Do you have a child who is hooked on a binkie, aka pacifier? Do you wish you could break them of the habit of needing one all the time or even at all? There are millions of ways you’ve probably read to try and rid children of the pacifier habit, and believe me, I tried them all. From reward systems to flavoring, nothing worked like the FridaBaby Paci Weaning System. I couldn’t believe it helped me get rid of my child’s pacifier in less than 2 weeks! Now, we didn’t just use this system though. Have you heard of the book, Bea Gives Up Her Pacifier? We tried this book about a year ago but this book alone didn’t work. So what did we do you ask?
I almost had Heart off the pacifier before the pandemic hit. We were so darn close. Then about a month in, she began to want it more and more since she wasn’t going to school and it became really hard to break her of it.
In the book Bea Gives Up Her Pacifier, Bea refuses to give up her pacifier until her Mother persuades her to leave all her pacifiers by her door so the pacifier fairy can exchange them for a gift. We read this book over and over and tried the idea of just leaving them out for the pacifier fairy but my daughter was just not having it. Cries and tantrums…urgh. So we went back to the drawing board.
Time passed…months passed. Heart was starting to bite holes in the pacifiers soon after I would give her a new one. It was getting to where I didn’t want her swallowing the pieces and I was flat out tired of buying them. So…I was browsing on Amazon, as I most often do, and I came across the FridaBaby Paci Weaning System. First thought? “Hmmm, could it really work?” I thought, “Hey, if not then I lose $20 and I’ll try something else”. Not a big deal. I always ALWAYS read the reviews on something before I buy. The reviews for this system helped my decision to buy it. With almost 3000 reviews which were mostly positive giving it an average of 4 stars I clicked Buy Now.
When the package arrived, we made a big deal about my daughter having 5 new Howies. Oh ya, for some reason, one day she started calling her pacifier a Howie and it just stuck. Cute right? Anyway, she was excited about the new Howies and was interested in how they all had numbers on them from 1 – 5. I told her that after a few days the Howie Fairy will come when she knew she was ready for the next number and would take the old one and replace it with the next. I then told her that when the Howie Fairy thinks she is ready to give her the 5th and final Howie, the Howie Fairy will take it and leave her a gift she has been wanting. This was an idea from the Bea Gives Up Her Pacifier book.
So We Began The Weaning System...
I was as hopeful as I could be. I didn’t start the system the day of receiving them, mainly because I wanted to sanitize them and prepare her for what was going to happen. I knew she would probably ask me questions about how they looked. These pacifiers have holes in them that get bigger with each stage. When they finally get to #5, there is nothing but a little stub left, which I thought she would either scream about or try but still fight.
Day 1 of the system began and she was excited about the Howie #1. I told her she can use it day or night. She used it like normal. The box says to let them have it for about 1-2 days. We went 2 days on the first one.
The second night of the first Howie, I told Heart I would put the Howie under her pillow when I went to bed and if the Howie Fairy thought she was ready for her to take it and give her #2 then she would wake up with the new Howie under her pillow. The Howie Fairy knew there would be nothing she can do to make it return. She was right.
When Heart woke up to find #2, she was excited that the Howie Fairy came and took it. #2 had a hole in it, she thought it was weird but used it anyway. I overheard her excitedly talking to her sister about how the Howie Fairy took her Howie.
We went at max 3 days between Howies. 3 days was the right amount for Heart.
When she got to #3, I told her the Howie Fairy said it is a nighttime only Howie and she can leave it on her bed during the day for it to be safe. She tried it but wanted it with her at first. The second day of still having #3, she left it on her bed for the whole day and only used it at night.
The Game Changer is #4!
The 4th Howie was quite the change for Heart and she didn’t know what to think at first. She still didn’t use it during the day which was fantastic. But when it came to nighttime, she was having a bit of trouble getting settled to go to bed. I noticed she kept taking it out then putting it in and repeating this for a while. It took a little while longer for her to settle but then fell asleep with it in her mouth. I took it out shortly after. ( I always took the pacifiers out after she went to sleep).
By the 3rd night of the 4th Howie, she was more excited about giving the Howie Fairy her Howie. She knew she was ready. I was really shocked at how well this was working.
When Heart got #5 she had a look on her face like, “Are you for real?” Like I said before, its a stub. Nothing to it. She wanted an L.O.L Surprise OMG doll like her sister had. They like to collect the mini’s but Jewels had one big L.O.L that Heart wanted her own of. I told her she write the Howie Fairy a note and ask if she can replace #5 with a reward toy when she knew she was ready. Oh this really got her wanting to give it up. But it really helped that she just couldn’t keep the final Howie in her mouth because her teeth couldn’t grip it.
On night 2 of #5, she was really fighting with it to stay in her mouth and talked to me about it a few times. She finally gave up and I found it next to her and she had fallen asleep ALL ON HER OWN! NO HOWIE!
#5: The Real Test of the System
It was at that moment, I knew it had worked! I gave it one more night and then I asked Heart if she wanted to give it to the Howie Fairy and she said, “I think I want to give my Howie to the Howie Fairy”. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.
So that night, after bath, we sat and wrote the Howie Fairy a letter telling her she was ready to part with the Howie and if she could bring her an L.O.L Mom. She calls the L.O.L Surprise OMG dolls L.O.L Mom’s. She was happy and couldn’t wait to see if she took it. I told her the Howie Fairy would only come if she knew she was a big girl now and ready for no more Howies. She fell asleep again after a little struggle with it, but left it by her side.
The next morning she woke up to find her L.O.L Mom. She had forgotten all about needing the Howie and moved on to the love she had for the doll.
I wondered though how the night following no Howie would be. Would she be ok? Would it take forever for her to fall asleep?
Life with No Howie...
The first night following no Howie, she didn’t cry for it, didn’t even ask for it. She just took longer to sooth herself but did it. Ended up falling asleep without needing it.
Each night since has gotten shorter when it comes to calming herself down. She can now fall asleep pretty fast and uses her blankie (which she’s had since birth) and her squishy doll, Boadie. I made this doll for her during quarantine of the pandemic and it has helped her when she is sad, stressed or upset. These dolls and blankies will be available soon to purchase in our upcoming shop.
I honestly couldn’t believe we were able to get rid of her Howie’s since she was SO attached to them. I am very pleased with how this system worked and I suggest giving it a try. Not every child will have success with it but for $20, why not give it a try? My daughter used the system at 4 yrs old but I can tell by the Amazon reviews that it has worked on children much younger, even under a year. So give it a try if you’d like and we wish you the best of luck. Just stay focused and strong and you too can rid the pacifier.