When and how to get rid of the pacifier

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When and how to get rid of the pacifier

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I like pacifiers. I know some people don't, but I like pacifiers, even more than thumbs because you can get a child to give up a pacifier. Really hard to get that thumb out of a baby's mouth. Children have a sucking need, the pacifier meets that need. It does just what it's supposed to do, it pacifies the child. The mistake that parents make is to try and get that child to give up the pacifier before he is ready. There comes a time, when children are around the age of three or four, when they really should be giving it up. At that age, they are capable of giving it up. We begin giving up pacifiers by limiting them, at a very early age, to just the bedroom or just the bed. After that point, when it's time to give it up, you can help the child give up his pacifier by secretly deteriorating them. You can take an emery board board and sand it. You can cut it. You can make it so it doesn't taste so good anymore. The child will give it up himself. I don't believe in the pacifier fairy. I don't believe in taking it away and saying, "You're too old for this." I don't believe in saying, "You can't have these. We are going to give them to the new baby." All of those will make the child want it all the more. Much better if he is ready to give it up because it doesn't taste the same anymore.


View Betsy Brown Braun, MA's video on When and how to get rid of the pacifier...

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Betsy Brown Braun, MA

Parent Educator & Author

Betsy Brown Braun, best-selling author of both Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents and You’re Not The Boss Of Me: Brat-proofing Your Four To Twelve Year-Old, is a child development and behavior specialist, parent educator, multiple birth parenting consultant, and founder of Parenting Pathways, Inc.

With over 40 years of experience in public and private early childhood and elementary education, Betsy has directed and founded school programs, taught in both public and private schools, has been a school director, and was the founding director of Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Early Childhood Center. She holds an MA in Human Development and teaching credentials from Pacific Oaks College.

In 2001 Betsy founded Parenting Pathways, Inc. to provide guidance to parents seeking the skills and confidence needed to negotiate the often-challenging parenting pathway. She leads parenting groups, seminars, and offers private parent consultations throughout the nation.

Her bestseller, Just Tell Me What To Say, in its fourth printing,presents the tried and true tools her clients use daily to handle situations that inevitably accompany raising children ages two to six and beyond. Her second book, and second bestseller, You’re Not The Boss Of Me: Brat-Proofing Your Kids, also in its fourth printing, is the ultimate hands-on guide to cultivating character traits that are tried-and-true "bratbusters." 

Betsy brings her vast knowledge, sensitivity, and special brand of humor to her parent consultations, to her groups, and to her presentations.

Her parenting expertise has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Cookie, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, In Style, Parenting, Parents, Pregnancy and Newborn, Twins, Woman’s Day, and Working Mother, among other publications. She has shared her expertise on the Today Show multiple times. Other television appearances have included The Early Show, Good Morning America Now!, Fox & Friends, Rachel Ray, Dr. Phil,  The Talk, Entertainment Tonight, KCBS, KNBC, and Fox News LA. She contributes to KNX news radio on child development, and has been a guest on countless radio programs nationwide, including NPR. She writes for and has been cited in numerous websites and parenting blogs. Betsy is a frequent speaker at educational conferences, schools, and businesses.

Betsy and her husband Ray Braun are parents of adult triplets.

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Transcription: 

I like pacifiers. I know some people don't, but I like pacifiers, even more than thumbs because you can get a child to give up a pacifier. Really hard to get that thumb out of a baby's mouth. Children have a sucking need, the pacifier meets that need. It does just what it's supposed to do, it pacifies the child. The mistake that parents make is to try and get that child to give up the pacifier before he is ready. There comes a time, when children are around the age of three or four, when they really should be giving it up. At that age, they are capable of giving it up. We begin giving up pacifiers by limiting them, at a very early age, to just the bedroom or just the bed. After that point, when it's time to give it up, you can help the child give up his pacifier by secretly deteriorating them. You can take an emery board board and sand it. You can cut it. You can make it so it doesn't taste so good anymore. The child will give it up himself. I don't believe in the pacifier fairy. I don't believe in taking it away and saying, "You're too old for this." I don't believe in saying, "You can't have these. We are going to give them to the new baby." All of those will make the child want it all the more. Much better if he is ready to give it up because it doesn't taste the same anymore.