Giving up the pacifier...any advice??

[millerpjm]

I posted this in the Toddler Lounge also...DS is 19 months old and we have been gradually weaning him off his pacifier. He now only gets it at naptime and bedtime. However, it seems like a VERY big step to take it away for sleeping. Has anyone gone through this? Any advice /suggestions /techniques? We gave him a paci in the beginning because I was a thumb sucker and my parents had a VERY hard time breaking me of the habit and I thought taking away a pacifier might be easier. Please share any suggestions or experiences you might have had. Thanks!


Jennifer

proud mama to Thomas 2/3/03

[millerpjm]

Bump...

[Jeanne]

My SIL cut a small bit off the paci each week until it was down to nothing. It worked like a charm!
Best of Luck!

[starrynight]

Does anyone else ever watch him? Any way you can send him to someone else's house for a few hours and when he comes back and asks for it say it's lost or left somewhere? That's how we got rid of it with Daria when she was 18 months old.

That night for bed she asked for it and we just told her we didn't know where it was and gave her a back rub instead for comfort. She fussed for a few minutes and seemed upset but was ok, she didn't scream and cry or anything. The next morning she asked again but then gave up on it.

[Marisa6826]

Is there any reason you feel he needs to give it up now?

Sophie still uses hers and I have no plans on ditching it any time soon. I figure she is going to need extra soothing once Amelia gets here, so it would be counter productive to try anything in the meantime.

I'm pretty certain she's not going to be taking it to college with her, anyway. :P

-m

[brigmaman]

We took it away around Brig's first birthday. He used it every night and we'd even put it back in his mouth if he lost it. To our surprise it went a lot more smoothly than any other transition we've made with him.
He cried a bit for the first few nights before falling asleep (when he'd normally have it) and then he'd cry when he woke up- but nothing terrible.
I don't have any suggestions other than to try to take it away slowly. Maybe give it to him when he's falling asleep (if he takes it then) or only when he wakes and then slowly don't offer it. It may not be as bad as you think!

[shall85296]

Our little one took to throwing it when he was mad, or protesting something. One day he threw it in the toilet. I told him it was icky now, and he watched me throw it away. Whenever he asked for it I told him it was icky in the toilet, and we had to throw it away. It was just enough logic to work.
good luck ;-)

[millerpjm]

We started thinking about it now because we are tired...if DS wakes up in the middle of the night and realizes it's gone, he cries and we have to go into his room and "plug him in". Hopefully if he doesn't use it anymore it will be a better night's sleep for the whole household. Also, he has just started taking Zyrtec which makes him sleepy..I am hoping this will make the falling asleep without the nuk easier at first. We are going to try cold turkey this weekend and see how it goes...if it doesn't work I love the idea of cutting off part of it...thanks for the advice. Any other suggestions are still appreciated.....


Jennifer

Proud mama to Thomas 2/3/03

[KrisM]

My son is only 4 months, but we had the same problem with him needing it in the middle of the night. The last night he had it was a "good" night and only required replacing it 14 times! We went cold turkey last Friday. It was a tough couple of days, but we are all sleeping so much better now. My son is a lot more happy during the day because he sleeps so much more at night.

The first 2 nights, it took about an hour for him to fall asleep. There was crying and rocking and comforting. The 3rd night only took about 10 minutes. Since then, we put him down and within 10 minutes, he's asleep. And, that 10 minutes is spent talking to himself, not crying. Last night, he only got up 2 times and those were to nurse. So much better than a week ago!

Good luck.
Kris