How to Wean Your Toddler From a Pacifier

It can be much more difficult to wean your toddler from a pacifier than a smaller infant. However, it doesn't have to be. This trick worked wonders with my youngest daughter. I won't claim that a miracle was worked, but it was considerably easier than with my oldest girl!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A lot of patience
• A firm resolution that once you've begun there will be NO turning back!

1. 
    
   Do all of these kids look like they should still have a bink?

   To wean your toddler from the pacifier, start setting the stage well in advance of the big day. Begin by commenting on how big your child has gotten and how proud you are of all the big kid things that he or she is doing. Gently point out that big kids don't have binkys and that soon your child won't want one anymore either.

2. 
    
   The Binky Tree

   Now, here is where you can decide to be creative. The trick that we started out with was the "Binky Fairie". We started telling our daughter that soon, when she was ready, the Binky Fairie would come and take her binkys to another baby and leave her a special surprise (target value $5-$10). When your toddler announces that he/she is ready, or when you are ready to proceed, gather all of the pacifiers together and tie them to a tree outside with your child's help. Keep commenting about how big they are and how proud you are.

3. 
    

   That first night may be rough, and there may be some tears-even wails. If so this won't be easy but now that you've started it wouldn't be fair to the child to turn back. When the child finally soothes herself to sleep head outside and clip those ribbons gather them all up and toss them in the garbage out of sight from the child's discovery. Hang the toy from the tree in place of the binkys and wait until morning. As soon as the child wakes, rush them outside to see what has happened.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember, this is new to both the child and you. The crying won't be easy to get past, I wanted nothing more than to rush in and hold her and give back her pacifiers. But, if I had she would still be suckling on them every night and it wouldn't get any easier.
• Crying may last for a long time, but it will soon give way to sleep; my girls are both particularly stubborn and wouldn't give in; it did make it harder, but neither of them would still want to be using a binky!
• Don't let your child think that you have forsaken him/her. Stay close so that you can respond to any legitimate concerns. Keep soothing the child as you work yourself out the door and keep saying how proud you are for the child to go to sleep without the pacifier.

[bellas111]

on 6/10/2009 I was having major problems with my son's binky addiction! My friend absolutely raved about the cut method, and all of the psychology behind it. She emailed me a link to a site that has a free publication ( www.bye-bye-binky.com -supported by advertisements) on dropping the binky, so I tried it. Very cool stuff, worked beautifully for my son. Four days later he did not want anything to do with his binky. Highly recommended! I am also interested in others experiences with this method.... Bella

[agille]

on 12/3/2008 Well, she only cried one night and stopped asking for the bink after three days; success!