I Am A Hypocrit  

I am not a mom, but my friend used this trick. She cut he tip of the pacifier. He would suck on it and say this broke. he only had one day that was bad and he was off the pacifier in like 4 days!

been there...done that & survived I might add! There is hope. My son only took his "pappie" at bedtime too. He knew the minute you lifted him in that crib that he could ahve his soothing "pappie" (he had to have one in his mouth and then hold one in his hand while he slept)...it was the cutest stinkin thing ever! But then come morning, he knew in order to get out of the crib he had to leave his "pappie" behind.
He finally gave it up, after much talking from his Papa that he was a big boy and big boys didn't have pappies. So, when he was almost 2 1/2 he went and threw it in the trash(which I dug out soon after, just in case!)That night he did ask for it when it was time for bed, but when I reminded him that he was a big boy and he had thrown it away he replied with "mkay" and layed down and went to sleep! When I went in later that night to check on him he was about to suck his bottom lip off!!!! It was the cutest thing!

Neither of my kids took to a binky, sadly. But my youngest sucked her thumb. For years. All the way up until this past year. When she quit cold turkey.

Thankfully, her teeth aren't too bucked.

JonJon was addicted to his paci. He had it until he was a little over 2. The only way we could get him off of it without having a major meltdown was to say we lost it. He'd ask for it occassionally, but it was a pretty smooth process. Night time was the worse though.. Cuz he was like G..he had to have it to fall asleep. He's a paci=free pro now though! :P

haha that is funny. I think we all have things we thought we would do before kids, and then change our minds later.. It should be interesting to see what mine is after I have my baby!

Both of my kiddos used them until about age 3 (at bed time). And then they started to lose them, and therefore weaned themselves since I was not going to buy anymore. That may seem like a long time to let kids have a pacifier, but my sis had some terrible teeth issues stemming from sucking her thumb for 7 years, and I was determined to not have that be an issue for my kids. And my parents tried everything from hot sauce to socks over her hands...but you can not take a thumb away, you know? Best Wishes!

Yes, we're all perfect parents before we have kids!

I personally think her using a binkie is perfectly fine. At least it can be taken away- UNLIKE my 8 year old's fingers.

You can always put it under the pillow for the binkie fairy and replace it with a toy whenever you're ready to get rid of them.

After watching my sister-in-law with my nephew (who turned one a few months ago), I figure as long as I can wean my own future child off by like the age of 10, I'll be happy.

And I'm kidding. But I'd probably shoot for age 2. :)

Same here. My boys just turned 2 and still use them but only for nap and bed time. I haven't tried taking it away yet so I am looking forward to the comments you receive.

My oldest hated the binkie. Yeah!

My middle son was attached until about two. He went to sleep one night and I picked up all the binkies and hid them in the back of my closet. Funny thing he looked all morning for those things and by afternoon, he was tired from looking, he snuggled up on the couch and fell asleep. We never had a problem after that.

My youngest had a binkie but used it sparingly and one day refused it so that was never an issue either.

I have been truly blessed when it comes to that department but then again I don't think I had an preconceived ideas about it. I did however have ideas about the bottle!

Oh, my... Caris LOVED her "paci". We let her sleep with it until she was almost 3. Then I woke up one day and said, "ENOUGH". I explained that there was a paci fairy who brought pacis to sweet babies who needed them. In return she left a present. So, that's what happened. The paci fairy left a doll house (Fisher price) ~ with furniture & people... CAris LOVED it.

She cried the first night...and never asked for it again.

Ours didn't have this issue. Pacifiers were used in the car, in case of "emergency" only. I think because they co-slept with us, we were their comfort or 'binkie'. It's a trade off either way. I say if it makes them happy, why not? Or if your afraid of damaging teeth find some other way of comfort. Blanket, doll, stuffy, etc. Goodluck!

My daughter never used one. And, there were times I sure wished that she would!

Been there done that! Well not with a binky....I tried though !I tried just about everything to get my kids to sleep but my kids didn't take to the binky!
I still have a 2 1/2 year old that takes a bottle at night...yep swore up and down that I would have my kids weaned just like the books say which is like 15 months or something. Oh well it helps him go to sleep and stay asleep and on the nights we fight him...nobody sleeps!
So I say whatever! And don't even get me started on "cuddles" the security blankets!

Binkie momma here until she was 4. She only used it at night by then. She went cold turkey with it (at her request) and after the 3rd night was sleeping like a baby again lol.

I had 1 of those too. I tried so hard to take it away at 1, but my husband couldn't stand the sound of him yelling and would sneak it into him when I wasn't looking. I tried to take it away again at 2 - the same thing happened. Finally, when we transitioned him out of the crib, I told hubby "No more binky". I told John he didn't need them any more and included him in the process (meaning, he threw them in the garbage or he helped snipped the nipple off). That way, he could see they were no longer going to work for him. We had a few rough nights, but all in all, the transition went well.

OK just to put your mind at ease, she will probably just stop taking the binky at some point. My daughter...right about the time she turned two....went to sleep without it for about 3-4 straight nights. Then they came up "missing" and we haven't needed them since. Of course that's what happened with the bottles at my house too. lol

I will let you in on a little J&K secret... they had 6 kids all at one time giving up binkies! They should have tried it gradually! lol I don't think one child will cause that amount of chaos. But...if she does...we want videos to prove it!

Don't feel too bad...

I have a thumb sucker & you can't really "cut the tip off" that one...

good luck!

Don't you love how motherhood makes you stick your foot in your mouth from time to time? I won't be of any help, I took the pacifier away at 2 months. She wasn't that hooked on it, and I knew I didn't want a problem later on, so we stopped really early. When she got a baby doll that came with a pacifier when she was about 2 years old, she couldn't figure out what in the world the thing in the baby's mouth was!

I had 11 binkies myself. The big, brown yucky ones. And they each had a place (one in my mouth, one on each big toe, one on my knuckle, poking myself in my eye, a few across my forehead, etc.). I was insane. I gave them up when I was 3 or 4, and I never needed braces.

At least you can admit when you've been "caught." :)

Mine all used a "plugga" and with each one we weaned them off slowly. At age 1- 1 1/2 they only had it in the car,quiet time, naptime and bedtime. By age 2, it was only nap and bedtime and at 3 when they could understand, we made a big deal about putting it in the garbage can and the garbage man came that morning and got it and we made cupcakes for the now big boy/girl. Not one of them ever even asked for it after that.

Good luck. :)

ah yes, i'm a different mother than i said i'd be...but i'm a better mother :)

my last two kids suck their thumbs...and the law doesn't allow me to take those away....so i'm just letting it roll right now
whatever makes them happy makes me happy
really--all those baby teeth are going to fall out anyhow

i have heard of people having paci fairies come...donating to other kids...but the one that i think seemed like it might work the best was-cut a little off the end of the nipple at a time until they can't/don't want it anymore?

in the mean time...let her baby happy :)

My sister used her paci forever...but she actually took the initiative to throw it into the new foundation for an addition on our house when she was ready. Something she'll always remember ;)

Hey! I just took away Lexy's paci. She's 2 years and 3 months. And when I mentioned that I never thought my 2 year old would have a paci on my blog, a friend told me that she eats her nevers a lot as a mom. It's so true! She had a few rough naps after we took it away and is still transitioning into naptime sleeping without it. Evenings are fine, just naptimes are a little rough. If you just run her ragged before the first time it's gone and let her know that it's leaving before hand she'll be fine. The hardest part is not caving and giving it back when they don't take that nap. Good luck!

I'm just trying to get my little guy to sleep at all - I'd love if he'd take a pacifier. Now THAT is terrible parenting.

My mom did the cutting thing with me (apparently I was quite addicted). I told her it broke and threw it away. This was at about 2.5. Cate is like G and only uses hers at naps and for bedtime. We've gotten her down to one in the crib at naptime (though her naps aren't nearly as long as they used to be since she wakes up if she looses it and can't find it quickly...but we may be giving up naps soon anyway and moving towards a quiet time).

It's something we're going to work on more this summer when I can afford to have a little less sleep. I think the plan is to take one pacifier away each night until she's down to one. See how she does with that and then maybe cut that last one. We'll see. We all know how the best laid plans of mothers go.

My son is two and three months and he still uses it when going to sleep. We're slowly weaning him by limiting where he can have it (only when he sleeps in his bed, not ours, etc.). I'm hoping he'll just give it up himself, which is what happened with formula!

So, what you're saying is that I'm pretty much screwed for introducing the binky to my baby. Eh, at least it makes him quiet for now!

My oldest LOVED his binky. LOVED. By 18 months it was only for bed/naps. He would put them in the top drawer of his dresser (with my help) when he woke up and we'd get them out before bed. It became part of the routine. Sometime just after his 2nd birthday, I put him to bed without getting them out and he never made a peep about it. The next day, I tossed all of them.

My youngest is 22 months, I don't see us ever getting rid of them...but again, only at bed time.

I don't mind them so much in public until I see kids talking around them. That is my pet peeve. Take it out and then talk! Okay, sorry that was long :)

Z-man was devastated when I took his away (also one of those long ones) at 22 mo old - It was so hard but I had to do it - I was like you - didn't want to have a child walking around with a bink all the time! He was seriously addicted!

mine was addicted {and still is--she's 5} to something much worse!! ALL FOUR OF HER FINGERS on her right hand...sigh...how do you take THOSE away?! yeah...ya don't!! but she only sucks them when she is tired or at bedtime too...sooooo

We are addicted to pacifiers in this house! She loves hers. I try and limit her use of them to just nap time or bedtime but she knows where they are kept and will go to the basket, take each one out, try it, discard it and move on to the next. *sigh* As long as she isn't like my little sister, who had her paci past 2 and called it her nipple...I will be ok! My poor mom tried so hard to wean my sister from her "nipple" but it just never worked. I hope that isn't me in a year or so!

I too always looked with disdain at children with pacifiers - until I had children! Both of mine had one...called a "plug" courtesy of my husband! I have a method for getting rid of it...when I take the bottle away around 1, the pacifier goes to only being used at naptime and bedtime. The day they turn 4, they get rid of it for good. For months leading up the 4 year birthday, we talk about the "Plug Fairy" who comes and gets your plugs overnight and gives them to new babies and leaves you a big kid gift.

My advice would be to call up the pacifier fairy and employ her services. She works along side Santa, the good behavior elf that helps santa, the tooth fairy, and the Easter Bunny. Her skill is that when a child reaches a certain age they come and take the binky during the night and replace the binky with something else special to sleep with such as a doll or stuffed toy. The Pacifier fairy comes highly recommend (by my dr). Desperate times call for desperate measurers

When my daughters were infants I would have given anything for them to take their binks. Friends of our's used the bink fairy who would give the bink to another little child in need and would then leave a gift.

I for one forced my breastfed babies to take a pacifier. lol And, I've never stressed over it until they hit age THREE. Yep. Three is our magic, get rid of it, age. By then they can understand the conversation of why it's gone. And, if only used at bedtimes, you won't have to worry about dental problems or anything of the sort. (at least it never hurt any of my three!)

I hang my head in embarrasment, but my 3 year old still has his at nighttime. I am so not ready to fight that battle yet. We are still fighting the potty training battle with him....so one war at a time!

Ava's not quite four months old, but with how much she loves it, I'm thinking I may need to bookmark this post for a couple years from now!

Just reiterating what everyone else said. My Mad is 23 months and only uses hers at night and naptime. When she gets cranky, even when she's had a nap, she'll ask for quiet time so she can go get her suck on.

I've heard of the cutting the tip trick. Not ready to try it.

I'm sure my Hubs feels that the birthday next month means the demise of the binkie but I'll fight for her. So I can SLEEP!

Our son was so colicky the first 10 weeks of his life, that for a few weeks I desperately tried to get him addicted to a pacifier. Never worked. It helped calm him down, sure, but he couldn't ever figure out how to keep it in his mouth, so it did us no good. Having to stand right next to him and constantly shove the pacifier into his mouth didn't help us become any more "hands free" than using no pacifier at all. So, our son did not ever use one. I'm grateful for that now!

Oh boy! Did I ever sound EXACTLY like you before I had my first (who is now 2.5) After she turned 6 months we would only give her the binky when she was going to sleep in her crib. But then the twins were born and all hell broke loose. She was a little traumatized by their arrival so we didn't fight her on wanting to keep it all the time. When she turned 2, however, we knew we had to do something. My sister is a Pediatric PA and her trick is to cut the tip of the nipple off and just hand it right back. They soon ditch it themselves. Worked like a charm. She had several binkies so we would surreptitiously snip one... she'd ditch it by the end of the day and move on to the next one... which we'd snip that night and so on. Within a week or so, all the binkies were history. And if she ever asked about them we'd cheerfully say, "Yep! It's broken. You don't need it." and IMMEDIATELY distract her with something else.

My oldest was addicted to his for nap and bedtimes. He HAD to have it. And I let him until he was 2.5. I never thought I would, but he didn't use it other times much past a year, so I let him to sleep.

I needed the sleep!

Nolan and Reese both loved their Paci's... Around 12 months I took Nolan's away and he cried for a couple hours and that was the end of it... seriously, he had no problem!

Reese was a little later probably about 15 months and we did the same thing... he threw a fit that first night, and then he was over it... I did have to make sure and get rid of ALL the pacis though cause as soon as they would see one, they would want it! Idk what to do about Ty though, he is 4 and still sucks his thumb, I can't take that away!! =)

Well my advice, I'm a college student, and I still like to have a pacifier at night. So I would say just let her have it!!!

Hahahha ohh SO kidding! I have no advice :( sorry but I hope you have a great Tuesday =)

We used "Plugs" with all three kids. J was easy, he decided he was done with it about the time he was over the bottle, which was about 10 months old. E, he was a different story. He had one he'd been chewing on, and I knew it was a matter of time before he bite a hole into it. We went to spend a weekend with my grandparents, and that was the only one I took. Sure enough, he bit the tip off, and I called the hubs, told him to make sure the others were gone! It was "broken", and he moved on pretty quickly. M was such a jabberbox, and I had a rule that you had to take the plug out to talk to me, it didn't take long at all before it was more of a pain in her hiney than it was worth!

Wow~ Lots to read;o) I'm a mother of 5 who breastfed, used the pacifier, and sometimes the bottle. I stopped breastfeeding first, then took away the pacifier a month later. My kids were all under two. I did this because that's what worked for me. Not gonna say it was easy~ it wasn't! They cried for the first two nights, then that was it. I felt bad at the time, but I'm glad I did it before the age of two...

Now I just need to figure out how to get my last two year old outta my bed!

Good luck;o)

Way worse things you could do! But seriously, I'm afraid to even say outloud all the things I see kids doing and wrinkle my nose at...karma!! lol

Before K was born I said that I would NEVER let my babies have a pacifier. I too, thought those kids I saw in the store at age 4 was ridiculous. K was 3 days old and wouldn't stop crying and wailing and at 10pm at night I was buying several pacifiers at Walgreens. Haha! I did take it away at 15 months old. She was only using it to go to bed and take naps but I was tired of losing them. I cut the tip of it right in front of her. She put it in her mouth and decided it was broke and gave it back.
I tried the same thing with E when he was 18 months old. He didn't care that I snipped it. I had to keep cutting the latex shorter and shorter every few nights until there was nothing left. He finally gave up.
I'm sad that I ever let them have the paci's because A LOT of their photos from birth to age 1 have that darn thing in their mouth. Good luck! Hopefully G will give it up easily.

lol!

I was that person too--no way would I let my child have that pacifier! Then, I had my very first hysterical cry, and BOOM! Just like that, pacifier was in her mouth!!!

Like many, mine only takes it during naptime and bedtime. She doesn't even want it during the day.

I am not looking forward to the day I have to wean her out of it!

You are fine mom. Our youngest is older than that and we finally kicked his habit (he still does like to use one while falling asleep)--though it was complicated by a development issue that he has.

My father had little sympathy for me transitioning from pacifier to thumb. He put hot sauce on my thumb for a few days and I have not put a thumb within range of my mouth since.

Don't feel badly at all...my daughter has never used a binky, but is totally completely addicted to her thumb (three years old). I'm not worried about it...yet...

I sucked my thumb as a child so I let Sydney have a binky for a LONG time. I know she was in daycare and maybe around 2 1/2-3. She was down to ONE binky. Every time one was lost it was GONE no replacements. The last little binky was left at daycare and never seen or heard from again. She did fine. I don't remember chaos, but might have blacked it out.HA.

Good luck!

Thankfully, neither of my kids liked the binky AT ALL!!! Both times I was prepared with all kinds of binkies,sizes, shapes, brands...but they'd spit it out the moment it went in their mouth!! And if I kept a light pressure on it for them to start sucking, they'd start choking and crying! I kid you not! The saving grace was my pinky finger upside down in their mouth...always calmed them down and they didn't need it long. Thank God those days are over!!!!

I think the removal of the binkie is something you should save until it is time for you to go out of town on a business trip or girls weekend. That's when you should conveniently let hubby know it is officially his duty for the weekend.

That would totally happen, right?

None of my 4 boys ever liked a pacifier for longer than a couple weeks. And believe me I tried to get my twins addicted to them! It would have been better than them using my boobs as pacifiers. (I breastfed them.)

I think its fine when babies use them though. Its when the kid is more like 4 that it kinda weirds me out.

Hmmm.....Now this is just MY opinion. I do realize there are probably millions out there who disagree with me BUT...I guess I never really understood the urgency in taking away a binky. I mean, if it comforts them, what's the big deal? I know I wouldn't want anyone to come take away my favorite pair of ratty pajama pants just because they weren't "socially acceptable" ya know? (and yes, my husband has tried this)

That being said, My oldest daughter was probably almost 3 when she got rid of it. She went a couple of nights without it on her own so we did the binky fairy thing with her and she willingly put them in a little bag and hung them on her doorknob for the fairy to come take. She never looked back.

Maybe it's just the lazy mother in me but I would much rather get some sleep at night knowing she is happily sucking that thing than go through a few sleepless nights of her crying and screaming because she wants the one thing that make her comfortable. There's enough heartbreak a mom has to endure (when they are sick, hurt, etc) that I just chose not to self inflict that heartache if it doesn't need to be there.

I pretty much have the same philosophy on potty training. When they are ready, they are ready, you can't force them to be.

Good luck!!

Mason has to have his Nuk Or Kook as he calls it, all the time. He will not go to sleep without it and if he see's it and does have it, the world ends until he gets it. I plan o try to take it away when he turns two.

I hate it when I see kids that can walk and wipe their own butts and they still have those nookie things safety pinned to their shirts ... so, I'm not a good one to say it's OK- sorry, although 18 months isn't very old ... just PLEASE for the love of God get it away from here before she can wipe her own butt ;-) AND how the heck do you get 57+ folks to comment? Seriously?? What's the scoop?!

I TOTALLY agree. What's wrong with a six year old having a binky. Absolutely nothing :)
I hated the day when we had to get rid of Lily's binkies. She was about 2.5, way longer than we had planned, but we couldn't seem to get rid of it. I think we were more attached to it than she was, haha. We loved the peace and quiet during car rides, church, at the store, so pretty much we let her have it ALL the time ;)
Getting rid of it was actually not as bad as we thought. We tied balloons to all of her binkies and told her that we needed to let them go outside and they'd float away to the other babies that needed them, since she was now a big girl. She was excited about it at first, but then of course cried when she saw them floating into the sky.
She cried about it for about 2 min, until we offered her a treat. Then she would ask for it here and there, but we had to keep reminding her where they were. The next morning she woke up to a nice toy that the binky fairy had left her. After about 2-3 days she had completely forgotten that she even liked binky's. She even found one in the house about a month later, and didn't quite know what it was :)

Madison was totally addicted to hers, totally. Every picture of her under 2.5 yrs of age, is her with a binky in her mouth. I finally got fed up. I asked her if she was a baby and she said no. I said there are many babies out there that want a binky but you have so many of them. So she agreed with me to mail her binkies to the babies. Which she ended up telling people she mailed it to the baby bears? I don't know where that came from! Anyway it took 2 days for her to finally sleep well. It was not bad at all to take them away from her. My son on the other hand was not as addicted to it, just used it at sleep time. But I caught him more than once putting the whole binky in his mouth. I was nervous that he would do this at night and choke. So I just said no more and tossed them. And he did not put up a fight! Whew! Good luck!!

12 Months and one week we had a day I never want to relive; nuk detox. It was 24 straight hours of gimmie my nuk or I will make your life a living H-E-double hocky stixs. And he did. Next day, he was fine and nuk free. No lasting damage, at least from that. Someday, he will make a shrink a very rich man for sure!

My girls never really took to the dummy, as we call it here in Scotland (though I like your word better!)

I started off, like you, swearing I would NEVER use one. However, reality bites when it's late at night and you've got a restless, crying child (or two in my case!)

It frustrated me at the time, that my babies would spit out their dummies. Later, I was relieved, as it meant I did not have to go through weaning them off it!

I don't think you should feel guilty about it. If it helps her (and you!) get a good night's sleep, then that's fine. Some kids have dummies(binkies), some have blankies, some suck their thumb. It's just a comfort thing which, hopefully, she'll grow out of soon.

Annette
www.mammakerr.com

I was also one of "those" mommies.... until madam decided she'll use ME as her dummy instead. 2 years down the line, she was still addicted and had a complete oral fixation with the thing. Just before my 2nd daughter was born I decided it was time. So at two years and two months I tried the "give it to the ducklings/lambs/any baby" line.
Not a chance mother!
Eventually I put a few drops of Aloe milk (fresh from the garden) on the dummy. She was horrified at the taste, spat it out and that was the end of it! She still steals her baby sister's dummy on the odd occasion - but after half a minute the thing irritates her and baby sister gets it back.

I was the same way and now I have a 4 1/2 yr old that sucks her thumb to go to sleep. It's the only time of day she does it though so it's not so bad.

Holy crap look at all of that advice above! Wow!

I was going to say that as long as she doesn't go to sleepovers she should be good til Jr. High!

I stopped Sarah's as soon as I could get her to suck her thumb! I think she was 1 month. So she sucks her thumb because I never wanted to lose a binky. So far, she hasn't lost her thumb.

Emily sucked at night until 5 and then on New Years she quit cold turkey and never looked back.

My son had his until he was about 3 1/2. We had tried to take it from him only to have severe break downs. He only used it in bed but still. We were down to 1 and cut the tip off. He showed us... He sucked on the plastic nub that held the nipple part on. We went on a family vacation and came back, hid it in a drawer and pretended we lost it. That was the end. He did find it in the drawer but we explained that we were saving it for his kids to have one day and he said OK. No paci for his little sister though. She never liked them. Good luck!

I realllllyyy wish I had advice for you on this one, but neither boys used one. We tried to get our 1st to use one, but didn't want anything to do with it. Our 2nd used one for a month or so and that was it. But many of my friends are dealing with this....and don't know what to do either! ;-(

Tamara