How to Help Your Two Year Old Adjust to No More Pacifier

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Every family and child will have a different experience with getting rid of the pacifier.

I am talking from the perspective of taking the pacifier away from a child around 2 years old. Taking it away from a 12-month-old will be a different experience. You can, however, still take these tips and apply them.

One child may also have a huge attachment to their pacifier, while another may truly not care as much.

My first piece of advice would be to go into this process with both a plan and patience.

Let’s get to it!

Before Getting Rid of the Pacifier

Before you make the move to get rid of the pacifier you need to get prepared. Talk it out with your spouse or partner.

Consider even talking to your child’s primary caregiver such as a grandparent or babysitter. Ultimately you are the parent and make the call, but their input could be helpful.

Start talking through how you plan to remove the pacifier from their routine.

Start making small moves to decrease the use of the pacifier.

First, gather all pacifiers in your home and put them in a central location. I strongly recommend you do this way before removing the pacifier.

Your child should associate the pacifier with one specific place.

Then limit the time the pacifier is available. My recommendations are bedtime, nap time, and long car rides if needed. We eliminated it to sleeping times only for a while.

Think about it this way, the fewer times and places your child associates with the pacifier the better. For example, the only time we had an issue was nap time and bedtime when we took the pacifier away.

If your child associates walks in the stroller with a pacifier, plus bedtimes, plus after nap cuddles, plus TV, then you are going to literally struggle throughout the entire day! When you take that pacifier away they are going to be miserable in all activities.

By limiting the time they are used to getting the pacifier you are limiting the time they are going to be upset. You are limiting the struggle when you do make the move to get rid of the pacifier.

Before removing the pacifier you need to lessen the usage and start talking about your plan of action.

How to Remove the Pacifier

There are many different options for how you handle getting rid of the pacifier. This is where you and your partner need to discuss what you are both comfortable with and which method you think will be best for your child specifically.

There is the option to take it away completely cold turkey. This is removing it with no warning and they are completely gone for good. They are never seen again.

There is an option of something with a fairy that comes and takes the pacifiers but then leaves a new gift, such as a stuffed animal to replace them as a comfort item.

Some people cut the tip of the pacifier so it loses the effect and let their child then reject it themselves.

There are probably many more methods that I haven’t even heard of.

You can choose what you think is the best fit for you!

We first did what I said before and weaned the pacifier time down to as little as possible. Then we basically went cold turkey. They were gone. We showed her the empty jar where they were previously stored. We just said they are all gone. No more pacifiers.

We considered cutting the pacifier, but thought that might actually be more traumatic for our child. Seeing something she loved damaged just didn’t sit well with us. We also thought she would dwell on it longer with that method.

I will say whatever method you choose you must stick with it. With all parenting decisions, consistency is key. There are plenty of different methods, but with any, they only work if you make them work.

The Aftermath of Losing the Pacifier

So how did it go when the pacifier was gone?

Our daughter was a bit upset, but nothing crazy happened.

Like I said previously, we allowed her to look in the drawer where the pacifiers were previously kept. She was able to do this for multiple nights. Every night she asked to look we allowed it. Every night she saw an empty jar reinforced that, yes, they are actually gone, and no, they aren’t coming back.

Sometimes it takes a while for a toddler to get something. Repetition helps them understand.

After giving her a few nights for this to settle in we removed the jar and placed blankets in that drawer.

This again reinforced that that pacifiers were not coming back because they no longer had a place to go. They were replaced. We allowed her to open the drawer to see the blankets for a few nights. Then we were ready to get away from this habit that was forming. We started verbally reminding her. The pacifiers aren’t in there. And we quit looking.

Move on

At some point, you move on with life. The pacifier for some kids is a huge deal, but life goes on. Honestly, your child will probably do better than you expect.

Pick your method and stick to it and you will do fine.