Are you reaching the breaking point when it comes to getting your child to move beyond their paci without losing your mind? Have you been living in fear of this epic battle? Are you debating how bad it could possibly be to let this run it’s natural course? (After all no one goes to college with a binky, so they have to outgrow it one day right?)

I’ve so been there…..

My oldest was a binky addict. For the better part of two and a half years his paci was a permanent addition to his face. It was getting to the point I was afraid we might have to establish a chapter of Binkies Anonymous just so we could find the support needed to even try to remove what had become his (and our) lifeline to sanity.

Honestly I wasn’t even keen on giving it to him as an infant but then the pediatrician intervened and insisted it was necessary due to his strong oral soothing instinct which was causing him to want a bottle around the clock. So I caved and joined the pinky toting mama club.

Fast forward several years and a dentist uttered those few dreaded words “It’s time to lose the binky.” He cautioned us that past two years old even orthodontic binkies can impact oral development and it was time to make the transition away from one.

I had seen this play out with my sister, I was terrified of future tantrums and hidden binkies. I was only 6 but I remembered how my parents struggled.

So my husband and I hatched a plan to hopefully ease this transition with out too much drama. It worked WAY better than expected. We didn’t miss one night of sleep, there were no fights or squabbles, the transition went off without a hitch.

So What Was Our No-Fuss Binky Trick?

We combined his transition to his big boy bed with his  giving up the binky for good!

Honestly I was afraid this might backfire. After all moving from a crib to a bed is hard enough, throw in no more binky it would either work really well or be a total disaster. Of course like any “parenting plan” we decided to go with the flow pending on how our toddler responded to the situation.

So What EXACTLY Did We Do?

I won’t lie this plan took a fair amount of prep work but only because we were combining the two milestones into one “event”. I wanted to make sure the big boy bed would be something special so he would be so excited nerves wouldn’t have a chance to take root. Even more, I wanted it to be even more exciting so that he would hand over his binky without a scene worthy of a seasoned thespian.

So although we were using my husband’s bed from when he himself was a child, I gave it a fresh coat of paint. I bought an awesome dinosaur bedset I found on clearance, and bought/ made a few pieces of matching decor for his room. Then while he was at daycare we decorated the entire room as a surprise for when he got home.

However we left the crib up where it had always been.

The my son entered his room his eyes lit up and he got so excited! We let him explore and then explained he had a choice to make. He could either sleep in his crib with his binky OR he could choose to sleep in the big boy bed without a binky.

I never anticipated how quickly he would hand over his paci. There wasn’t a second thought because he wanted to sleep in his new bed. That night I kept staring at the door waiting for him to change his mind but he slept ALL night.

He did ask for it once or twice over the next few days but each time we distracted him by dancing or playing with toys until the fleeting thought was forgotten.

So if you have tried EVERYTHING to get rid of the paci, or if you are looking for a creative way to lessen the struggle and are contemplating the transition to a real bed, try combining the two! I would LOVE to hear how it works for others!