You know I debated on even writing this post. Some of you moms are going to hate me but we actually had a pretty easy time getting Liam off of his pacifier. I was expecting such a long drawn out period of struggling on both of our parts that I was pleasantly surprised when it actually went pretty smoothly. I know that this can be a big challenge for some parents, so I wanted to share with you what worked for us and what methods have worked well for others.
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Some tips before you get started
Of course talk to your child’s pediatrician and dentist to find out when is the right time for your baby/toddler to wean from the pacifier. It can eventually cause dental issues and delays in speech development. Just remember that the older your child is, the harder this adjustment will likely be.
If you have a big transition or are traveling, wait to start this venture. You want your little one to be in a comfortable, familiar routine before trying something new. Also, if your toddler is teething hardcore, that is probably not a great time to start either.
Make sure you and your spouse (or anyone else involved) are on the same page and that everyone has agreed on what technique to try and stick with it!
What worked for us
The pacifier is a form of comfort and soothing for our little ones, so it’s understandable that they may resist when we try to take it away. Liam has always been obsessed with his “ba” since he first had a pacifier at a week old.
We decided that we wanted Liam to be completely done with the pacifier by age 2. His birthday is in February so we started the transition around Thanksgiving. The first thing we did was to only let him have his pacifier during naps and at bedtime.
One of the biggest secrets to getting your toddler to beat his pacifier addiction is to keep it out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind. This works the majority of the time. During the day, Liam rarely missed his “ba” and really seemed to only want/need it out of habit. The longer he went without it during the day, they less he asked for it. Anytime he would ask for his pacifier, I would change the subject and try to distract him.
After about a month or so of this, we started taking the pacifier away at nap time but still let him have it at bedtime. This did not work as well in the beginning. About half of the time he would get himself so worked up that his pacifier was the only thing that would comfort him and that’s okay! We planned for this to be a transition period of a few months, so it’s not going to be perfect every time. Eventually he stopped asking for it and started transitioning to stuffed animals for comfort. This worked really well!
Liam was so hard on his pacifiers that he would chew holes in them and therefore wanted a fresh one. When this would happen, we would cut the tip off and give it back to him. Of course, he would immediately hand it back to us and we would tell him that it was “broken.” He was old enough to understand what this meant and we would have him throw it in the trash. I have no idea if this technique helped at all but it was another way to have him participate in getting rid of pacifiers that we would have thrown away anyway.
Next, we started taking the pacifier away at bedtime and this transition went way better than I expected. We still struggled with nap time some, but bedtime was a breezy transition. After about a month of this, he was completely off of the pacifier! So overall it took us around 2 months to get Liam completely off of the pacifier and we had a month to spare before his 2nd birthday!
Once you are confident that your child had kicked their habit, throw away all of the pacifiers in the house! There’s no going back now 🙂
Other Methods
- Put something that tastes bad on their pacifier so that they won’t want it anymore
- Have your child give their pacifiers to the “pacifier fairy” so that other babies can use it
- Cold turkey – just throw away all of the pacifiers and go from there
- Get them a different type/style of pacifier and hope that they won’t like it and therefore won’t want it anymore
Remember that all children are different, so what may work for my child may not work for yours and vice versa. Don’t give up and stay patient!
What technique did you use to get your little one to ditch their pacifier? I would love to hear from you!
