How to wean your toddler from pacifiers

Do you think your toddler should leave the pacifier behind? Weaning from the habit of using a paci can be tough. Here's what you can do to help your child in the process. If you are still breastfeeding, you can nurse your baby more often instead of letting her the pacifier. Using a paci isn't quite the same as nursing, and of course the comfort of nursing is not available when mom isn't around. Try to prevent your child from turning to thumb-sucking, a habit that does even more damage to a child's teeth than sucking a pacifier. If your child used a pacifier at a certain time of day, you may try introducing a new ritual to offer comfort instead. Let's say that you used to give your child access to the pacifier at night before bed. You can now introduce a new bedtime routine with hot milk, herbal tea, or even singing songs together.

Besides trying to soothe your child, you can also simply explain that he or she is too big to use a pacifier. A toddler is old enough to understand that sucking on a paci can cause problems for the development of her teeth, that using a pacifier at preschool isn't appropriate, or whatever else you think will work best for your particular toddler. Finally, there's the option of bribery. You know how children who lose their baby teeth often get a prezzie from the "tooth fairy"? You can have your child symbolically surrender any pacifiers he or she has, in return for something bigger and better. It can be a toy, seeing a movie in the cinema with you, or whatever else you can come up with that will excite your child. Weaning from pacifier use may be a little tricky, but you will definitely succeed!