Taking away the Pacifier help!

DS is 20 months old and we are trying to wean him off of the "mimi" (pacifier) The dr. suggested cutting the tip a little bit one day, then more, then more, etc. until there is nothing left. Here are my questions.....

1. How often do I cut the mimi, everyday? every other day? once a week?

2. Is it bad if I give him a normal mimi at night? I have for the past two nights but I'm finding that it's making him miserable in the morning when I take it away and replace it with a mimi that is "broken!"

3. Has anyone ever taken away the pacifier this way? Did it work?/How did you successfully take your child off of this habit?

TIA!

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

Just snip the tips off all of them and tell him they're broken
OR
Poke holes in them and he won't want to suck on it anymore because he'll just be sucking air.
OR
Bring them to the toy store and tell him he can buy a new toy and pay with his binkies (and toss them in the trash behind the counter )

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

DS was 12m, only using it to sleep at that point.

When I did it. I cut the tip and he was frustrated angry, screamed and cried - angry cries. I couldn't take it. I even tried just poking a hole and that was just as bad.

I took it away cold turkey, he cried a little, I sat with him and acknowledged "I know your sad" "you miss your binky" he whined a little and that was it. We repeated this for 2 more days and he's binky free.

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

We did cold turkey. it was the easiest fastest way.

The theory with cutting the binky is it loses its soothing. You don't cut the binky down each day (that's more for a blanket/lovey) - only poke a hole in it once so it's no longer a lump for them to suck against.

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

I plan on weaning DS from the paci this summer when he's about 20 months old. I'm going to do it cold turkey and tell them they're broken (by cutting the tips) but only to show him they're all broken. I'm sure it'll be a few days of holy hel1, but it's time....

(I'm waiting until summer when I can devote a couple of sleepless nights to the process and don't have to worry about him being a terror at daycare as well.) I'm sure it's not going to be easy.....

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

we just tried 2 different ways on Fri/Sat night and DH gave in to the crying and gave them their binkys back.
Friday night was the binky fairy. They gave their binkys to the fairy however once they realized they were gone they cried non stop for an hour until we gave in.
Saturday night we did cold turkey, once again they screamed and cried for an hour till we gave in.
DD's are 23 months, we are going away this weekend so we are going to try again in May. I am keeping my fingers X.

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

i will take any advice my son is 4 and my DD is 2 1/2 still full on binky lovers

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

i thought it was going to be awful, but we did cold turkey at 16 months and it was super easy.

Re: Taking away the Pacifier help!

I cut the tip a tiny bit the first time and he didn't seem to care. Every few days I cut it a little more. He never cried fir it because he always had it. After about a week and a half all he had was the plastic part. He slept with it in his hands for about a month or so. I didn't care because he wasn't using it in his mouth.