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Pacifier Free

Creative Ways to Break the Binky Habit

By Shannon McKelden

However, Lambert found that her son was fine with the new brand. "When we returned home, my daughter never went back to a pacifier," she says. "My son continued to use the new pacifiers, as well as the old pacifiers, sometimes holding one in his hand while he had another in his mouth." A few months later, her son was obviously ready and, after losing his pacifier, a little distraction was all that was needed to entice him to give them up entirely.

Sometimes it's not even necessary to purchase a different brand. Making the old ones "undesirable" can also work, as Julie Bonn Heath from Seaside, Ore., found out. "Son No. 1, at age 3, wouldn't let 'bink' go for the life of him, so my husband cut off the very top of the nipple part," she says. "I argued about it at first but he did it anyway. It worked. We told Nick that it broke and after he tried it a few times and then tossed it across the room with a few tears, he didn't want it anymore."

"Children need coping skills [that] a crutch like a pacifier takes away," says Lonna Corder, a parenting expert and founder/director of The Playgroup in San Francisco, Calif. "Though seemingly easy for parents to stick the binky in the mouth for the first year, breaking the habit is harder the older the child is."

Because the pacifier can go from being something that satisfies the very real urge to suck as an infant to being a hard-to-break habit for a toddler, it may be easier to wean your child from it earlier.

"I discovered the miracle of the pacifier when my son was a couple of weeks old," says Carolina Suarez, a mom from Orlando, Fla. "It gave us silence when we needed it the most and I am forever grateful to the inventors of the pacifier."

Want to see more?

• A Hard Habit to Break: Part Three
• Reexamining the Pacifier: Can Pacifiers Reduce the Risk of SIDS?
• When Lovey Is Lost: Ways to Prevent It and Helping Your Child Cope
• Check out our Article Library.
• Talk about it!

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