I have a binky problem (pacifier). My daughter is a addicted to it, as was my son too. I’m the common element so I must be doing something wrong. Every time my son (age 6) smiles, revealing his bucked teeth, I feel guilty. I have a small reprieve because he is currently missing his top front teeth (baby ones fell out). I promised myself that I would do better with my daughter but she is almost 25 months and still has the binky. Perhaps my urge to soothe and protect is misdirected and has prevented their emotional growth in this area. Anyway I’m trying to set a deadline for myself to be rid of the binky within 1 month. Does anyone else need to banish a binky from their child? Maybe we could support one another.
binky?wow this is the first time i ever heard of the term referring to pacifier! :yes:
my son used to soothe with a pacifier as well but as early as 2nd month, he has withdrawn from it,but has resorted to thumb sucking, but his thumb sucking is not really habitual, only when he needs to sleep and whenever he sees his duckie towellet which is y i keep duckie away from him during the day. and when he tends to start to suck his thumb while watching, i will immediately take his thumb away from his mouth and keep his attention caught to something else. like a song with hands clapping.
don’t wait too long to remove the pacifier, just do it bec at the end of the day its ur child’s teeth involve as u have mentioned that u have seen bad growth already.also, let the dentist see the teeth now bec my niece dentist mentioned that it can be corrected immediately and no need to wait for older age to install the braces.
the child may cry but it will only be a while.
good luck!
Okay I was strong and completely eliminated the pacifier during the day. She has only been allowed to have it in the crib at bedtime. She even naps without it. She is still asking for it 1 to 3 times per day, but I tell her that big girls don’t use them, and then I try to distract her. There were tearful meltdowns daily except yesterday. So I guess she is adjusting to life without it. She asked for it again today but not a tear when the request was denied. Now I have to eliminate the night usage too. I think I’m going to start by slipping it out of her mouth once she is asleep so she doesn’t suck on it the whole night. It’s hard but I’ll be proud of myself once she is a confident little toddler who has completely forgotten about her pacifier.
Jsmonton,
I don’t think she will need braces but son will. I thought I would have to wait until he was a teenager. I didn’t know that it could be corrected earlier. He is 6 yrs old. I will ask his dentist about it.
go have ur dentist check ur son’s teeth asap as i told u, my niece’ dentist had mentioend that it should have been corrected in a much earlier age so that the damage would have been lesser.
it good to know that u were able to remove the pacifier from ur daughter now, great work!
Thanks Jsmonton. It has been very challenging lately because we all have the flu, so she has been crying throughout the day for her pacifier. I’m not giving into it. We done with the binky in the day and we are not turning back. Once we get through this illness I’m hoping to gradually eliminate the night-time usage too.
Also I will talk to my son’s dentist about correcting his overbite at his next dental exam.
my daughter used one too. She is now 4.4 but she used it till she was 3 then she just agreed to put it in the dust bin. I took it out immediatly and it was gone, she also asked for it but then she had no foot to stand on since she got rid of it herself and it was not me who took it away.
Might not work but then if it is gone completely then it is easier.
Good luck.
I found this interesting article on how to wean your baby off her pacifier. 
There are some great ideas in here, so it might be worth a look:
http://www.gomestic.com/Family/10-Ways-to-Wean-Your-Child-Off-the-Pacifier.84121
One method that has had good results is to take a needle and “pop” the little air balloon in the binky. For many kids that makes the sucking less “satisfying” and they will give it up on their own.
Thanks. I just noticed that everyone is still giving me advice about the pacifier. We are doing great. She hasn’t had it during the day since we gave up daytime usage about 2 months ago. She has also stopped using it for naptime too. Currently she is only allowed to have it a bedtime, and then it falls out of her mouth when she is asleep. So I guess she really sucks on it less than 1 hour each night. I want to eliminate it entirely soon. I’ve been hoping that she just loses interest in it since she is so less dependent on it. I think I’m going to wait a couple of months. I’m having extensive sinus surgery in a week and I want peaceful nights until I’m breathing normally again. Then I will decide upon my chosen intervention.
Anneang - My daughter is in the terrible 2s so she loves to say “NO!.” I would be amazed if she would agree to throw it out. But you never know, because she is at such an unpredictable age. It certainly would be easier if she got rid of it herself. Somehow I would have to convince her that it was her idea, not mine.
Lappy - I just read the link. I have considered 2 of the suggestions - cutting a hole in it or making it taste bad with coffee. Actually I considered using bitter apple liquid (commonly used to break kids of nailbiting). I worry slight about cutting the a hole in it because our doctor says we shouldn’t allow her to use a damaged pacifier. I guess she worrys about it becoming a choking hazard.
Mommy M - Hmmh, popping a pacifier with a needle barely damages it but does make it less satisfying. I have to give that one some thought. Read above, our doctor discouraged me from cutting a hole in the binky because she says damaged pacifiers are unsafe. I guess she is worried about choking.
Thanks, Lori
Yes, cutting it is unsafe because of the edges and baby can potentially chew bits off of it. That’s why I suggested popping it with a needle… it doesn’t give baby any more possibility of chewing bits off than if it were whole because the needle pinpoint prick is too small.
Glad to hear she’s doing well!
Wouldn’t that let bacteria grow inside the paci if you poked a hole in it? I think that would be dangerous. There would be no way to clean it.
my daughters loves pacifier,especially my first daughter is addicted to it.its hard to banish it from them,but what I can do is,make sure the pacifier is clean and not torn.
Recently I heard news from tv,it’s happened to a baby where he had swallowed the pacifier rubber.OMG,this is really never come across my mind!Pacifier can be really dangerous to our child,so be extra careful,especially with the hole;(beside of bacteria like nikki had mentioned)which it possibly will become big hole and torn,well,u know,that baby like to chew it,anything can happen!Also important for us to choose the good product or brand,although it just a pacifier…
the point is,almost of the time,things that should be safe for our baby can be dangerous,sometimes it also can be cause of death…
good luck all.
Good points, I never thought of the bacteria. I definitely won’t cut or pop the pacifier.
I almost have the problem conquered. I did very well cuttiing off her daytime usage. I’ve just been too tired at night to deal with any bedtime drama. So again I think I’m mostly the problem, because when it’s bedtime I lure her to the crib with the pacifier. After I’ve recovered from my upcoming sinus surgery, I need to work on my own habits because I have encouraged pacifier dependence. I don’t want to deal with an unhappy baby while I still have packing in my nose. But once I’m recovered, I need to try to put her to bed without it. Maybe it won’t be so hard.
Thanks for all of the advice, Lori
Well, any time I’ve done it, the little one popped it in their mouth, sucked a couple of times, got a funny look on their face, and spit it out, never to ask again. A little hard for bacteria to make their presence felt in that amount of time.