Need Help Getting Rid of the Pacifier at Bedtime

[Randianne]

My LO takes a pacifier for naps and at nighttime only. At the moment, it's nearly impossible to get her to go to sleep without it. She goes down awake and sleeps through the night. Actually, she does occasionally wake up, but she usually puts her pacifier back in her mouth and instantly goes back to sleep with no fuss or crying.

What's the best way to take it away? Should I start with naps first or just go cold turkey? I would love to hear any advice or success stories!

 

[kmumtobe]

Seeing as she has it bare minimum anyway I think cold turkey is the only way, if you take it away for naps it's just gonna be an ongoing battle cos she still is aware of it having it at bedtime. We cut the top off them when he wasn't looking and 'oh no look they're broken'.. He was able to understand exactly why he wasn't having it anymore. 2 bad nights and 3rd night forgotten. He'd never fallen asleep without one before, he was 19 months.. Dummy free is lovely and he sleeps so much better! Good luck!

 

[shambaby]

We waited until Hayden was just over 2 and cut the end off all the dummies! That way, when he tried to suck one at bedtime it didn't work properly. We explained that because funnier are for babies, and he was a big boy, they were broken because they were too old, and he was able to understand that. His dummy was his favourite thing in the world so we were afraid it would be really hard, but because he understood what had happened if dealt with it really well. The first night he cried for about 15 minutes, the next couple 10 minutes, then 5 minutes for another night or 2, and that was it. Every now and then he tells someone the story of how his dummies broke and very occasionally he asks for one if he's really upset, but he got over it very fast. I think if your child is old enough to understand it's best to do it in a way you can explain. The way I saw it was that we have him the habit and it wasn't fair to take it away with no explanation.
Good luck x