Weening 14mth old off soother?

Question

My son is experiencing alot of change right now:

- walking on his own all the time (started a few weeks ago)

- sleeps in his own big boy bed (its been over a month now)

- stopped using bottles to help sleep (a few days ago)

- expecting a little brother (due August 23rd)

He's taken to all of this really well and is eager to keep going. But when should I get rid of the soother and how? It seems like the only thing he has left of being a baby, and he doesn't sleep without one. I'd like to get him rid of the soother soon, but not sure how to go about it with ease? I want him to adjust to not having it, with as little hassle as possible.

Answer 1

I've heard of gradually snipping the end of it until there is nothing left, but it didn't seem sanitary for the ones I used. Saliva gets left inside, a party for bacteria.

I had 2 girls and I just started keeping them all in a bowl. We started only using them at nap and bed time. As soon as we got up it would go back in the bowl. Eventually they forgot to ask at naptime, who was I to remind them afterall (lol). Gradually the same thing happened at bedtime. Finally they were forgotten all together. That was until the 3rd baby came and she got one. The oldest didn't go back (she was 4) but the middle one 22 months did go back.

Now the baby is a year so I plan on starting the whole thing over again.

Answer 2

You're doing great!!  Don't let him go to sleep with any sippy cups, even if they are only filled with water as well.

Why? 1. Sucking on something for a prolonged point of time will cause tooth problems. 2. Too much liquid while sleeping and will become a problem when you have to potty train.

Contrary to many people, doing all this together is ok.  Children at this age can adapt quite quickly. I'm of the opinion that all these other "little baby tansition steps" are for the benefit of the parent because they can't stand or bear to hear their little ones cry it out.

With the pacifier: poke a hole in it, or snip off a little bit of the end, and he won't be able to get that sucking feeling from it anymore. He'll probably throw it and/or spit it out.  You can also try to catch that expression that's it's not quite working the way he has expected you can tell him it's yukky and have him throw it in the trash and say bye, bye to the binky (or whatever you call it in your household).  This is what I did, and it worked.