I don’t claim to be any kind of expert but I’ve been at this parenting thing for over a decade now so I’ve got some tricks up my sleeves. I thought if some of our family tricks could help others I’d love to share them so I’m super excited to be introducing the JCP Parenting Hacks series where I will be sharing some parenting tips that have worked really well for our family. 🙂
Today’s topic is all about pacifiers!
There is a lot of debate about whether or not the use of a pacifier is good for children. As a mom that nursed all four of my children I remember having concerns early on about nipple confusion and later on about the risk of future dental problems that comes with pacifier use. I also remember being severely sleep-deprived and desperate to find any solution to keep my babies happy.
Our first child liked the pacifier but being a new mom and thus paranoid about not being able to break his habit later I took it away from him before his first birthday. Our last child didn’t want anything to do with a pacifier and rejected it from day one. Our middle children (the twins); however, LOVED their pacis and used them very regularly until the dentist showed me the widening gap between their top and bottom teeth and I panicked! They were just over three years old. Their habit would be a lot harder to break than our first child because they had them so much longer.
I immediately researched all different ways of breaking this habit.
One popular suggestion was to cut off the tip disabling the sucking power of the pacifier. We tried that and were faced with super sad little guys. I caved.
Another recommendation was to break them of their habit early (by age two). Obviously that ship had sailed.
And yet another spoke favorably of weaning so we started only allowing the pacifier to be used at night and in their crib. This worked for a while but we needed to get rid of them altogether.
Enter The Nuk Fairy.
We excitedly explained to them that they were old enough now to get a visit from The Nuk Fairy! They obviously wanted to know all about her. We went on to tell them she was going to leave them presents if they left their pacifiers for her. They were SO excited! They couldn’t wait until the next day to get their presents and even insisted on drawing her pictures.
The next day they received their little toys and all was good. I’m not going to claim that they never asked for their pacifiers again but it was an easier transition for them than cutting them off cold turkey. They needed several reminders that they gave their pacifiers to The Nuk Fairy and there was a little bit of sadness but we managed to get past it with extra love and re-direction by getting out their new toys.
Hope this helps you break the habit with your own children! Next week in the Parenting Hacks series I’ll be sharing a quick tip on how we get our children to consume less sugar.
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