My daughter used her pacifier (usually only for naps or bedtime) until she was maybe nine months, then she just started rejecting it on her own. She was fine. I have to agree with Blue Bella. Just take them away, throw them out. Then neither you or the child will be able to turn back. It'll be hard for maybe the first week, after that it's smooth sailing.

As for potty training, I'm not there yet, but I'm hoping to start her soon. She's only 15 months though, so I'll give her a few more months of luxury, then she can be a big girl. ;D

I only gave a pacifier to my daughter when she was really gassy to soothe her - for the first few weeks of her life - after that? GONE. I hate when I see toddlers walking around in stores with pacis hanging out of their mouth.

My son used a paci strickly as a comfort measure. He quit using a paci on his own at 4 and a half months old. He just refused to take it anymore.
I've heard though it's really hard to get a child broken from a paci becuase it's almost like a security measure. I say take it away from him completely. You may have a rough few days with him, but he'll eventually be ok with it. Good luck!

Potty training. I don't like pull ups. I used pulls ups on my son and he acted like he was still wearing a diaper. So I quit using pull ups and put him directly into underwear. It's a lot of work, but I'd get up in the morning with him (at night he wore night time pull up) and starting in the morning as soon as we got up, I'd take him to the potty every 20 minutes, until I got him there at the right time and pee'd in the potty. I made a big deal out of it told him he was a big boy, and he go a treat. I used tootsie rolls and the only time he got a tootsie roll was when he used the potty. After I got him to go on the potty I took him every hour after that

The "cool alert" ones are crap, don't bother wasting your money. I know of 3 different boys who have used them, and it didn't do a single thing to deter them. I don't know if it doesn't actually provide enough of a temp change, or the warmth of their pee negates it, or what, but they don't work, in my experience. Aside of that, it depends on the kid. Boys tend to be harder to "train" than girls. And some will respond well to being in underwear and not liking it being wet if they have an accident, while others just, don't care. In the end, they'll go when they're ready.

As everyone else has said, take the pacifiers, and chuck them. NOW.

Cold turkey is not the way to go. Don't betray your son that way, you'll only upset him.

My daughter was almost 4 when I finally decided enough was enough.

One week before you throw them all out make up a calendar with the days of the week on it. Mark the day that the paci's are going with a picture that means something to your son (I have a girl so I drew a butterfly).

Sit him down and explain that in "this many days" (show him on the calender, count each day) the paci's are going. I told my daughter that the dummy fairy was coming to take them away.

Every night before bed sit him down again and explain it all again. Let him mark the days off with a pen.

On the last day he's well and truly aware that he has to give up the dummies. I let my daughter put hers in a special place for the dummy fairy to take them.
She didn't know it but the dummy fairy replaced them with a special toy.

Normally you would have the child put them somewhere for the dummy fairy to take and then go to bed. They're then surprised with a toy in the morning.

I decided to do it during the day so that my daughter could take her new toy to bed with her instead of the dummy.

My daughter was SERIOUSLY addicted to her dummy. I didn't think she could live without it. But conditioning her for a week before I took them made her understand that they had to go and I had no problems getting them off her.

If I'd gone cold turkey we would have had screaming matches every night for a week instead of a nice little talk about how the dummy has to go.

i agree with this completely. your son has a trust in you, and by doing it without prior warning and preparation it would be betraying that trust. prepare him as much as possible and comfort him when hes distressed about it.
xx

Did your child(ren) use a pacifier? If so, for how long & did they seem to get "hooked" on it? If so, how did you break them from it & how old were they?
my first daughter was 3.5 when she finally gave up the binky...when she hit 3 it was only alowed on her bed....she would actually go sit on her bed just to have the damn thing......we made a sticker chart for her and if she went 7 days she got her new barbie. she wasnt happy the first few days, but it wasnt that bad. and she got a new doll out of it :P
the second one lost hers at about 10 months and that was that.
and the thrid one...well, she never had one, she has a thumb. she is almost 7 and still sucking. lol....less and less everyday but we cant pitch the thumb.

as for potty training, i didnt potty train any of mine......seriously....dad did the first one, in a weekend, the first one triained the second one (at 10 months) and the third one the baby sitter gets the credit. of course i had a hand it all of them....just re enforcing.....my step daughter however has been a challenge...almost 6and still not there.
good luck!

Oh how did I inspire it? I must know. lol

PACIFIERS•

Did your child(ren) use a pacifier? If so, for how long & did they seem to get "hooked" on it? If so, how did you break them from it & how old were they?
Jordyn will be 2 years old next month and she has used a pacifier since she was born. She is absolutely addicted. =) We are going to completely throw away all of her pacifiers by her 2nd birthday, and make her go cold turkey. We might have a few tantrums but it will be worth it in the end. Right now, she only gets it at night. Unless her daddy is around and lets her sneak one during the day.

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•DIAPERS•
Have any of you tried the new "Cool Alert" pull -up diapers/training pants (http://www.pull-ups.com/na/cool_alert.aspx) during the potty training process & if so, what are your views regarding the product?
I didn't like them. Jordyn didn't even notice when it would get cool. She just went on about her business like nothing new happened. So in my opinion, they are a waste of money.

Do you prefer to transition your child(ren) from diapers to a training potty or did they go from using diapers, straight to the big potty?
I bought Jordyn a training potty, but she seems to like using the big potty, bc she gets to flush and she sees her older cousin using that one and wants to be a big girl too. =)

How do you encourage your child(ren) to use the potty?
BRIBED, BRIBED, AND BRIBED SOME MORE!!! I would tell her if she started using the big girl potty, we would buy her a new toy, new big girl panties, that we would go to the park more, anything to get her encouraged to do it. And it worked wonderful. But ALWAYS follow through on your promises after they do what you want them too.

Do you reward your child(ren) for using the potty & if so, how?
Yes, we cheer for her. Give her a sweet, buy her something new. Just a lot of different things.

I hope this could be of help. =)

Take all paci's.
Throw them out.
Don't use any.
Don't have any.
Especially don't let him SEE any.
Give him something else to occupy his mind.
It will be hard for a week, but he'll get over it.
Cold turkey. Shortens the process.
He's almost three, it's certainly time.

Yeah, I agree. It's going to be tough to get the paci out, but it will be easier if you just go cold turkey.

As far as potty training goes, I'm not a big fan of the training diapers. With both my girls we used regular panties because if they had an accident, it didn't just feel like a diaper, everything got wet. My first probably only had an accident 2 times? And my second never did. You've really got to spend one whole day where that's all you focus on. To me the hardest part was getting them to take the first pee in the potty. After that it's just reinforcement. We did do little M&Ms whenever they went. We also didn't always just wait for them to say they had to go, we'd put them on the potty like every hour or two (depending on liquid intake) until they got the hang of it. That only took a couple days. After that it's easy.

Pacifiers in our house go at age 2. We gather ALL paci's and toss them out. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Bed/Nap time the first few nights will be HELL. But it will get better each night. Cold Turkey is the BEST way. Keep him occupied during the day, and at night offer him something else like a special stuffed animal. Maybe take him to pick one out, and tell him he is too big for his bink so the stuffy is going to be his new friend.

So far I have been lucky and all three of my older children have been potty trained BEFORE their second birthday. Kyson who is 22 months is 100% day trained, but still has accidents every now & then at night time. He is getting better about it though. BUT we dont do pullups, we go straight to undies. If they have an accident, they realize right off the bat that they missed the potty instead of thinking, "oh well.. I have my diaper on."

As far as encouraging it-- LOTS of high-fives, praises, and "what a big boy!!!" talk. Buy him a special pack of undies, let him pick them, and talk to him about how he is a big boy now so he gets to wear these REALLY cool underwear. Get all sorts of enthusiastic with him. We do a sticker chart. We do little stars for each time he uses the potty.. and if he goes a full week with no accident he gets a big sticker and maybe a small reward from the store.

Potty or toilet will depend TOTALLY on the kid. My first two went straight from their diaper to OUR toilet, with the aid of one of those little seats you stick over the regular seat. However, Kyson did NOT like the big potty at all. He started out on this cute little froggy potty chair, which I think also helped encourage him to go.

No drinks for at LEAST an hour before bedtime, and potty EVERY night BEFORE going to sleep. This will help to avoid overnight accidents.

OH and like Autumn said, REMIND him to go. Dont wait for him to tell you, ask every hour or so if he needs to go potty.

I know several people who use the cold turkey method for the pacifiers and it really does work and it doesn't take them that long to "forget" about it. My son NEVER got hooked. We tried to use it when he was a baby to help soothe him, but he'd just spit it out. When he started teething, all he wanted the pacifier for was to chew it (we used the soothies, which are harder and don't have plastic parts). Sorry I can't help more with that. Regarding potty training, he's only 14 months, so we're not quite there yet. Good luck!

Cold turkey is definitely best.
My mum told my sister in advance that her soothers (pacifiers) would be going in the bin.
On bin collection day my mum took my sister out, put the soothers in the bin and my sister watched the garbage truck munch them up.
I think it helped her, to understand what was going on and see them being taken away.

I am going to wait until my son is 3 and his little brother is 1 before going cold turkey with both of them.

As for potty training, I haven't gone through that yet so can't really give my opinion except to say that I plan to try and be relaxed about it as possible. Ignoring the mistakes and praising the successes. I may get a sticker chart too, and then when he has so many good days on the potty he'll get a big treat. The best thing is to be consistent I would imagine, and not to give negative attention if he has any accidents or isn't doing too well or it will only stop him from wanting to try.

Good luck... I know I'll be posting a similar thread in about a year! Lol.

some people 'send' the pacifiers to poor babies that need them. i'd give him a weeks notice.. and say in X days you're going to be turned into a big boy so you won't need the pacifiers... and then tell him the same every day so its less of a shock to him. i don't think its going to be easy though.
i've not done it yet but..potty training its best to wait til they are ready, it'll be less stress for you and them... if his body isn't ready to be trained physically then he'll not be able to do it.. put him back in diapers and try later. some people wait for their children to tell them they don't want diapers anymore. let him pick out 'special' pants too! sticker charts etc are probably good bribary lol.
xx

•PACIFIERS•

Did your child(ren) use a pacifier? If so, for how long & did they seem to get "hooked" on it? If so, how did you break them from it & how old were they?

My daughter is 16 months old. She is sort of hooked to her pacifier, more so when she sees it. If she doesn't see it, she don't care. My fiance and I will gather all of her pacifiers when she is two-years-old and tell her we're giving them to her little baby friend Kyen. We will than toss them and she won't have them anymore.! :)

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•DIAPERS•
Have any of you tried the new "Cool Alert" pull -up diapers/training pants (http://www.pull-ups.com/na/cool_alert.aspx) during the potty training process & if so, what are your views regarding the product?

I have never tried or heard of these. So I don't have any intake on this.

Do you prefer to transition your child(ren) from diapers to a training potty or did they go from using diapers, straight to the big potty?

Kaidance went straight to underwear (we are currently potty training) and used a little training potty first. The big potty can scare them a bit so I would recommend using a smaller potty at first. I don't believe in using pull ups because they can't feel when they are going properly. Plus, it keeps her mind attune to that when she needs to go she lets us know.

How do you encourage your child(ren) to use the potty?

We put Kaidance on the potty every 35 to 45 minutes. I wouldn't wait an hour only because you want going to the bathroom to become a normal habit for them and until they can really tell you they need to go than make them sit for a while. You will have accidents, and some children don't learn right away, so don't be discouragement if he doesn't. He's a little older so hopefully it will be easier.

Do you reward your child(ren) for using the potty & if so, how?

We have a treat bucket that SHE KNOWS if for when she goes pee pee or poo poo in the potty. She gets to pick out of suckers, M&M's, and other little trinkets.

Hey I work in a children's nursery in the UK so the pacifier/potty training thing is something I 'do' daily! As for the potty training, we tend to use sticker/reward charts whenever the child uses the potty, so for each time they do so they get a sticker, and then to start with 5 stickers on the chart means a treat! Gradually as a child gets better at using the potty they have to get more stickers to get a reward. It works quite effectively and children tend to love stickers too which definitely encourages them :)
As for the pacifier, most parents ask for their child to be 'weaned off' slowly, starting by just using it at sleep time and then not using it at all.
I guess its just a trial-and-error thing though as no one child is the same.
Good luck :)

My son is 3 and wants NOTHING to do with potty training. We have tried it all. Everyone keeps telling us to MAKE him sit on the toilet, easier said than done. Any suggestions would be nice :)

Wait until he is ready.

Like everyone else said, just take away the pacifier for good and be done with it. We weaned our daughter down to only having it for naps and nighttime, but she was getting really whiny and clingy about it so finally I just decided enough was enough and we threw them away. She was somewhere around 21 months old. The first day she cried a lot for her "boppy" when we put her to bed, the next day she was whiny but nearly as bad, and by day three it was almost as if she had never had a pacifier. She acts a lot more mature now that she doesn't have one.

As far as potty training, we haven't had a whole lot of success with that yet. I think when a child is ready for it, s/he will take to it fairly fast. Our daughter is about to turn 2 and we have her sit on the potty a lot, but she rarely pees in it and refuses to poop. Oh well.

When I saw the title... I couldn't help but wonder how one used a pacifier to potty train. I need more sleep.

well i would recommend using a paci/binky fairy. Maybe one night you can do something that will represent where u will leave the paci's for the fairy to come collect them all and give them to other babies who need them since he is a big boy now and doesnt need them. then in the morning instead of paci's there will be a present or a toy left behind in its place then its all cold turkey from there.

I have no clue about potty training. I am not there with my son yet he just turned one. good luck though.

My boys is almost 13months and only has a dummy at bed times or if we have had bump and wont stop crying. The dummy does goto childminders, however it stays in his change bag so he isnt aware it is there and 9 times out of 10 he doesnt want nor need it. In our house as I say, bed times or bumps. If we are out and about we will put it in our pocket, I hate using it in public and Oscar is very good and never needs it, I am a just in case person! lol!

As for potty training I am after tips too! I have heard a few parents say they have done it in a couple of days and I am hoping we can do that too! Oscar picks things up very easily so we are willing to try anything! I like the idea of putting him on his potty every 30 mins, what do I do in the mean time, do I stick a nappy on or let him run free? Silly question I know but we have no big boy pants yet! lol! Something I really should think about!

Ok, with the kids i work at the daycare with, We wean them off the paci slowly. We try to encourage them, and tell them that they are a big boy/girl and the paci is only for when they sleep (to start) and then usually give them another toy or something else to distract them. If they cry for it a little, we usually let them and hold them and tell them they will be ok, but of course if they are THAT hysterical over it, well let them have it a little longer.

it is hard, and for some kids, it does take a lot of time and effort.


As for potty training, usually parents have their kids go from diaper ---> potty. As for how exactly the potty training goes, thats usually different with each parent. Everyone has their own method. Just be patient and realize that some kids take a bit longer than others, so don't be discouraged! it will happen! just keep encouraging and praising them for going on the "big boy/girl" potty