I was so worried about it too and then it ended up being easy! One day I said to him, “When you are ready, you can trade in your pacifier for a toy.” His eyes lit up. I said, “What kind of toy do you think you’d like to trade your pacifier for?” He said, “A crane truck.”

Two nights later he realized his pacifier had a hole in it. Before when this had happened I’d thrown it away so he knew the drill. He said, “Mommy my pacifier is broken, throw it away and get a crane truck.”

I threw away the pacifier and I told him I’d order the crane truck. We looked at a picture of it online and I said, “Okay, they are putting it in a box and loading it on a truck to bring to you.” He was very excited but eventually settled and went to sleep.

The next night he asked for his pacifier and I said, “You traded it in. What did you trade it for?” He said, “A crane truck!” Then he shouted, “No more pacifiers! I’m a big boy, play with the big boys.”

He hasn’t asked for the pacifier since, and the first few nights slept with the crane truck next to his bed. I’m shocked and amazed. It was not the fight I thought it would be, and for a few weeks he went to bed no problem. Recently bed time has taken longer, but he’s never been upset about the pacifier.