When/How get rid of Pacifier?

[steph5]

My daughter is 16 months I think it is time to get rid of the pacifier. I have cut them back to naps and bedtime. But I think she is starting to hide them in her toys because I will look when she is playing and she will have one. I hear that it can hinder their speech because it is always in their mouth. I don;t know if I should cut her off cold turkey or continue with cutting it back. She really loves those things she will have one in her mouth and then one in each hand if I let her. I don't want her to be one of those kids you see at the store who you look at and say, "that kid is too old for a pacifier".

[brandypitre]

I never had this problem, my son never took one. A girl at work has a 2 yo daughter and just a couple months ago was able to get rid of hers. She told her that she could have something that she wanted (I don't remember what it was, lol) but that she would have to "buy" it with her paci. It worked for her. Whenever she asked about it, her mom just said, You bought whatever it was with it and its gone. She has seemed to accept this pretty well, maybe cause it was her "decision". good luck!

[ycfaww]

I have heard of people doing a Binky Fairy... just like the tooth fairy. You put the paci under your pillow before bed and when you wake up, the Binky Fairy left you a little toy or a dollar or something.

HTH

[HISTurner]

Another good idea I've read about is to "Plant" (or bury) the binkie in a pot of soil and when she wakes up in the morning have a real live flower blooming in it's place. That way, when she asks (or cries) for her binkie, you show her the little flower and remind her that her little binkie has become a beautiful flower.

[brianatown]

This is such a personal choice. I went through the exact same thing with my oldest. I think worrying about it all the time, especially what other people think, makes it even worse!
My son had his binky only in his bed. We would say "bye-bye binky, see you later" and put it under the blanket. If I saw him with one during playtime, I would just remind him that binky belongs in bed. This worked for us until he was a little over two, and then I was finally ready for the drama of taking it away.
If you're ready to take it away, fine. If you're not, just keep it at home and don't tell anyone she still uses it!!:p

[coconut]

We have set a limit of our kids having one until they are 3 years old. But only in bed.

DS1 got rid of his on his own just after he turned 3 (we actually let him have it a little longer because we moved away from our family and friends right around then).

DS2 lost his one night when he was about 2.5 and did okay without it, so we just never gave it back.

DS3 had a cold and thought that his soother was causing him to 'choke' just after he turned 2. He refused it for a few nights, so we stopped offering it and hid all the ones we had. If he asked for it, we reminded him that he's a big boy and doesn't need it anymore.

I think the key is keeping it in their bed. I also would be mainly concerned about the speech development of a child having a soother in his/her mouth all the time, and have seen families where that actually was an issue. I figure they don't talk at night anyway, so using it to soothe themselves to sleep is no big deal. :)

My kids tend to spit it out as soon as they are asleep, and that has wiped out my concerns about it damaging their teeth as well. :)

[kelizjohns]

haha
i have a 2 yo that still has a paci. She only chews on it now though so i think she'll be okay for now.

[tanya28]

Hi there
My son is 21 months and he still has his sucky as we call it!!
I am scared to get rid of it he has it in his mouth always!!
I am trying more and more to leave it behind!!!
A friend of mine cut the nipple off the sucky a lil at a time and then eventually there was nothing left for the child to suck on is this safe??:eek:

http://www.totsites.com/tot/belcourtz

[agemini]

My son is 19 months and has one during nap and during the night. He doesn't want it any other time so I'm thinking of getting rid of it soon.

[taimjt1251]

My daugther is 19 months and still uses it to go to bed and nap. She usually has one in her mouth and one in each hand to rub the silicone part (don't ask me why). I feel like when she's ready, then it won't be a big deal to give up. I thought her bottle would be hard, but one day, I just kept giving her milk in a sippy and she could care less! I think when their maturity has reached a good point, then they can understand and they're ready. Our pedodontist (children's dentist) said hers used one until she was 3 1/2, so not to worry. At this point, I think my daughter will be potty trained before she stops using her paci to sleep. Plus, if she's able to go to sleep on her own with a paci, then I'm all for it. :)

[taimjt1251]

Haha. So I'm replying to my own post because since this post, we made Kannyn quit the pacifier cold turkey! It was the first week of September, and she got thrush, so I was too lazy to sterilize her pacifier every day. Therefore, we just took it away and it only took about a week for her to get used to falling asleep without the pacifier. She only whined for about 20 minutes at most the first night. But now I can definitely say that the pacifier went before the potty training. :)