Wish us luck - it might be a tough weekend. My younger boy, Evan, who just turned 18 months, had become so dependent on his pacifier he could hardly stand to be without it. I decided (with my wife not so sure) that now is as good a time as ever to get rid of the thing, because I'm so sick of seeing it cover his beautiful face and keep him from speaking properly. So as of 5 p.m. Friday, the pacifier era is over in this house. So far, so good. I just put him to bed and he didn't protest at all. But we'll need all of our strength if he wakes us up in the middle of the night crying for it. And tomorrow should be interesting.
I did that with my 15 month old and took the crib down at the same time. He is now cried a few times 20 minutes or so. He is now 5 and doing great. Good Luck
Well, the weekend went better than I ever expected it to. Evan was mostly very cheerful - in fact, more cheerful than usual, in my opinion. He asked for his pacifier a few times, but we deflected it - giving him an apple slice or a pretzel instead, and it seemed to work. We also kept giving him his special blanket and his favorite stuffed animal (a monkey we call "Mr. Banana"), as substitutes. With the pacifier out of his mouth, my wife and I noticed Evan is verbalizing a lot more - it's quite noticeable. So far, so good - and we've now been over 50 hours. So let's hope he just starts to forget about it. Thanks for your support, everyone. I really like having this board.
That is so great that you had a good weekend.. I hope it continues and your son completely weans!! My little one is only 2 months old but gives me hope that it can be done successfully down the road.
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Shannon
Married DH - February 10, 2004 DD Avery Born - November 23, 2004
we took the pacifier away from my nephew.. when he was pretty young...(under a year i think..) and he didnt care.. lol. no vrying no nothing.. and we thought he was attached to it.. lol
My son gave his up on his own at 18 months but with my twin girls that was another story. When they were almost three I told them the story about the "fa fa" fairy (that's what they called pacifiers) So the fa fa fairy comes and takes the pacifiers away and they turn into big girls and the next few days they got their big girl beds...It worked great. It was really hard having two reminding each other of their pacifiers. For about two weeks they kept pulling them out from around the house, I swear they were like dogs and had them stored!! They will be four and no addictions. hahaha Congrats. Now if anyone can tell me how to keep the little devils in their room in the am, it would be great.
Thanks for your note. This could be the topic of a whole other message chain, but my older son is almost five, and he never bothers my wife and me in the morning anymore. I don't even remember discussing it with him, but he used to burst into our room and now he just doesn't. Instead, he goes straight downstairs (we hear him fine because his room is right across from ours) and either sits on the couch in the den with his blankie and Teddie bear or sits on the window seat in the living room looking out. Once in a while he turns on the TV (we try to leave it tuned to the public television channel when we turn it off at night because he doesn't know how to change channels). Usually, though, he just sits around quietly till we come down. He seldom gets up before 7, unless his little brother makes lots of noise. Maybe we're just lucky, and maybe it won't last. But I like it for now.
Oh yes, one more thing: Our nanny tells me Evan seems more cheerful now than with the pacifier, and I'm inclined to agree. Just more ammunition to anyone who's thinking about making their toddler go cold turkey.
You could also try what I did with my daughter. Her doctor gave me this trick and it has worked for daughter, nieces and nephews....Instead of going cold turkey..which is very HARD for a child, snip the tip off of his passy. He will most likely keep it in his mouth. After the first day, snip a little more. Every day, snip a little more. Eventually he will NOT like the texture and should disregard it all together. It REALLY works. It is easier on the baby as well as easier on the ears for mom and dad as well. GOOD LUCK!!
Thanks, Curious1979, for the advice. Sounds like a good idea. Too late for us, though. I hope this isn't too hard on him. He's asked for it a few times, and it makes me kind of sad to think he's lost his main comfort object. But he does have lots of others, including blankies and stuffed animals. And, as I've said, he seems pretty happy.
DD Avery Born - November 23, 2004
