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For babies, the pacifier has amazingly offered hours of sucking, soothing comfort. There are many undeniable benefits of pacifiers, such as reducing SIDS[1], soothing the baby, and sleeping with stable routine. However, there inevitably comes a point when it has to go. Pacifier weaning is a challenge with some babies. A lot of kids become physically and emotionally dependent on their pacifiers. If your sweetie is attached to the pacifier and you are wondering how to wean off pacifier for babies, it is time to check out 10 surefire pacifier weaning tips on TrueRemedies.com that really work.
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How To Wean Off Pacifier For Babies With 10 Easy Tips
1. Give The Baby Many Cues Of Sleep
If you offer a pacifier to your baby and then plunk him in bed, you may not be offering enough sleep cues. If you get the pacifier off, you have left nothing in bed with him. To handle this problem, before losing the pacifier, you should give your baby some age-appropriate sleep aids. But in general, these aids should focus on a consistent bedtime routine, a dark room, and loud white noise.
2. Cut Out The Pacifier In Daytime First
How to wean off pacifier without shocking your baby? Consider cutting down its use during the day. Many babies seem not to be able to “exist” without a pacifier. However, to remove the pacifier at bedtime, you should start in the morning.
Start with distraction levels, such as going outside, playing, singing songs, etc. to help distract the baby from the disappearance of the pacifier.
Then, steadily increase the amount of pacifier-weaning time until your baby does not call for the pacifier during the day.
3. Provide Alternative Comforts
When taking away the pacifier from your baby, you may need to soothe him in other ways. Perhaps, it could be soft singing, gentle swinging motions, rocking, or massaging to relieve the discomfort of your little one and help him settle down without using a pacifier. This tip works most of the time. As an alternative, help your baby by distracting him with a favorite toy or snack when he calls for the soother. This keeps him from thinking and using the pacifier.
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4. Make The Pacifier Unappealing
If your baby is highly attached to the pacifier, you can consider making the device unappealing to help him wean it off. A suggestion is to dip the pacifier in vinegar or lemon. Its sour taste may turn him off for good. Alternatively, you can try to snip a tiny hole or cut the tip of the pacifier by using a pair of scissors, thereby disabling the sucking power of the pacifier. Be aware that altering the soother can make it a choking hazard once pieces go apart.
5. Use Transition Object
Babies often attach themselves to the soother naturally as a special way of soothing themselves. So you can incorporate a certain transition object into the sleeping routine of your little one to shift his concentration from the soother to another object, named it a lovey.
Or you can introduce a new transition distracting your baby who is extremely missing his pacifier; such as a warm cup of milk or a special story. In exchange for the soother, you can also give your little one a special pillow or a new nightlight.
6. Reduce Use Gradually
You can begin with setting limits related to the time of using a pacifier. For example, don’t let them use it in the bedroom, in the car, or before a specific time, etc. After all, your baby might realize that he no longer needs it at all.
7. Use A Noise Machine
This will help your baby sleep much more soundly. The less he wakes up at night, the less he will cry out for the pacifier.
8. Wean It Early
Believe it or not, the earlier your baby wean the pacifier, the easier the weaning process. The reason is that your baby could be more adaptable if they are younger. Therefore, there will be less expression of discomfort and less protesting from your baby when they are being weaned off a soother at a younger age.
9. Binky Fairies
This tip is applied for older babies. A lot of modern moms use this pacifier-weaning tip to help their baby give up using pacifier more easily. With this “Binky Fairy” tip, you need to take the pacifier of your baby and “bless” it to another baby who needs it. To do it, get him understanding and agreeing with the “binky fairy” strategy, and then get your little one putting the pacifier into a small bag before sending it to the “binky fairy.” That way, if the next time your baby asks for his soother, you will remind him that he has donated it to another baby through the “Binky Fairy.”
10. Lose The Pacifier
You can pretend to lose the pacifier. Perhaps, you can still help him look for it but don’t find it literally. It will show that you care for him but still cannot find it. This tactic will work case by case, but in general, the baby will be okay with “we lost it.” It takes about two weeks for him to forget about it.
Hopefully these tips on how to wean off pacifier will help your baby get rid of his soother with less stress and tears. Do you have any specifically worked tips or parenting ideas? Feel free to share them with other parents, and us as well by dropping words below this post.
References:
https://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-help-your-child-give-up-the-pacifier_3659347.bc
https://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/social/how-to-wean-child-off-pacifier/
