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cdmamatutu
07-06-2004, 05:28 PM
Did anyone else here have trouble weaning your child off of a pacifier? I am looking for good suggestions. My DD is only 7 months old, but all of a sudden she HAS to have her pacifier (or my boob-LOL!) to go to sleep. I don't want her to be too attached to it. And I'm too much of a softie to try the "crying it out" approach. I have introduced a blankie for her, but it's not the same. I want her to be able to go to sleep whether she has the binkie or not.

Any good advice?

crunchymomma
07-15-2004, 08:18 PM
This may not be the answer you want to hear, but - maybe she's just not ready to give it up just yet. I don't know your parenting philosophy, but dh and I really stand firm on not pushing our daughter to do anything until she's ready to.

That said, sometimes gentle prodding can help. You can try the "don't offer, don't refuse" method, just like weaning a child from breastfeeding. Don't offer it to her automatically, but don't deny her if she really needs it. My daughter is the same age as you and about two months ago she went through the same thing. Now, all of a sudden, she's really not interested in her pacifier at all.

I understand not wanting her to be too dependent on her pacifier, though. My dh says that when his dad weaned his sister of her pacifier they did it cold turkey. Their descriptions of her are like a drug addict going through detox! LOL Poor kid. Some other parents I know have snipped the end off pacifier so that it pinches their tongue. You keep offering it to the child, but when they take it, it doesn't feel good so they spit it out. This makes the choice to give it up THEIRS, and makes you look like the good guy.

cdmamatutu
07-17-2004, 12:18 AM
Thanks for the advice. I just realized that she may have insecurity issues since the in-laws (strangers to her) were recently here for 10 days. (Duh!) Hopefully things will calm down and she'll be ready to move on soon. :)

ssummers
04-24-2006, 12:42 PM
When our son was 6-months old, we weaned him off the pacifier. I don't remember exactly how we did it, but we did provide a lovey instead of the pacifier. It didn't take long for our son to get attached to the lovey and to start sucking his thumb. Today, our son is 15-months old, and he is still sucking his thumb and carrying his lovey. Don't know if sucking his thumb is better than a pacifier - it's probably all the same.