Did anyone wean their LO off of a pacifier using the pin hole method? (That is, poking small holes in the pacifier, which makes it not satisfying to suck on anymore. The child is supposed to then naturally lose interest.) I'm curious if this has worked for anyone else, or if there are any downsides that I'm not considering. Our doctor told us today that it's time to start thinking about pacifier weaning, but I'm worried that DD isn't ready.
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That's interesting, I've never heard of that. Just curious, how old is your LO? Since your pedi recommended weaning soon, I always wondered what age that would be brought up.
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Sounds like a good idea! Until you have to run out and buy more pacis in the middle of the night, haha. Maybe you can try it with 1 and see how it works!
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I forgot to ask about pacifier weaning with our peds yesterday. Guess there's an email in my future. I'd love to wean him off of it sooner than later, but it's been helpful with teething and walks.
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She is 15.5 months. The doctor says she has lots of teeth, so we should probably work towards doing away with the binky sooner rather than later. She also said it's easier before age 2. I worry though b/c the pacifier is DD's only comfort item. She holds one in each hand while she falls asleep, and switches them out with the one in her mouth.
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@skibobrown: I wonder if you could slowly introduce a new comfort item? Like add it to the pacifiers, then as she gets used to it, try removing pacifiers one at a time. All while trying out the pin hole method too? I wish you the best of luck!
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@cmomma17: I think I'll renew my commitment to adding another comfort item. I've never gotten her to be very interested in soft items like loveys or stuffed animals. I suppose she could take her favorite book to bed with her, but I would guess that wouldn't work out so well!
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@skibobrown: My MIL told me about cutting the whole tip off and so the baby no longer wants to suck it. We didnt do that though we just gave it to her less and less and finally eliminated it completely
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I've heard of this. Also cutting the tip off. For some of them it worked like a charm. For others it didn't phase them and they kept on using the paci. In that case you have to be extra careful of deterioration, I guess.
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@skibobrown: aw my brother used to do that (the 3 pacifiers)
I have no advice, but in theory it sounds like it would work.
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I had a pacifier for a long time as a young child. I intentionally asked my mom at some point to cut a hole in in the tip as it was too hard to suck without it. So, some kids will prefer it that way or will just adapt.
Eventually I grew out of it but man did I have a mean overbite before braces
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I haven't tried this with DD yet, but my sister weaned all 3 of her kids off the pacifier using this method. She started poking holes in it using a pin and would cut off pieces of the pacifier until there was nothing left to suck on.
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I didn't have to poke holes in my sons, he would bite it instead. Once there was a hole he had no interest, it was pretty easy! With my daughter it's a whole new ball game, I'm not sure pinholes would work with her, but I was just telling my husband we should give it a try.
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@skibobrown: I actually put my DS down without paci today for the first time. I was kind of inspired by your post to just bite the bullet and do it, but I did it cold turkey. He's a bit older than yours, 22 months. He didn't even fuss. But he does have a stuffed animal that he likes and a music machine. I also said over and over, no binky today, binky all gone.. I think getting a lovey set up for him will help you .
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Reviving this thread because I'd like to wean my 14-mo-old off the pacifier for naps and nighttime sleep. He almost never has it during his waking hours, but it is such a comfort for him at night. If he wakes and throws it out of the crib in the middle of the night, his screams escalate until someone returns it to him. If he wakes and has it, he will put it in his mouth and fall asleep again quickly. Or he's at least quiet and I don't hear him
I hesitate to poke holes because he uses a Wubbanub and they're not that cheap -- don't want to buy a new one of he screams bloody murder.@skibobrown: Any updates? Have you tried this yet?
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DS2 chewed holes in all his pacis but still loved them, so the hole the paci didn't work for him. I just took them away though because I was scared he'd chew a piece off and choke. He's ok without it, just takes longer for him to get to sleep.
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@pregnantbee: I haven't tried it yet. I chickened out. We're moving in a couple of months and switching DD to a new daycare, so I didn't want to introduce any other traumatic events into her life right now. She loves her binkies so much. We have been weaning her from binky during naptime at daycare though b/c her new daycare won't allow them. It sounds like it's been going pretty well. They just stopped offering them to her, and she's still doing ok, as long as she gets a little extra rocking and patting on the back.
@Koolbreeze: I found our first hole in a binky due to DD chewing on them. It totally freaked me out b/c I am similarly scared of her choking on a piece. Now I'm monitoring wear and tear really carefully.
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@skibobrown: All good reasons not to try weaning yet. I'm scared it will really mess up my LO's sleep. I'm such a wimp.
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@pregnantbee: @skibobrown: I just wanted to add that after I successfully weaned my DS off the binky (he is almost 2) for fear I would be admonished by his dentist, the dentist actually told us to give it back to him because he has an underbite that could potentially be helped by the binky. He gets it for naps and nighttime only. So, I really don't think the binky is so horrible, especially if they are still young and you have lots of transition going on!
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