, if she refuse the carrots then you star eating them when she see you eating I know for sure that she will ask you for some.

Answer 5

I have the same problem. My daughter is not allowed to use her pacifier except for when she is in her bed. When I spoke to the dentist about this, he said that she would be fine. My biggest concern is not that she will be traumatized, but that she will start thumb sucking as a replacement. My mother in law took the pacifier away from her daughter at about this age and she started sucking her thumb, and continued to suck it until she was 12. I think that the pacifier is the lesser of the two evils, so my plan is to just keep only letting her use it at bedtime until she decides to give it up or until her doctor or dentist tells me that it is harming her in some way.

Answer 6

Honestly I'm not sure there is a way without traumaizing her. My mom told me the pigs took my bottle and I was upset for years. I was 3. Fortunatly I never had a pacifier. I still sleep with my baby blanket and I'm 30. Its a good thing mom crochets strong blankets.
You might want to take her to the zoo, get her an ice cream so you can get the pacifier away from her. Go look at the monkeys or bears and then throw it away when she's not looking and tell her the animal that you were looking at took it. Then while your gone make sure someone goes into your house and gets rid of every single one in the house (look under her bed, she might have a stash). If you go to the store and she see's one and wants it, just tell her those are for babys, not for little girls who are getting ready to go into kindergarden. You could also tell her that she can't go to school enless she gets rid of her pacifier, but that will only work if she wants to go to school.
Really though, she's 4, just get rid of them!

Answer 7

My daughter did the same thing when she was 5. your gonna hate this but you have to take it away from her while she is sleeping and deal with the crying in the middle of the night or morning.

and tell her no more binkie she is a big girl now.

I know it will be hard but it took us only 1 week and she was a happy child again.

Answer 8

I am a mother of three and my son was the only one that would that would take a pacifier. He was addicted! We tried shaving a little bit off the end of it with a razor blade each day to make it uncomfortable for him. It got to the point where there was nothing left and he still managed to keep it in his mouth. That may work for you, but it didn't for us. What worked for us is during Christmas time we took him to see Santa and he gave his pacy to Santa in exchange for Santa bringing him a power wheels four wheeler. Once he handed it over to Santa he never asked for it again! Of course Santa gave it back to us but he didn't know that. I know it's a long time until Christmas but maybe there is some way you can incorporate this idea to make it work for you. I hope everything works out for you. Good Luck!

Answer 9

ok pacifier fairy is a good idea but i don't like the idea of just trashing it.i saw this on super nanny.explain to your little girl that there are kids out there who needs binkies and the binky fairy would like to trade her a toy for a binky.get a small cheap gift bag and let you kid put her beloved binky in it and in the morning let her wake up to a new dress for her doll or heck even a new cheapo doll from dollar tree.this way she is involved and the deception is not as bad as jist snatching it in the night or cutting it up.

Answer 10

When my too old son was "addicted" to his bottle, we got him off of it while on vacation. We took a several day car trip and the first night that he wanted it we told him that bottles weren't allowed in state parks....it was a rule. He grumbled a bit, but went to bed without having a fit (a first). We threw his bottles in the trash before leaving the house, but missed one. He found it and pointed out that he could have his bottle because there was one right up there. We told him that he was a big boy and asked if he really wanted that thing. He thought about for a moment and said "nah". That was the end of the bottle.

Good luck.