Is a 2 year old ready to "gift" pacifiers?

[sep509bride]

We are visiting a friend's new baby on Saturday, and DH and I are toying with the idea of encouraging DD to give her pacis to the new baby as a gift. (Obviously, just a way to get rid of the pacis, not really a gift.) Anybody do this with a LO around this age? Are they able to comprehend this idea? When I asked her this morning if she wanted to give her pacis to the new baby, she said no. I didn't push it, but I was thinking about talking about it more with her tonight. In a way I wish we had done it a month or two ago when DD was very into the idea of being a "big girl," but now all she wants to be is a baby. (Her words, not mine.)

Our other idea is to cut the ends of the pacifiers. Or to just let her have the pacifiers until she goes off to college. Personally, I'm kind of rooting for the latter; it sounds a whole lot more peaceful.

[TheEleventhHour]

decaflife Didn't you just try the gifting idea with the pacis?

Personally, I am going to let DS drop them on his own. I don't particularly want him to go past 3 with them but we've always let him take lead on dropping "baby" stuff so I just don't want to take it away if he's not ready. He dropped bottles by 18 months which his pedi was fine with so I'm going to reassess the paci at the end of the year. He is definitely far less reliant on it so I think he will get there at some point this year!

[hikingmama222]

We dropped the paci last week while we were on vacation. Our plan was to wait until we got home, but she was so busy and exhausted at the end of the day that she'd just cuddle up with us and fall asleep. We figured it was the perfect time. She's been without it for a week and a half now and the rare time she asks about it we just say we left it on the boat and she's fine with that. We were lucky with the timing because of all the other distractions, I'm sure it would not have gone as smoothly if we were home.

[michieu129]

I'm not sure if that would work yet with Jack. I think maybe he is still too young to totally comprehend the decision. Though, I have heard of other 2 year olds doing it. It must be possible.
We took the paci away during the day and that actually was not as hard as I thought it would be. He had become so dependent on it when he was home during the day. I got a little nervous. But, I haven't had the nerve to try it at night yet. Just not ready for that fight/sleep deprivation just yet.

[sep509bride]

Feb 3, 2015 13:59:40 GMT -5 @aeroplaneoverthesea said:

In theory, it doesnt seem too early to me. Just potentially difficult. I have to figure out how to do it too, except with my boobs. Might be a little more awkward to gift to a friend?

Self-weaning was our hope, but so far he's shown no interest in stopping. It's not a huge big deal to me, did it not wreak absolute havoc with our sleep schedule.

GL!

@aeroplaneoverthesea - Haha, love the idea for weaning from breast feeding! Is your LO still nursing during the night? If so, can your DH/partner take over night comforting for a few days instead of you? This helped us a lot back when we were cutting out night feedings because DD found other ways to fall asleep when I wasn't there tempting her with the milkers.

[sep509bride]

Yes, they'll be good friends!

[TheEleventhHour]

Side note: I just realized that DS bit through a couple of pacis and he STILL uses them (well, until I tossed them out last night) but this leads me to believe cutting the ends might not work with all kids. The way he bit them isn't as extreme as cutting them but still deflated the nipple enough and I can't believe he didn't even say anything or use a different one. Oy. Sign me up for the "paci until college" group!

[tarheelmom]

I worked at a church nursery all through college and that was a common thing in the 2-year old room: Come Christmastime, the children who still used pacis left them for Santa to take to a new baby. I think the Santa thing worked better due to the anonymity of it (plus also the new fun toys to distract from the lack of pacis).

I know Christmas is still a long way away...maybe try at Easter?

My DD will be joining @aeroplaneoverthesea 's with the nursing/co-sleeping 'til college.

[sep509bride]

tarheelmom Ooh, I like that idea. Maybe Easter will be the right time for us. Or maybe I'll find some other reason to put it off.

[b0710]

You could blow them up with a firework for July 4th haha Seriously though, when DS turned 2 we started pacis only at sleeping time (naps or bedtime). That transition was super easy. He will be done totally by 3 but when I decide to make that happen officially between now and then is still a mystery.

[decaflife]

I tried it for all of… 10 minutes. She was so excited to give him a present and kept telling me what she did, that she "gave the baby her paci" but then when she tried to sleep she was just inconsolable. We're going to put DD through a lot of moves in the next few months so I'm just going to wait until we get settled in DC when she's about 2.5 years old. She's only ever used them for nap/bedtime and flying.