Tips for Breaking the Pacifier Habit

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While you shouldn't insist on your child breaking her sucking habit entirely, you can weaken her pacifier dependency. Your child may be using a pacifier to help her through the transition from total parental dependence to independence. The comfort derived from sucking gives her a self-directed way of handling stress without looking to you for help. If she's developed an attachment to a pacifier, you needn't try to force your child to give it up just yet. Most children voluntarily drop the pacifier habit well before the age of five. By this time, they have developed other sources of pleasure and security. Peer pressure and fear of appearing "babyish" also encourage children to discard the habit as they enter the preschool years. Although you shouldn't try to break the sucking habit at this stage of your child's development, you can use preventive measures that weaken your child's reliance on her pacifier. 1. Limit boredom. Many toddlers want their pacifiers when they're bored. You can reduce their daily sucking time by keeping the pacifier out of sight and keeping them actively involved in play or games. 2. Keep her mouth busy. When she reaches for the pacifier, ask her a question, encourage her to sing a song, ask for a kiss. 3. Deal with her other needs. Don't use the pacifier as a babysitter to keep your child quiet and manding, deal with the situation that's upsetting her without reaching for the pacifier. 4. Don't translate communication garbled by the pacifier. With a pacifier in her mouth, your child may speak words you can't understand or she may get in the habit of pointing and grunting a t objects she wants. Explain that she'll have to remove the pacifier if she wants you to understand her. Less frequent use of the pacifier will encourage greater language development. 5. Limit sleep-time use. It's not really a good idea to let your child sleep with a pacifier because losing it during the night or during naps can awaken her and interrupt her sleep. If she's already in the sleep-time pacifier habit, however, she's now old enough to find it again on her own and may be able to soothe herself back to sleep with a minimum of interruption. If waking up to find her pacifier has become a problem, help wean her from it. Be aware that there will be a few problematic nights. Give your child an extra dose of love and attention to ease the transition. You might also institute a special nighttime ritual to substitute for the pacifier. These measures may reduce the need for the pacifier, but they probably won't ent it. If your child needs it for comfort, she will give it up when she learns other coping skills. In the meantime, check with your pediatrician to be sure you're using a pacifier that won't cause damage to the mouth or teeth. Keep it clean, too, and replace it when it gets worn.