Last week’s Tip Tuesday on Instagram was all about pacifier weaning! I’m in this phase of life with Flora right now – though we generally only use them for sleeping and on road trips but we’ve decided it’s time to say goodbye. As part of our ‘ask an expert’ series I had a pediatric dentist share her tips for when and how to wean from the pacifier and today I’m sharing advice from The Mama Notes community! The general consensus amongst medical professionals is that you should start to wean the pacifier around 1 year of age and using it past age 2 can have a negative effect on your child’s teeth and shape of their mouth!
Tips For Pacifier Weaning
Cold turkey! Take it away and power on. (Most suggested!)
Start earlier than you actually intend on being done with it!
Scale back to only using it at bedtime and naps and when you are ready to be done just take it away.
Cut a little off the end at a time, and then they will lose the desire for it.
Take a favorite pacifier to Build A Bear and put inside one of the bears.
Have your little one help you gather ALL of them and throw them in the garbage together and way goodbye!
Don’t force it, let it happen on it’s own.
Try positive reinforcement! When you see your child sucking on their thumb or fingers instead praise them!
Have you heard of the paci fairy? She comes and takes all the pacifiers and usually leaves a little treat in their place :)
My daughter and I went to her pediatrician and brought them all her pacifiers to give out to all the poor babies that didn’t have any.
A few weeks before this, I would point out crying babies and tell her maybe they didn’t have a pacifier that’s why they were crying.
Before we went to the pedi. office I called them to tell them what I had
planned. When we arrived they made a big deal about helping babies that needed pacifiers. She was so proud. She never asked for one again, even though I had some on stand by for an emergency
She would tell everyone what she did and really seemed very pleased with herself. She’s 25 now and doesn’t seemed to be scarred for life. Lol