Today I’m sharing tips on saying “goodbye pacifier.” Kenzie was a difficult baby. By difficult, I mean she wouldn’t let me put her down, no one besides me could hold her, and she cried A LOT. Because of the constant crying and me being the only one that was able to soothe her, I forced her to take a pacifier. It didn’t come naturally, but I needed relief. With a 2-year-old and an extra fussy newborn, I had to do something, and the pacifier was my outlet… and it came the time that I needed to take it away. Kenzie is getting close to three years old (insert tears here), and her poor teeth were starting to get pushed out. To save that pretty smile, it was time…

so I asked around, and here are some tips I received:

 

1. Bring them to the Babies

Tell your toddler that little babies need pacifiers and encourage them to give theirs to a baby.

2. Dentist

Ask the dentist to talk to your child about what a pacifier will do to their teeth and why they should give it up.

3. Leave them behind

Go on a weekend trip and tell your little one you “forgot” the pacifiers at home when you are away for the weekend.

4. Hot Sauce

I didn’t say they were all good ideas, and I certainly don’t think this one is a very good idea, but I had more than one person suggest putting hot sauce or something that doesn’t taste good on the pacifier…

5. Cut a Slit in It

I was also told if you cut a slit in the side of the pacifier, it will lose its normal suck and feel. We tried this, but it didn’t work, and it made me nervous that it would come apart and choke Kenzie.

and Here’s What worked for us:

 

6. Do it on the Weekend

For us, it was important that both parents were home and could distract Kenzie whenever she brought up her Gappy (paci). We made a point to go outside, head to the park, do errands, or do anything we could to distract her and try to make her forget she wanted one in the first place.

7. Pacifier Fairy

We told Kenzie for weeks before we fully committed to saying goodbye pacifier that the Gappy Fairy was going to come and take them away and leave a gift in their place. She wanted bubbles, so I bought them and had them ready in case she decided she was ready to put them in the shoe box she decorated herself to give to the Fairy. She never did it, but she still thinks the Gappy Fairy took them because we couldn’t find them anywhere. I didn’t want to bring out the bubble gift right away in case she got sad about her pacifiers being gone. Instead, I waited two months and left a note with her new bubble machine from the “Gappy Fairy” saying she is proud that she has been pacifier free for two months.

8. Quitting Cold Turkey

We hid all the pacifiers and told Kenzie we didn’t have anymore. They were missing. This surprisingly worked best! Until she found a couple of pacifiers mixed in with her toys…and we had to start over.  Once we had them all out of the house, for real, this time, she stopped asking for them after a couple of days. That’s all it took! A few days.

 

I also learned that if you take the pacifier away before they turn three that the teeth will go back into place on their own, and that bit of information proved itself to be true with Kenzie’s teeth!

Goodbye Pacifier!

I’m happy to announce Kenzie is “Gappy,” as she calls them, free for over two months now! She doesn’t even ask for one anymore. I have to admit it makes me a little bit sad, but those teeth will thank us all in the long run. The last little bit of baby Kenzie is in her blankie that she won’t let go of, and in no way do I want her to. If there were a pause button to keep them little, I would be pushing it right now!

Have questions or something that worked for you? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!

Want more on raising littles? Head HERE.