Once your child gets older, then you are facing more trouble. Many parents have found success in making their child quit cold turkey – they just wait until the child isn’t around and then they throw them all away. This only works if your child is extremely cooperative and you have a spine made out of steel. It’s hard to hear your child cry for something and not give it up, but you have to stay strong.
Other children will willingly give up their pacifiers. I had a niece who was told that she had to give her pacifier to a “Binky Fairy” who would take them to children who didn’t have any. She was willing to give up her pacifiers (in return for a little present the Binky Fairy left) and they just moved on.
Note that you absolutely have to take the binky away before you child turns two. If you don’t, your child may have some long-term damage to his or her teeth. Trust me when I say this will save you money in the long run: braces, dental visits, and tons of sleepless nights when your child has cavities. Also note that pacifiers have been scientifically proven to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), so you want to keep giving it to your baby until he or she is about six months old. After that, the risk of SIDs diminishes and you can just take them away.
Some children make it harder and you have to get creative.
Tips for Pacifier Weaning
- Timing is everything!
You have to know when is the time to take away the pacifier. Don’t do it when you have another huge life event happening – when parents get a divorce, someone close to the family dies, or when your child enters day care for the first time. Your child needs something soothing and that is enough.
- Make Them Unappealing
One of the best ways to immediately make a pacifier unappetizing is to dip the pacifier in lemon juice or vinegar. This will immediately turn your baby’s stomach and after trying all of the pacifiers, it could make it easy to just eliminate them. Note that you will have to do this a few times and you do have to be careful about the amounts you use for each pacifier. Make sure to check for any parts that were destroyed by the acidity of the solution so you don’t have anything that’s falling apart.
- Get Crafty
Some moms and dads cut the tip off of the pacifier, which eliminates the sucking power. It make it unappetizing as well because who wants to have a floppy piece of rubber in their mouth? Even kids know better than that. Once again, just ensure that nothing falls apart and there aren’t any small pieces where your child can choke.
- Seek an Alternative
The first few days after pacifier weaning are really tough. You’ll have to pick up for the soothing that the pacifier used to do. Play some gentle music when you put your child to sleep, give some teethers or toys for the first few nights, or just talk to your child more.
For older children, invest in a satin blanket or a stuffed animal that they can hold and press near their faces, which is sometimes just enough.
- Make sure a replacement isn’t apparent
Many children will go from a pacifier to something else to take its place – typically a finger. While you can take away a child’s fingers, you do want to make sure he or she doesn’t pick up that habit as well. Thumb or finger sucking is extremely dangerous, can lead to health and teeth problems, and is just kind of gross.
- Inform everyone who watches your child
Grandparents, teachers, daycare workers, friends, babysitters, and even your neighbors: make sure to tell everyone in your child’s life that pacifier weaning has begun and that no one is to give a pacifier to your child. In fact, tell them to throw pacifiers away. If your child has friends that still use the pacifier, it might be best to keep them at a distance until the weaning has begun there as well.
You want the message to be clear to your child that the pacifier is gone. That same message needs to be clear to everyone, even if your mother in law doesn’t think now is the time. If you have specific instructions, like the pacifier is only used at bed time, make sure those are clear as well.
Talk to your child about these rules. If you have an older child, he or she might understand when the binky is allowed and when it isn’t, which can help you tremendously.
- Give Them Away
Some parents have a going away party for pacifiers. They have their child make a box to put the pacifier on it and then give them away. Others tie a pacifier to a balloon (or two) and have the child let it go so that they can say goodbye in their own way. Some parents will have their child drop off the binkies at a fake location where they take care of them and others have had the child bury the pacifiers in the backyard. Do something that you feel will be meaningful to your child.
Once again, be sure to heap on the praise and maybe even give a small gift.
- Use a Reduction System
There are many systems out there that reduce the size of the binky, making them smaller and smaller until your child has to actually fight to keep it in his or her mouth. These systems are easily available on Amazon and come with quick guides to get started. This method does take more time and doesn’t work for people who tend to lose their pacifiers because there is only one per level.
- Go slowly
If it isn’t going well, just start taking the pacifier away at certain times and then work your way up. Sometimes cold turkey isn’t the best option. Start by taking it away during the day, then work up to only having it at night. Eventually, your child won’t need the binky during any time and it will be gone. This can take months to do, so make sure to start earlier enough to not do any dental damage.
- Introduce the Binky Fairy
If you want the way I have seen it done a million times, introduce that Binky Fairy. It’ll cost you something to get the present or the surprise that the Fairy leaves behind, but it will be worth it to eliminate it right away. To make it easier for you, say that you need to leave the binkies outside or in a basket so that you can quickly grab them without your child knowing the difference. Leave a toy, some money, or even some glitter behind.
If things get rough, you can always leave another line of glitter or a gentle reminder that the Binky Fairy is thankful for the gift.
Books for Children on Pacifier Weaning
If you can start reading these books to your child before you plan to take the pacifier away, your child might just get the idea by him or herself. If not, it will make it easier when the time comes and you do have to take it away.
Caillou: Rosie’s Pacifier By Christine L’Heureux – Our heroine, Rosie, is starting to talk more and finds it is quite difficult to do with her pacifier in her mouth.
Good-bye Pacifier! By Patricia Geis – This is a board book that is quite short, but gets the job done. It is about Tula as she starts to say goodbye to her pacifier.
No More Pacifier for Piggy! By Bernette Ford – Piggy (a boy) wants to be able to play peekaboo, but he’s having trouble playing it around his pacifier. He has to make the choice: have fun or keep it.
Pacifiers are Not Forever By Elizabeth Verdick – This is a book for both parents and children about pacifier weaning.
