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My eldest son JP said goodbye to his pacifier when he was 2. My husband and I had no intentions of weaning him from his "Schnulli" until that weekend, when we couldn't find any of his pacifiers. We normally keep 4 to 6 at home, it's just that for some unknown reason, or shall we say fate, that weekend all stores were closed and all his pacifiers went missing. I felt so sorry for my son, since he wouldn't stop crying and woke up several times at night, screaming like he's being operated without anesthesia. Yep, his wails probably woke the whole street up. But after 2 days and 2 nights without his beloved schnulli, it was suddenly over. On the 3rd day he stopped crying and that was it. I don't know how it worked, but he suddenly got over it. It was so funny, because several months after he got over it, someone from the daycare gave him a pacifier (he was sick then) and he no longer knew how to use it. Funny, because he was using it the other way around, and he just threw it away. I guess he gave up, since it didn't help him much.

My youngest son M who's 1 year old also uses a pacifier. But unlike, my eldest, he's not dependent on it. He uses it only when he sees one or whenever we give him one (yup, my hubby and I are guilty). We haven't tried weaning him yet, but I'm hoping that he gets over it soon. Hopefully I'd stop procrastinating start weaning him as soon as possible. I am still not sure as to which method I'll choose (perhaps I should just wait for the weekend when all stores are closed and throw out all his pacifiers, hehe). A friend of mine made it like a ceremony, where the whole family was present (mom, dad and child) and buried the pacifier. After burying her child's pacifier, she never looked for it since.

Although the ceremony is a good idea, I think Baby M is still quite young to understand the concept. I found several ideas from the net that are interesting and might be helpful in saying goodbye to his binky.

1. "On the appointed day, collect all the pacifiers, and have your child go with you as you "give away" the pacifiers to a baby."

2. "Break the habit by substituting a more productive one. For instance, have your child "trade in" his pacifier for a special toy or play activity."

3. "Start by limiting the use of pacifiers to the bed and car only"

4. "Teach her other self-soothing techniques."

5. "cutting his pacifier"