Weaning 15 Month off Pacifier

I know you're probably getting lots of contradicting advice, but I'll add my two cents worth. At 15 mos., I don't see any reason to wean him from the pacifier, especially if he only uses it at night. Both my daughter's pediatrician and her dentist had no problem with her having a pacifier at that age. I would just wait until he's older and you can "rationalize" with him about giving up the pacifier. At a little over 2 yrs., my daughter willingly gave her pacifiers to my cousin's new baby. She was part of the decision, so we never had any problem with the transition. She asked for it once or twice, but never cried for it.

Ok, this is going to sound harsh, but you'll have to just take it away and let him cry. Plan it for a weekend where you don't have lots of plans or have to be anywhere. I did it on a 4-day weekend. My daughter had it at nap/bed time and in the car. She cried for about 20-30 min at naptime, but finally got tired and went down. Same thing at bedtime. It was hard to hear her cry, but they will get over it, I promise!

The other thing that I did while she napped was search the house for any she had hidden and I threw them out!

We've been NUK free for almost 2 months now!

Hi A.,
We went the cold turkey route. It was tough for about three days then she finally adjusted. We also were told to simply put a hole or snip the tip. the child does want the nuk anymore because the suction isn't there. Good luck and stay strong, it will only get harder the longer you wait.

We did cold turkey and the only reason it we made it was because my hubby had thrown out all the pacificers and then taken out the trash. The first night was HORRIBLE. But within 3-4 days it was fine.

We waited until our son us just over 2 years old. We let him take a matchbox car to bed (suggestion from the family Dr.) and he still takes a car to bed everynight and he is now almost 3 yrs old.

Best of luck.

A.:

I am on day three of your same experience. We took my son's pacy away on his first birthday (Tuesday). Night one was ok... 1/2hr to bed and 50 mins. in the middle of the night. Last night was better... 15 mins. to bed and 10-15 mins. in the middle of the night. We will see what today brings?!?!

It is hard to do without caving in unless you've cut up and thrown out every last one you have in the house. In our case we chose their first birthdays because I could see how 1 year could turn into 15 months and then 2 years and suddenly I'm negotiating with a talking toddler to take his pacy away.

Good luck with this adventure. Next is potty training!

my son went cold turkey 2 weeks ago. he bit through the pacifier and i would much rather deal with the crying then lay in bed wondering if he was choking. We put a radio in my sons room and made sure he had his stuffed monkey. He crys for about 2 mins at bed and nap but then he goes to bed. he actually sleeps straight through the night. the past few days i have heard him wake up but he gives just one quick cry and then back to sleep. i think the radio helps him. If it weren't for my fear for his safety i wouldn't have gotten through the first night of 10 mins of fussing. I hated to hear him so sad over something so tiny. once you start you can't go back or the next time will be harder. he will think if he crys long enough that he will get what he wants. If you want to be rid of them then toss them all and go for it. if you feel like giving in it is easier to stick with the plan if you don't have the option to give the pacifier back. Good luck i know how painful it is to go cold turkey but if he only uses at night you have weaned him down as much as you can.(if you don't really want him to kick the habit you don't have to make him do it, you could wait until he is older and see if he out grows the need)

My cousin tried this with her little girl: She had the "Nuk Fairy" come to take all the nuks out of the house to give to new little babies and in exchange left a little gift for her daughter. (The nuks were not actually given to any babies, that was just the excuse for why the fairy had to come pick them up in the first place!) I believe my cousin then rewarded her daughter with another small gift if she made it through the whole week without her nuks.

Since it seems that your son only uses it when he is sleeping, perhaps the small gift could be something appropriate for him to take to bed with him.....good luck!!

I didn't read the other posts....

Our daughter only used one for naps and bedtime too and we just weaned her off three weeks ago. I read an article from an ECFE class that big changes (like weaning the pacifier)shouldn't be done with a child until after 21 months. So our goal was 21 months to 24 months to wean her. We picked Labor Day weekend because it was a long weekend and we had no plans. We expected a battle.

Our daughter was 21.5 months old at the time. We made sure she had started sleeping with some favorite animals and had latched on to her blankies (she has 3 small ones). We took the paci away on Friday night and she cried. I told myself I would check back in on her in 7 minutes and watched the clock. I went back in, explained that there was no more paci and that I loved her. I went back to my room and listened to her cry. I told myself that I would wait 10 minutes this time. I didn't need to go back in. At 10 minutes she had quieted down and fallen asleep.

Things are different now without the paci. She sleeps better through the night because she doesn't get mad that she can't find her paci. But, she does take longer to self soothe when going down for a nap or bed. She will sometimes cry for maybe 5 minutes before settling down. A lot of that is that she also doesn't want to stop what she is doing and go to sleep.

A word of caution....if you decide to take the pacifier away...take it away. The more times you give in the longer it will take and the harder it will be. You are teaching your son that he just has to throw a bigger fit or a longer fit before you will give in.

If it is too stressful for you or your son right now...wait. Give yourself a deadline of 2 years. The older he is, the more he will understand that he doesn't need it and more time to find other bed items for him to self soothe with.

Good luck.

you have already won half the battle if he only needs it at night. my son is almost 3 and bedtime is STILL a horror if he doesnt have the sucker, however, 15-30 minutes after falling asleep, he typically has spit it out and doesnt need it anymore.

just keep talking with your baby's doctor, and dentists if possible. some will say its HORRIBLE to have a sucker for teeth issues, others will say its not a big deal. go with your gut. if he only needs it at night, hes probably doing ok.

one thing i have heard to get babies off the bottle might also work with nuks but it might take some time. as he is falling asleep with it, gently and slowly start pulling it out of his mouth. its ok if he slightly wakes up, but the goal is to get him to slightly wake up, and then go back to sleep without the nuk in his mouth. it might take 4 or 5 or more times in a row to get the nuk removed at first, but it will gradually get better. patience, and slow is key.

anyway, good luck

HI A.!
I would totally let him keep it. If he only uses it for sleep you have it made! :)
As another poster said, don't listen to pressure from others to take it away. Our peds. dentist said that there is no reason to take it away until age 3.
Food for thought.....if he doesn't have a paci when he needs it now, then he MAY start sucking his thumb or fingers and that is WAAAYYYYY harder to break than a paci dependency!

I'm curious to know why you want him to be done with it at this age. If it's for dental concerns, I can tell you that as long as they finish by around 3, their teeth will shift back to the proper positions. All three of my kids used soothers for comfort and for sleeping. One gave it up on his own around 18 months old but the other two used it for sleeping right up until 3. It was still hard for my oldest to give it up, she cried a lot the first two nights but then was fine. She had quite an overbite which concerned me but within a few months her teeth had shifted back to where they should be and now at 14 she has a beautiful smile - with no ortho required!
I say if it helps him sleep let him use it and just limit the use to sleeping times. Good luck!

I decided to take my daughter's paci away when she turned two. It was beginning to make the roof of her mouth sore and I explained to her that it was the paci making her mouth sore and that it was time for her to stop using it. I told her that she was getting bigger and didn't need it anymore. I let her say goodbye and throw them away herself. We had a few difficult nights, but it was definitely less than a week. After that whenever we were out and she saw a baby with a paci, she would say I'm not a baby anymore and I don't use paci's. It was cute.

You may find that your son might not be ready yet. You will have to go with your gut feeling on this issue. Good luck.

my son starting to chew on his so i just helped it along by cutting a hole in the nuk!! then he couldn't suck on it and together we threw it away!!i think we started trying to get rid of the nuk right around 18 months. but now at the age of 7 he still has to sleep with his favorite blankie!!!

Since it's not causing any harm, I wouldn't be so quick to get rid of it. I am waiting with my son until between 2 1/2 and three. My thought process is to wait until he can understand. He has an amazing vocabulary so I am also not worried about it from that standpoint. At that time he will understand throwing it away for a gift, the pacifier fairy or giving it to another baby. (pretend). Best of luck with your decision, but I wouldn't be so quick to ditch it for all of your sanity.

well, speaking from experience, better now, than later. We just took my daughter's away at the beginning of this month, and she is going to be 3 in December. It was ROUGH...we had tried another time when she turned 2, but it really didn't work, after a week of nothaving them, she was still crying two hours before goingt o sleep and not napping at all - we caved that time and gave them back. This time she was older and we reasoned with her, and told her they were making her teeth crooked, and the binky fairy came and took them in the night and left her a really cool present. She whined for an hour the first night, and hasn't slept as well/long, but is still sleeping and napping, and not crying about it - it has been almost 3 weeks and she aas only actually asked for a binky 3 times, and all it took was reminder that the binky fairy took them away to poor babies who didn't ahve any, and she was fine. Her baby brother still has his and she hasn't been jealous or tired to use his either.

That said, I would still reccommend you take them now...it will take a few nights of crying, but let him cry it out and he will learn other self soothing techniques quickly at that age. The longer you let him keep them , the more they become a major habit/addiction, and then the harder to break later.

Hindsight 20/20 from experiencing this with my daughter, I will be taking away my son's at 1 year when I take away the bottle.

Good Luck - make sure he has a blankie or stuffed animal "lovey" security item to cuddle to substitute for the binky at bedtime.

Jessie

I don't mean this to be condescending at all, but is there a particular reason you want to get rid of the pacifier at this time? If you are a first time parent, I know the pressure the pediatrician/books/other parents can put on you, believe me. But, if your son takes a great deal of comfort from his paci and only needs it at night, I really see no problem with letting him continue using it for another year or so. We tried to wean our daughter from hers around one year, but it seemed so cruel and, like you, she only used it to sleep. We let her continue on until ~2. At that time it became possible to reason with/explain to her a bit and the whole process was so much easier. Plus, we had an extra year of peaceful nights - the importance of sleep for you and and your son cannot be underestimated :) As my mom told me and I'll never forget: "It's only a problem if it's a problem for you"! Good luck!

I have to agree with some of the other ladies....what's the rush? I would be thankful to have a 15 month old that only needed a nuk at night. I'll share my thoughts and experience but you just need to decide what's right for you and your son.

I was always anti-nuk before I had kids. I hated it when toddlers had a nuk in their month in peoples' pictures or when kids where talking "around" the nuk in their mouth...it drove me nuts. I swore my kids would never have one. Both my kids had them before we left the hospital. My daughter had hers until a week before her 3rd birthday and my son has one, he's 16 months. My daughter grew very attached to hers and we kept it longer than I had planned. On some levels, I think it could have been easier to take it sooner, but on other levels it seemed a little easier to be able to discuss it with her. I think back on all the times between ages 1 and 3 when we "needed" her nuk and I don't feel bad about letting her have it so long. (We had cut back to letting her use it only for naps and nighttime around 2.5 years or so). It was a little rough for the first couple nights...some crying and no nap for 2 days, but within a week, we were just fine. I have to admit that there are times I wish she still had one. I would never consider giving her one back, but for those big owies or hurt feelings, it gave her so much comfort. Having had that experience with her, I am a little more conscious of how much my son uses his. More or less, he can have it whenever he wants, but I tend to take it out of his mouth when I don't think he needs it or I will ask him to give it to me himself and he usually gives it up without a fight. I will probably try to get him to use it only for sleeping sooner than we did with my daughter, but I'm in no rush to make him give it up. Without nuks, I would be so sleep deprived and stressed out I wouldn't be able to function!

Good luck!