How to remove the pacifier: the 5 rules to follow!
How to remove the pacifier from our baby? Of course it is not easy for the baby, at least for the parents! The pacifier is in fact a very useful tool to calm them down, it reassures them and gives them comfort, which is why it is easy to end up abusing it ... Unfortunately, however, allowing the child to suck the pacifier in a constant and prolonged manner can be highly harmful to his psycho-physical health, and it is therefore advisable not to allow him to use the pacifier beyond three years of age.
The use of the pacifier beyond that age, in fact, can lead to malformations in the development of the jaw and teeth, as well as of the palate; it can cause otitis or even lead to speech problems. If your child is already one and a half years old and you are wondering how to remove the pacifier, do well! Already at 18 months you have to start reducing its use, and then eliminate it completely - with due graduality and constancy - within three years.
In some cases the child stops using the pacifier on his own, without the need for help, simply because it comes naturally to him. Other times, however, it will be necessary to guide and support him on this path. So here are 5 essential rules that will help you understand how to remove the pacifier without causing trauma to your baby. Meanwhile, in this video you will find the advice on the subject of our Nanny Simona:
1. How to remove the pacifier: choose the right time!
The sooner you start removing the pacifier, the better. All pediatricians agree on this, but it is also very important to start this operation at the most suitable time, to avoid emotional overloads and stress for the little one.
Removing the pacifier is an important moment and the child must feel calm and above all cautious: therefore avoid choosing a period in which he is already facing any other changes, whether it is "insertion in kindergarten", a transfer, the passage from the diaper. at the potty or, for example, the arrival of a new nanny or a little brother.
The baby may not be able to get rid of the pacifier right away and it is best not to make him feel guilty. The detachment will be psychologically complex and he will have to feel secure. Any change, on the contrary, would have the effect of destabilizing it. So be careful to choose the most appropriate and peaceful period.
2. Don't deal with it alone!
In a moment of important transition like this, it is good that you are not alone in wanting to remove the pacifier, but that all the people who usually take care of the baby or are otherwise involved in its growth give you their help and support.
So tell the grandparents, the babysitter, the uncles, the kindergarten teacher: everyone will have to help you manage this moment by following the instructions you give them, respecting your approach and at the same time supporting your right decision. Unity is strength!
3. Don't give in!
How to remove the pacifier permanently if you continue to give in and take a step back? This approach is grossly wrong and only makes the problem of posting worse. If you have decided to start removing the pacifier from the baby, you will have to be strong enough to resist his crying and crises, because if you give it back, the little one will understand that it is enough to cry to get his pacifier back and at the next attempt it will be again. harder!
Be ready for anything, therefore, and welcome his whims with great calm, patience and sweetness, manage them as only you know how to do and you will see that this phase will pass soon: it is normal that it is not so simple!
4. Choose a gradual approach to avoid trauma!
Some parents claim to have solved the problem with a real forceful action, rather decisive: that of removing the pacifier from one day to the other and making it disappear, thus forcing the child to deal with the disappearance of this so beloved object that for so long it gave him comfort.
In reality this approach is not so suitable and could leave a real trauma to your child: acting gradually, instead it would allow him to metabolize the change taking place, to realize it little by little and not experience it as something so drastic. .
We therefore suggest you arm yourself with patience (it takes much more in this case than acting "suddenly") and start by limiting the use of the pacifier to really critical situations (the absence of the mother, difficult sleep ...) . In other cases, when he asks you for a pacifier, try to distract him by offering him some activity or some alternative object. Try in this way not to make him understand that taking off the pacifier is a real problem, help him to get his attention away from your efforts to do it and it will be much easier!
5. Use the technique that suits you and your baby best!
There are many techniques you can use to remove the pacifier from your baby, and a lot depends on your approach and also on the character of the baby. Only you can know which technique is best for you! However, we suggest you some.
You could try to move it away from the pacifier by making it less pleasant. For example, the technique of dipping it in lemon juice or vinegar works, so that - at the moment of sucking it - it can combine the concept of a pacifier with that of bad taste and gradually stop wanting it.
A decidedly more delicate and imaginative technique is that of the "pacifier fairy". Tell him that the pacifier fairy, during the night, will come to get his pacifier to take it to other children, but that in return - if he is generous enough to offer it - he will receive a nice surprise.So in the evening he can leave the pacifier on the table to find you the next day a small gift.
Otherwise, you could directly leverage his generosity and ask him to give his pacifier to younger, newborn babies. Obviously, in this case, the child must be old enough to understand the beauty of the gesture of the gift. Arm yourself with patience and good luck!
