Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

I've said it before, I'll say it again.
Ryan is absolutely addicted to his binkys.
Sleeping only - he doesn't have them by day.
I don't know what to do.

I tried cold turkey this weekend. I told him for the past few weeks the binky fairy would be coming. I told him she is coming before he turns 3 - that it's part of turning 3.

I told him the new babies new binkys. (He told me to tell them to go to the store and get their own )

He has a "mouth binky" and his "hand squeezy binky". Squeezy is disgusting - no top, just a hole for dirt and germs.

I tried to take them before a nap over the weekend. I let him keep the hand binky, told him he had to give up the mouth one.

He screamed - not like a bratty scream. Like a distraught scream. For a good half hour. Yelling, "I'm so tired, I just want to take my nap, I can't sleep without my mouth binky, I need it, I need it". Over, and over, again. He kicked, yelled, threw his body around his bed.

Then he must have been throwing his body against his door. That's what it sounded like.

I gave up.

What do I do?? I feel so terrible that he is so traumatized by the thought of this. But he's almost 3!!!
How do I help him??

Message edited 2/23/2011 6:55:37 AM.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

which one do you give your DS? we did the advent ones they have the 0-6 mnths then 3-6 then 6-18. I didnt have anymore of the 6-18 mnth ones so i gave him a 0-6 month one that i had for my DD and he didnt like it bc it was smaller then the 6-18 so i told him that was all i had either to take that one or nothing so he went with nothing. then my dd i told her that she is a big girl and she does not get one. i kept repeating that and it worked!.

I know how hard it is. But you kinda have to be firm about it. HTH. Good Luck!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

DD just stopped taking her paci the day of her 3rd birthday party. I kept talking to her before we took it away and telling her that only babies use pacis and she was going to be 3 and a big girl. I prepared her for a week or so...basically telling her you can use it now but once you turn 3 you have to give it up because a baby needs it since only babies use pacis.

I told her she was having a big birthday party because she was a big girl and that all the other 3 year olds didn't use pacis, etc. The day of her 3rd birthday party I just took it away...she asked for it a few times and cried a little but it wasn't as hard as I thought and she was soooo addicted to it. Good Luck

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

This is def not an easy thing with an older child. My DD LOVED her binky and seemed to get more addicted to it as she got older and wanted to take it everywhere.

I took it away 1 month after she turned 3yo. I did it over a vacation hoping it would distract her but it didnt LOL. Cold turkey is really the only way to go. It took about 3 full days of CRAZY meltdowns and withdrawl, then another 2-3 days to adapt (fewer meltdowns) and that was it. Now 6 months later she still talks fondly about her binky and sometimes asks about it but she really doesnt remember that week at all.
Good luck!

ETA: I just kept repeating that the binkys were gone becuase she was a big girl and I didnt have any to give her. She wanted to tear the place apart looking for one!

Message edited 2/22/2011 11:56:35 AM.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

When my SS was around that age, my DH cut holes in them so he wouldnt like sucking on them as much......it worked!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

DD was 2.5 when she got her sucky habit broken. she was in love with that thing.
she only had one left and i let her know when this one was broken she didnt get anymore because they are all gone.
one day i took a pair of scissors to it...cut the nipple in half straight acrossed it.
handed it to her for bed time...she looked at it, looked and me...explained its broken!!!!!! i said yup and we dont have anymore.
she went to bed with her bunny and some other stuffed animals and left the sucky on her dresser.
she asked to see it everynight for about a week to make sure it was still broken! but she never had it again after that.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

Posted by EndlessSummer719

When my SS was around that age, my DH cut holes in them so he wouldnt like sucking on them as much......it worked!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

Posted by EndlessSummer719

When my SS was around that age, my DH cut holes in them so he wouldnt like sucking on them as much......it worked!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

DS was 20 months when we weaned him. I thought he was one of the last kids to have a pacifier. It was a LONG HARD week without much sleep but we stopped. He used to want the binky all day long.

The first day, we only gave him the binky during sleep time.

Second day, we did not give him binky during nap time so he skipped his nap and was cranky all day. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep at night right away without his binky.

Days 3-7 were long with either short naps or going to bed past 10 but by the end of the week, he was off the binky. Lots of crying and pleading for a binky.

Who knew weaning a binky would be so difficult!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

I cut the tips off, but that didn't really work for us. She still whined about it.

She only used it to go to sleep with it and she had stopped using it at daycare so eventually I got rid of all of them except 2. 1 was for emergency use only.

We went to my parent's house one afternoon and when we left, we "forgot" the pacifier there. When DD asked for it, I told her that Pumpkin (my parent's cat) ate it. As ridiculous as it sounds, it actually worked!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

I tried cutting... I tried reasoning... then one day I just took it. She screamed...she cried. I didn't give in. She was over it by the next day.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

Luca doesn't have pacifiers, he has lovies - that he sucks on. They are GROSS.

He's 2.5 and at this point I have resigned myself to the fact that he'll get rid of them when he's older. Or when the dentist tells me he needs to.

Sorry I don't have good advice.

Can you possibly start with the one that he squeezes? Tell him that he's only allowed to have one?

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

DD is 21 months. If she's cranky during the day and whining for one - she gets the cut tip one, which she basically just chews on for a few minutes and tosses. She is teething badly.

I give her the normal one for sleeping. To me, I do not care if she takes it for sleeping. Sleep to me is way more important than having her give up her "fier." That's just my opinion. Ask me again in a year.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

Posted by SweetCaroline
I told him the new babies new binkys. (He told me to tell them to go to the store and get their own )

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

DS still has his, only for naps and bedtime. But he literally sucks on them until he falls asleep,then he doesn't need them anymore. So weird.

He will also grab a suck off of DD's if he sees it lying around. He's a paci addict that needs his fix.

If you figure out a way, I'd love to know.

Message edited 2/22/2011 1:09:08 PM.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

Posted by shiv

Posted by SweetCaroline
I told him the new babies new binkys. (He told me to tell them to go to the store and get their own )

I'm sorry but this made me laugh.

Sorry I have no advice just
I know I'm going to be there one day- DS is a true addict!

Message edited 2/22/2011 1:29:49 PM.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

We did right before their 2nd birthday. They were only using them for naps and sleeping at night, and took it away cold turkey.
DD screamed for 3.5 hours the first night. The second night it was a few minutes, but third night it was nothing. DS never seemed to care at all. They stopped asking about it after about a week or two.
I so wanted to give in to DD that first night, but am glad I held strong. It was one really bad night, but that was it really.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

TJ did not stop using a binky until a few months after he turned 3.

First I told him he could only use it during naptime and bedtime. Than I only let him use it during bedtime. He started chewing on them and putting holes in them so they would suction as well. I told him I wasnt buying new ones and eventually he just gave up

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

Posted by Tine73

I cut the tips off, but that didn't really work for us. She still whined about it.

She only used it to go to sleep with it and she had stopped using it at daycare so eventually I got rid of all of them except 2. 1 was for emergency use only.

We went to my parent's house one afternoon and when we left, we "forgot" the pacifier there. When DD asked for it, I told her that Pumpkin (my parent's cat) ate it. As ridiculous as it sounds, it actually worked!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

Id just toss it. He will give up on it eventually. I cut ds, he hated it. Threw it at me. I tossed it, i was surprised it wasnt as awful as i thought it would be. I mean if he screams his head off, he screams his head off. At least you know he isnt hurt, in pain, he is just screaming because the damn bink. Inswear, they are a blessing and a curse.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

we had talked to jacen (2 1/2) for weeks about the "binky fairy" coming to take the binks to the new babies that didn't have any. And then we bribed. Said that once the binky fairy takes the binks, she leaves a present under his bed.

Then one day he woke up, handed me his binks and said he wanted to give them to the binky fairy.

So i quickly got an envelope, put them in it, addressed it to the binky fairy and jacen put it in the mail box. Told him that maybe the binky fairy would get him James as a present.

So that was it. He cried on and off for 10 minutes the first day at nap. Then 3 minutes the next day and that was it.

Message edited 2/23/2011 6:48:32 AM.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

My nephews sitter hated it. Nephew was 3ish. She bribed hom with 10 lollypops if he got rid of the nunny. He handed it over and ran with the lollypops.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

have you REALLY played up the "fairy"?

Thats the only thing that worked for us, but bribes always work well and I knew this going in

We talked about it literally every hour on the house for weeks ( a good 3 or more weeks)...syaing what would he want? A BIG gift...

How proud she would be, how proud we would be.

It took a lot of talk ...till he would even start to listen to us talk about it.

Then he started listening, and asking questions about the fairy and his big boy gift etc etc.

Then we'd ask him every day if he was ready and he'd say no...sometimes he would think about it and say yes, but it never happened.

Then one day we were talking about the fairy coming with his gift....about 30 minutes past and he hid the pacifier under his pillow on his own and came to tell us he did it.

He was a little sad the next night and mentioned missing it once or twice but that was it.

And we had 2 new babies so he had to see them with theirs too.

I think at this age ( Noah was almost 3 too)...it is not as simple as saying..be a big boy, or the fairy will come a few times.

You ahve to really drill the idea into his head and talk about it ad nausuem.

At least thats what worked for us.

It was hard, I get it...so hang in there, it WILL happen!!!

Lots of LUCK!!

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

I feel your pain. See my very recent post about this.

Pacifier Help

Message edited 2/22/2011 7:45:01 PM.

Re: Older child pacifier weaning HELPPPPP

My neice was 3. My SIL made a HUGE deal that if she left them for the Easter Bunny, he would deliver them to little babies that did not have any and he would leave her a big gift in return. They drew pics and decorated a pretty basket to put them in and left them for the Easter Bunny. SIL never thought it would actually work, but it did and she was super excited about it.