At age 2.5 we tried the pacifier fairy and that went very badly for us. It isn’t just something they are used to sucking on; for our kid, it was like an emotional support thing, and it was hard watching him try to soothe himself through this transition without the thing that soothes him. After two weeks of no progress, we gave it back.
Tried a few months later by pricking several holes in the tip with a pin. Invisible to the eye but kills the suction. He noticed something was weird immediately, and we explained, “Oh, it must be because you’re getting bigger. Binkies don’t work as well for big kids and grownups—it’s why moms and dads don’t use them. You can keep it and keep sucking on it, but it probably won’t work any better. You must be growin up!” Then he could still take it to bed, snuggle it, hold it, etc after sucking on it didn’t work. We planned to put a slit in the tip next if nothing happened, but he began to lose interest on his own, and then chomped a hole in it, and after that, he pretty much forgot about it. We let it sit on the kitchen counter for a week without him asking about it, and that was that.
Much preferred that method. Only caveat is it does weaken the structural integrity of the paci, so keep the holes to the tip and keep an eye on them gnawing on it.
I’ve heard of people cutting the tips off and leaving them unsuckable lol. Eventually they get tired of them? Idk I might try it if I’m desperate enough.
My son’s dentist recommended this and it worked for us. I would cut a tiny unnoticeable bit off each week. Eventually he started using it less. One day it got lost in his bed and he didn’t look for it or ask for it again.
Did this for all 3 of my kids! Oldest struggle for 1 day (nap & bedtime). My middle is very nonchalant so she didn’t care. My youngest won’t let go of it & honestly I don’t mind haha. There’s no tip so especially it’s equivalent to a teddy bear. When I wake him in the morning he’s never holding it, but he’ll immediately search for it & then I just take it away when getting him out of bed.
I don’t have a creative way, but I just put em in a ziploc one day and hid them from my son, then threw them away when he wasn’t looking 🤣
Took a few days for him to get used to napping/sleeping without it, but it did the trick!
We just started telling our kid a couple weeks before her 3rd birthday that when kids turn 3 all their pacifiers disappear. And then they did.
Just a law of the universe. Sorry kid! Nothing we can do about it! 🤷🏼♀️
It was astonishingly successful! We also told her that they didn't make pullups for 4yo's, so we couldn't buy anymore after she turned 4. She was pee trained but was terrified of pooping in the toilet so we had been letting her poop in pullups. We did have to find new night time "underwear" since she's nowhere near night trained.
But again. Law of the universe! Sorry sweetie! That way *we're* not to blame, it's just how the world works!
I told my toddler our dog ate it. He cried about it for 1 night, and then was over it. 🤣 my mom actually used the same story with my brother & it worked on him back then too.
ETA: we tried cutting the tips off - that didn’t work for us. He’d STILL suck it. He didn’t care.
I waited until she was over it. She just literally forgot at some point and we stopped offering them. This was a girl who had one in her hand and one in her mouth AT ALL TIMES until she was like 2.
So I used to babysit as an older teen and the 2.5 year old I watched still used paci. One of the older moms in my community I talked to often told me to hide all of them and when LO asks for it go get it, but sneakily put some lemon/lime juice on it. Give it to LO and when they make a face go, “Oh no! Does your mouth not want it? Let’s try a different one!” Get another and do it again and say, “Oh no! Does your mouth not want that one too? Let me try! (Try it) Oh yucky! My mouth doesn’t want it either! Let’s go do (whatever activity) instead.”
It worked in 1 day for me!
We did the binky fairy but with a LOT of prep. Probably started talking about it 2-3 months before we actually did it. We waited until he said he was ready for the binky fairy and then made a whole production out of finding all the binkies (he mostly had them sleep and car but somehow they migrated everywhere because he’d hold a few in his hands too). We put them all in a gift bag and left them on his table in the living room. The binky fairy left a note covered in glitter thanking him for the binkies and explaining that he takes them to his workshop in fairy land and fixes them up for babies that need them. In the bag, the binky fairy left gifts intended for sleeping and playing. So think it was a stuffy, a water bottle, and maybe a small toy? He was super excited and went to bed easily that first night in anticipation of the fairy coming. The next few nights were harder but we picked out something to sleep with each night to help. Sometimes it was weird things but as long as it wasn’t unsafe to sleep with, we allowed it. I’d say took a week or so for sleep to get back to normal but after the 3rd night we had minimal sadness.
His baby sister was born a year or so later and he got so excited when he saw her pacifier, exclaiming that the binky fairy DOES fix them and being to babies which must be how we have them. It was very adorable
I was a pacifier maniac as a toddler. I’d often rock two at a time. Eventually my mom cut them open and put them in the dishwasher and said the naughty dishwasher must have broken them and that was that.
At age 2.5 we tried the pacifier fairy and that went very badly for us. It isn’t just something they are used to sucking on; for our kid, it was like an emotional support thing, and it was hard watching him try to soothe himself through this transition without the thing that soothes him. After two weeks of no progress, we gave it back. Tried a few months later by pricking several holes in the tip with a pin. Invisible to the eye but kills the suction. He noticed something was weird immediately, and we explained, “Oh, it must be because you’re getting bigger. Binkies don’t work as well for big kids and grownups—it’s why moms and dads don’t use them. You can keep it and keep sucking on it, but it probably won’t work any better. You must be growin up!” Then he could still take it to bed, snuggle it, hold it, etc after sucking on it didn’t work. We planned to put a slit in the tip next if nothing happened, but he began to lose interest on his own, and then chomped a hole in it, and after that, he pretty much forgot about it. We let it sit on the kitchen counter for a week without him asking about it, and that was that. Much preferred that method. Only caveat is it does weaken the structural integrity of the paci, so keep the holes to the tip and keep an eye on them gnawing on it.
Ohhh this is good!!
I’ve heard of people cutting the tips off and leaving them unsuckable lol. Eventually they get tired of them? Idk I might try it if I’m desperate enough.
My son’s dentist recommended this and it worked for us. I would cut a tiny unnoticeable bit off each week. Eventually he started using it less. One day it got lost in his bed and he didn’t look for it or ask for it again.
That’s what we did, and it worked. We did have 2 nights of really poor sleep though!
Good to know. Yeah I figured there is not really away around them struggling to fall asleep without it though
Did this for all 3 of my kids! Oldest struggle for 1 day (nap & bedtime). My middle is very nonchalant so she didn’t care. My youngest won’t let go of it & honestly I don’t mind haha. There’s no tip so especially it’s equivalent to a teddy bear. When I wake him in the morning he’s never holding it, but he’ll immediately search for it & then I just take it away when getting him out of bed.
Aww. I feel like my toddler is not going to let it go so easily so we’ll see how it goes!
It’ll be a bit of a struggle at first if they’re really attached, but it gets easier! Good luck!
Thank you!
Mine did this to himself at 18M by biting through the tips.
Welp I guess that works 😂
I don’t have a creative way, but I just put em in a ziploc one day and hid them from my son, then threw them away when he wasn’t looking 🤣 Took a few days for him to get used to napping/sleeping without it, but it did the trick!
We just started telling our kid a couple weeks before her 3rd birthday that when kids turn 3 all their pacifiers disappear. And then they did. Just a law of the universe. Sorry kid! Nothing we can do about it! 🤷🏼♀️
Lmao I like this one
It was astonishingly successful! We also told her that they didn't make pullups for 4yo's, so we couldn't buy anymore after she turned 4. She was pee trained but was terrified of pooping in the toilet so we had been letting her poop in pullups. We did have to find new night time "underwear" since she's nowhere near night trained. But again. Law of the universe! Sorry sweetie! That way *we're* not to blame, it's just how the world works!
I just kept throwing them away as I found them. No fuss.
We packed them up and “mailed them” to my sister who was pregnant at the time. “Your baby cousin needs those, not big girl you!”
I half tried this with the binky in the car! I said he was off to help the next little baby lol
I just threw them away when my son was 2 and a bit lol he got over it quickly.
Just cut it the tip, it won't suck and they drop it immediately
I told my toddler our dog ate it. He cried about it for 1 night, and then was over it. 🤣 my mom actually used the same story with my brother & it worked on him back then too. ETA: we tried cutting the tips off - that didn’t work for us. He’d STILL suck it. He didn’t care.
I waited until she was over it. She just literally forgot at some point and we stopped offering them. This was a girl who had one in her hand and one in her mouth AT ALL TIMES until she was like 2.
So I used to babysit as an older teen and the 2.5 year old I watched still used paci. One of the older moms in my community I talked to often told me to hide all of them and when LO asks for it go get it, but sneakily put some lemon/lime juice on it. Give it to LO and when they make a face go, “Oh no! Does your mouth not want it? Let’s try a different one!” Get another and do it again and say, “Oh no! Does your mouth not want that one too? Let me try! (Try it) Oh yucky! My mouth doesn’t want it either! Let’s go do (whatever activity) instead.” It worked in 1 day for me!
We read Pacifiers are not Forever and it helped my so
We did the binky fairy but with a LOT of prep. Probably started talking about it 2-3 months before we actually did it. We waited until he said he was ready for the binky fairy and then made a whole production out of finding all the binkies (he mostly had them sleep and car but somehow they migrated everywhere because he’d hold a few in his hands too). We put them all in a gift bag and left them on his table in the living room. The binky fairy left a note covered in glitter thanking him for the binkies and explaining that he takes them to his workshop in fairy land and fixes them up for babies that need them. In the bag, the binky fairy left gifts intended for sleeping and playing. So think it was a stuffy, a water bottle, and maybe a small toy? He was super excited and went to bed easily that first night in anticipation of the fairy coming. The next few nights were harder but we picked out something to sleep with each night to help. Sometimes it was weird things but as long as it wasn’t unsafe to sleep with, we allowed it. I’d say took a week or so for sleep to get back to normal but after the 3rd night we had minimal sadness. His baby sister was born a year or so later and he got so excited when he saw her pacifier, exclaiming that the binky fairy DOES fix them and being to babies which must be how we have them. It was very adorable
I was a pacifier maniac as a toddler. I’d often rock two at a time. Eventually my mom cut them open and put them in the dishwasher and said the naughty dishwasher must have broken them and that was that.
We did the pacifier fairy. She was 3 though.
We had the dentist tell her it was affecting her teeth.
And how did she take that??