Having had 4 binky suckers and one child that preferred two fingers in the mouth, I know there does come a point when the comfort sucking has to stop. I don't think one year was the time for any of mine though. Why you do you feel it is now? 2 1/2 was the max for us, the reasoning skills were there and speech in place also. As with breaking of any habits, you have to do it gradually, start by taking it out of the mouth just after they fall asleep. They will be too tired to try and get it back. Then make finding it for them take longer and longer until finally you just can't find it anymore. Certainly don't buy anymore, and if you can make it taste bad without hurting them in anyway, that might turn them off also. But again, why so early?I need advice on how to get a one year old off of the pacifier?
Taper off... start by having him able to use it only at bedtime and naptimes. It must stay in his crib the rest of the time. Get the binky a special tupperware container to stay in, or a special binky clip to attach it to the crib. This way, you design a special spot for binky to be in. Children this age are developing the idea that blankets and binkies, etc have feelings as they do- so it is not uncommon for toddlers to actually worry about their precious binky while they are away from it. By creating a special routine (put binky into his container to keep him safe) you help allieviate that fear that binky will run away while your toddler is gone. This can go a long way in helping a toddler separate and ultimately give up their comfort object. After a week of only having binky during naps and bedtime, start removing binky during one nap, then after a week, remove it for both naps. After you have removed binky from both naps for a week, remove it from bedtime. This will be the hardest one, since your toddler is probably used to using the binky as a comfort object to fall asleep, and probably wakes and uses it to get back to sleep in the middle of the night. I recommend doing this on a Friday night, so that you will have the weekend to work on it. Most likely, you will get a few nights of little sleep (unless you have a really easy-going toddler), so be prepared to work with your partner to sleep in shifts if you need to. It takes a week to change a habit in toddlers (and sometimes up to 21 days in extreme situations), so expect some whining and tantrums to get that binky. But, if you TRULY want to get rid of the binky for good, you have to stick to your guns. That means, you can't give in- no matter how hard they cry for it. You aren't being mean... you are setting limits. The more often you give in, the more you don't mean what you say. Take all the binkies on the day you intend to get rid of them, and throw them in the trash outside (even better is to ask to throw them in a neighbor's trash or in a dumpster outside a grocery store- that way you have no impulse to just pull one out and wash it off to turn off the crying), or have a binky ceremony. Believe me, toddlers can be insistent when they want something, but it is just a habit... not a necessity of survival. If this is a habit you wish to break, you have to do it full-force. They may cry for it- they may scream for it.... but you can't backtrack or you won't do either of you any good. I would take your child with you to throw them out, or have a little binky ceremony (where you put the binkies in a bag to hang on a tree (or whatever you have outside) to leave for the new babies that will need them. Talk it up, be creative... leave a big- kid gift for your toddler in the place of the binkies to be discovered later in the day or the next morning. (Kind of like the ';binky fairie';) This gets them in on it, so they don't feel as if this is just some arbitrary rule you have imposed on them... they are part of the process and they get a reward. Works wonders with these little guys. Now is the age to do this... past about 18 months and you start getting into the real attachment age. As long as you stick to what you say and don't reverse yourself once you decide it is time for the binkies to go, you'll be fine... and so will your toddler. They are resilient little guys, and he will soon figure out that he CAN exist without a binky! : )
How much is he using it? I would first cut down to only having it when going to bed. Then when that is established try naps without it. Then he might quit at bedtime on his own. Or wean him off it like you did from nap time.
Other more sudden solutions are to ';break'; all the pacifiers you have by cutting the nipple part. Oh and the store doesn't have them anymore (make sure you don't take the kid to the store or walk down the aisle with them!)
You can also slowly loose all the ones you have. They seem to get lost all the time anyway just slowly weed them out forget to take them with you etc. Again the store ran out so you can't get more.
i just recently got my 4 year old of his nunni and i shouldnt have let him go with it that long but i spoil him...i took him to the dentist and he told him that it was making his teeth ugly so we were gonna need to throw it away. i got all of his nunnies out of my purse and they played a game with them. they tried to see who ould throw them away first. it worked he threw them out on his own and only asked for it once after that. and when he did i would just divert his attention elsewhere. basiclly you should convience youre child in a sort of way as mine was and make a game of it,but once you throw it out you cant bring it backl no matter how many tears or screaming nites there are. i took my 18mnth old of the bottlew and we had 3 nights where she screamed foe like an hour and then just fell asleep and now she doesn t want it
Why? Children need to be able to comfort themselves.
This is a tuff one, my son held on to is till he was 2. It was hard and I tried so many times but he would cry for days. Then someone told me to follow the signs, I did not think it would work but it really did! You have to do it under the dark of the moon. It was crazy because he didn't even ask for it. You just follow that and it should work. GOOD LUCK!
I started by only giving the pacifier at nap and bed times. Then, only at bed time. One night I told my daughter that it was time to be a big girl, and she didn't need a pacifier anymore. It worked perfectly. My daughter also got a special surprise for being a big girl. Good luck.
You should really do it soon, seperation anxiety and attachment anxiety really starts soon after a year old. Your baby is really going to love that pacifier the longer he has it after he is a year old. Give it to him only at night, to ween him. If he only uses it at night now, just take it. I will be a rough three days or so, but he will be fine with in a week. Who knows he might not not even care.
I took my kids off the pacifier cold turkey. I said that I lost it. You will hear some or maybe a lot of crying, but after a night or a few, they will realize that they are not getting it back and they will forget all about it. It may sound cruel to just take it away but on certain age appropriate things I don't baby my kids. I'm not mean, but I mean what I say.
I would say it's too early. If a baby is using a binkie, let them use it till... I don't know...maybe till you can explain and he can understand a little?I let my 18 mo old have a binkie when she goes to bed. That's it. The rest of the time the binkie sleeps in the bed under her pillow.
No comments:
Post a Comment