Kicking the Pacifier Habit

bed | bedding | Wyatt’s 1/4 zip | Wyatt’s button down | Wyatt’s jeans | pacifiers

After our 18 month appointment at 20 months (whoops), we decided it was time for Wyatt’s paci (pacifier) to go. He wasn’t using it all day, just primarily for naps and bedtime, but also during the day when he was tired, grumpy, or we needed a quick fix for whatever problem he had. We noticed it had become a habit more than anything, and Wyatt had started requesting it by name, calling out for “paa” when he wanted it. Realizing the older he got, the harder it would be to break him of his beloved “paa,” and with an encouraging nudge from our doctor saying the earlier to eliminate it for dental reasons, the better, we set out to rid Wyatt of his paci once and for all.

Tim had thought for a while that Wyatt was too old for a paci, and didn’t like that we used it as a comfort crutch. I on the other hand, really felt like I relied on the paci for times like the car or when he was too grumpy to deal, and I also feared that it would mess with our 12+ hours of sleep at night and 2-3 hour naps…he would often fall asleep sucking one or if he woke up in the middle of the night he’d pop one in his mouth and fall back asleep. We’ve heard from a few docs and Wyatt’s dentist that it’s definitely a good idea to kick the habit by 2 years old, so I thought we had a few more months of the status quo, but with our new doc telling us it was a great time to get rid of the paci…before he became more emotionally dependent on it and before it messed with his teeth, we decided to set a time that we were BOTH home to cut him off cold turkey. Knowing Wyatt and his stubbornness, cold turkey was the strategy to use instead of drawing the process out, we just had to rip the bandaid off.

Snip the Tip

I was feeling bad about my baby losing his beloved “paa” in such an abrupt way, so the day before we were to ban all pacis from the house I “snipped the tip” of them all. The theory behind it is that cutting the end of the pacifier off no longer allows for the sucking sensation to happen, and kids lose interest. His new (old) “paas” no longer stayed in his mouth, they kept popping or falling out and he was frustrated. He’d throw his paci or just keep looking at it puzzled and angrily try again. I took this as an opportunity to talk badly about the pacis, saying they were “mean” and that “we don’t like those pacis.” I don’t know if that was a good strategy psychologically or not, but it felt right to run with his frustration over them. For the remainder of that day and night when he used his paci, he just kind of held it in his mouth with his teeth, not really sucking.

Cold Turkey

The next morning, as soon as he woke up, we rounded up all the pacis and hid them. (We did miss a few that he found a few days later because I literally stashed them everywhere for accessibility.) We didn’t show him or say anything to him about them, just did it. We banned the word “paci” from the house and if Wyatt requested it, we’d say “all gone” and try to divert his attention. Out of sight, out of mind seems to work pretty well for him.

He definitely struggled a little bit with the first few naps and nights actually putting himself to sleep without sucking on his paci, and it broke my heart when he’d call out “paa, paa” as if he was looking for it. But it was nothing a little extra reading, rocking, or snuggling couldn’t fix. He still got his full sleep at night and naps stayed mostly consistent (we did it over the weekend so our schedule was a little hectic to begin with.) He also has his “puppy” which is a security blanket or lovey, that he loves as much as he loved his “paa” so at least he still has that comfort object to help with bedtime.

The Results

Sometimes it’s crazy how adaptive and resilient kids are. I think I had more anxiety about taking it away because of my own reliance on it and my fear of his reaction with our ‘cold turkey’ method, but he didn’t have a single meltdown over it or has really been any different. It’s been almost a week and we’re still going strong. He found one a few days after we went cold turkey (again, I stashed them everywhere) and I just snatched it away and asked if he wanted to go outside (gets him every time.) During the first few days he’d still call for “paa,” but now he doesn’t mention it, he even saw a baby at the park sucking on one and didn’t seem to care.

It only took a few days for him to seemingly forget about his paci, and it hardly affected our lives to be honest. It was a much smoother process than I had envisioned, and maybe we just lucked out with how it went down, but it definitely felt good to have our toddler kick his paci habit before he became more emotionally attached and before it affected his dental health. I’m glad we’re now a paci-free house, even if it is one more signal that my baby isn’t a baby anymore.

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