I had no idea what to look for in a pacifier before Jeremiah was born. So, Amazon reviews came in handy for this purchase. I stumbled across a pacifier called a WubbaNub…and while the name was weird, it got great reviews! I thought it was worth buying one to see how Jeremiah would like it.
The WubbaNub Infant Pacifier
What I love about this pacifier, is the animal keeps you from losing it! Jeremiah had a hard time keeping pacifiers in his mouth when he was little, and it was amazing how far he could spit on across the room! It would roll under the couch, in the corner of the crib, etc. and it wasn’t fun retrieving it. Not to mention, some would just disappear for good! The WubbaNubs stay right on the baby’s chest, so even if they are spit out, they are easy to return, and they don’t get dirty from the floor. Not to mention, it made an adorable snuggle toy for Jeremiah. I ended up buying three of the WubbaNubs (one for upstairs, one for downstairs, and one for the diaper bag), and we never lost one the entire year and a half Jeremiah used them! One did end up having the pacifier tear off of the animal, but that was because Daddy and Jeremiah were playing tug-o-war with it too many times. Haha!
These quickly became the only pacifier we would use, and they came everywhere with us. When Jeremiah was older, I never had to worry about him losing his pacifier in his crib at night. The animal kept it close by, and he was able to find it easily and fall back asleep. That did not happen with a regular pacifier!
WASHING: Cleaning the WubbaNub was actually pretty easy. You can hand wash the pacifier part any time you wanted with some soap and warm water. For a better clean of the entire animal, I would just throw them in the laundry with our clothes once a week and then air dried them. They dried very quickly (they were only barely damp after the spin cycle in the washing machine), so Jeremiah didn’t have to go long without one.
WEANING: I decided to wean Jeremiah off his pacifier when he was about 18 months old. A few months before, we started limiting the WubbaNub to only naps and night time. I waited until after all the holiday travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas was over before even attempting it. After reading many different moms’ stories about weaning off pacifiers, I decided that cold turkey was probably not the best method for Jeremiah’s personality.
Instead, I took the giraffe Wubbanub that had the pacifier torn off, and attached another Soothie pacifier to it with a pacifier clip (I couldn’t bring myself to cut up a perfectly good one). Every couple of days, I would cut a tiny bit off the end of the pacifier. This started with a tiny hole, then slowly got larger and larger. Finally, the nipple was completely cut off, leaving just the main ring behind. I have to admit, Jeremiah still sleeps with this in his crib all the time. He likes to chew on the ring (he didn’t get his first tooth until after he turned one!), so I don’t mind having it in there with him. But, he isn’t using it to suck on anymore, and we didn’t have any cry-it-out nights or naps! For him, that was a success!
What about you? Do you have any pacifier weaning advice you’ve found that worked for your little one?
Check out my entire list of baby essentials to make creating a baby registry easy!
This blog post may contain affiliate links (all opinions and reviews are still 100% my own). If you purchase through them, you’ll be supporting The List Mama – Thanks!
The List Mama 