All About Dropping The Pacifier
Using a pacifier is a great way to help your baby soothe themselves. It is a tool that manages their natural inclination to suck. This can be a helpful way to supplement their desire to be at the breast in order to be comforted or using their thumbs. Using a pacifier with a newborn can be a great tool to help soothe your baby, help reduce the risk of SIDs (under 6 months old) and can help comfort your baby in between feedings. It can also help strengthen your baby sucking reflex which can be helpful when feeding. The pacifier can also be a great tool to help your baby fall back asleep in the middle of the night and increase the time between feedings.
If you have used a pacifier, there is absolutely no shame in having done so. Millions of families have used them and continue to use them beneficially.
At a certain point, babies will begin to drop their pacifiers during sleep times and they can be fussy if a replacement option is not readily available. They might wake up, looking for their pacifier, only not to find it right next to them and then become upset, disrupting their sleep. Playing this game is exhausting and can interfere with a restful sleep.
Is your baby waking up and constantly trying to find that pacifier or are you looking for help to remove the pacifier from your toddler’s development?
Then we’ve got you covered!
At Sleep Serenity, we recommend removing the pacifier before or near the age of 6 months. If you're using a pacifier and it is working for your family and you don’t want to get rid of it, then don’t. Do what works best for your family. However, it’s important to note that once a baby reaches 12 months of age, it becomes increasingly more difficult to wean them from the pacifier. If you decide to keep the pacifier after 12 months, which is entirely fine and dependent on what is working for your family, the next best opportunity to remove it is around the age of 2.5-3.5 years. This is a period when you are more likely to be able to talk to your children and navigate through the process with them.
Here are some ways to help remove a pacifier from the sleep cycle based on your child’s age:
Newborn tips:
Try gently pulling on the pacifier when they are falling asleep to strengthen their suck response. This will help them learn how to suck harder so it doesn’t fall out as easily in the future.
If you’re looking to remove the pacifier from their sleeping habits, you can pull the pacifier out of their mouth when they are falling asleep or just before they hit their deep sleep. This helps them to become less reliant on the pacifier. It will also help them learn how to stay asleep without the constant need to suck.
After practicing the two tips above, you can try and offer the pacifier less, especially when trying to put them to sleep. You may notice they will need the pacifier more when they are fussy or overtired.
Eventually, you can try only offering it when they are sleeping, if they are really fussy or really need help settling.
4-12 months tips:
Did you know that you can still sleep train with the pacifier? Try only replacing it when you do ‘check-ins’. This will allow babies time to learn to fall asleep without it and become less reliant on it to settle.
When you do replace the pacifier, make sure to put it into their hand, and bring their hand to their mouth. This will help them develop the muscle memory to do it themselves and therefore become less reliant on you for help.
You can also get rid of the pacifier “cold turkey” when you start sleep training. This means getting rid of the pacifier all together and teaching your baby to fall asleep fully independently. This can sometimes cause a bit more crying on Night #1, but babies tend to fall back asleep and connect sleep cycles more quickly than if you keep the pacifier.
Practice the skill of putting it in their mouth during the day. Once your baby knows how to sleep without it, this is the best time to get rid of the pacifier.
Once you get rid of the pacifier, don’t offer it again.
Toddler Tips:
Around the age of 2.5-3.5 years old, toddlers are able to understand more about the world around them and their actions. They can also listen to some instructions and understand change. This is why we recommend talking to them and preparing them for this change. There are great illustrated books you can read to them as well as videos. Pick a day, mark it on the calendar and stick to it.
Get creative! For example, you could try telling them a story that a magical fairy will come and bring them a gift to replace their pacifiers.
You can also try cutting the tip off the pacifier over a few days until there is nothing left of it. Then throw it away.
Furthermore, you could explain that they have grown and are “big” and don’t require it anymore. If they see babies with them and get jealous, explain that you had one when you were little and now you are big.
Overall, when removing the pacifier, do it at bedtime. This is the best time for them to learn a new sleep-related skill to help them adjust to this new change. Let them use the pacifier during the day for the first few days of this transition.
After the process is done, celebrate the process with your child. Have your baby collect all of their pacifiers and put them in a “bye bye” bucket. Celebrate this with positive praise. There are also great books you can purchase that model this with illustrations.
Once you get rid of them, don’t go back! This is key! It will be a hard adjustment for them, but you will have to remain strong as the parent to not return it.
Final thoughts…
Please do what works best for your family. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach. If you are struggling with this transition, set up a discovery call with Kendall or Hannah. We would love to help!