I’m sure there will be quite a few parents reading this post who will react with “What?! We don’t want our child off the pacifier! How will we survive?”
Read this with me.
I searched and read so many things about pros and cons about Rj still having his dummy.
But the truth is the longer you wait to take away the pacifier the harder it becomes.
It’s quite a tricky process taking away a pacifier. Either the baby will be too young and not understand and in that case taking the pacifier away is a bad idea or maybe the child would be too old and will have already become too attached to his pacy that taking it away would be impossible.
Some recommend taking the pacifier away when your baby is around six months old. At that age your baby no longer needs to suck and has yet to become attached to it.
me and my husband talked about taking the pacifier when he was one years old (12 months) but the fact is that he is so happy sleeping with it that he is now 19 months and still with the dummy.
What I read about taking it away:
Some pediatric dentists say that the toddler will overcome the need for the pacifier in just three days. While the process is done cold turkey, it does help to restrict pacifier use to nap and bedtime only.
If they are Babies
Taking a pacifier away from a baby really doesn’t require more than just taking it away. It shouldn’t take more than three days for the baby to get used to sleeping without one.
However, there are some key points to be aware of:
- Do not take the pacifier away from the baby the same week you are trying to wean your baby off night time feedings or doing something else.
- Stick to one thing at a time.
- Make sure that there is nothing major in your life going on that week. If you are going on a trip then wait until you come back and have everyone back on schedule.
- Also, if it’s a week that you are planning on having family visit then do it another week.
- You, as a parent, must be absolutely committed to taking it away. If you aren’t ready to do it then the baby won’t be ready either. You’ll end up giving in at the first sign of your baby’s distress.
- Mom and Dad should do it together as a team for the above reason.
- Weekends are a great time to do it. You could start on a Friday evening and have him off by Monday.
If it’s a Toddler
While this process is also done cold turkey, it helps to involve the toddler.
The best time to take a pacifier away from a toddler is when it needs to be thrown out because it’s all chewed up.
It can’t be used anymore for safety reasons and this is a great opportunity to get your toddler involved. You could show your toddler that the pacifier is broken and explain to her that it needs to go to the garbage.
You should try to get your toddler to be the one to throw it out (yes it looks cruel, it will be an action that he won’t forget but it needs to be by him).
Some things to be aware of when taking your toddler’s pacifier away:
- As with a baby, you will need to be fully committed.
- If you aren’t your toddler will know it and the process will take much longer than three days.
- When you do take it away make sure that your toddler can’t take it back. You want it to disappear.
My point as a mother:
I read so many negative comments on “mums” networks, some of them very offensive (these still surprise me how people can be like that), others praising the use of dummies / pacifiers /binkies…
You are what you are and your kid will be different. you can have 10 kids and only 2 of them like dummies and the other didn’t.
My family gave me and my sister binkies. It was normal. In my husbands family was the same… follow your instinct… I am going to try this weekend and will let you know about it. If it’s not the time, then will try again. No pressure and specially no pressure from society. My son will have lots of time in his life to feel that pressure any time during his life. But I will always be by his side helping.
Be strong. Taking a pacifier away can be an emotional process. Although you’ll feel terrible, keep in mind that you’re helping your toddler not hurting him.
Good luck!
Say goodbye to Simba binky
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Cheerio #parentingtips
