Habits that parents don’t like aren’t necessarily bad ones; most often they’re just annoying. If your child is hooked on a pacifier, and it bothers you, there are some things you can try. Remember that you can’t break a child’s habit, you can only help your child break it.
• Try putting some pickle juice or something sour or bitter on the pacifier. If it doesn’t taste good, it might lose its appeal.
• Lose the pacifier if your child’s older than 18 months of age. After that, a child can usually understand the concept of losing things and won’t question the fact that it’s gone.
• You can also start a little hole in a pacifier and enlarge it a bit every few days until the taste and the shape are no longer appealing.
• Tell the child that when the pacifier is lost or worn out, there will be no more. Advanced notice often makes it easier to accept. Or just explain matter of factly that nobody over two uses a pacifier.
• If none of this works for you, and your child refuses to give it up, have patience. You can still limit the places or times when pacifier use is acceptable.
• Within a month or so, you can always try again. Sooner or later your child will give it up. I guarantee.
Vicki Lansky’s practical, common sense approach to parenting is familiar to millions throughout the world. Vicki’s first book, Feed Me, I’m Yours, published in 1974, and still one of the most popular baby/toddler food cookbooks in the country, was followed by The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster, a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her other titles include: Toilet Training, Birthday Parties Best Party Tips & Ideas For Ages 1-8, Dear Babysitter Handbook, Welcoming Your Second Baby, Getting Your Child to Sleep … and Back to Sleep, Trouble-free Travel with Children, Baby Proofing Basics and Games Babies Play From Birth to Twelve Months, Koko Bear’s New Potty, A New Baby at Koko Bear’s House, Koko Bear and the New Babysitter, and Koko Bear’s Big Earache. Vicki Lansky’s Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath
