Learning to use the pacifier independently is a motor skill that you can learn your little one step by step from about 7 months. Before that, they are still not physically able to master this motor skill. Some of the little ones are very early, while others need a little extra time. The most important thing is to keep looking at your little one’s behavior and adapt yours to his needs.

Learning to use the pacifier independently takes at least one week. Again, some little ones are a bit faster, some little ones need a little more time. The process consists 4 steps. Before I explain these steps one by one, it is first important that:

• You have adapted the sleeping environment as best as possible to the needs of your little one. You can find everything about the perfect sleeping environment here: Click here
• You put several pacifiers in your little one’s bed, so that he can find one more easily. You can also use a glow in the dark pacifier to make this process even easier. You can find everything about pacifiers here: Click here

Step 1

Place the pacifier in your little one’s hand and move his hand towards his mouth. Repeat this movement several times and practice it several times a day. If you see that he is starting to take over this movement himself, you can move on to step 2.

Step 2

Place the pacifier in your little one’s hand, but let him make the movement towards his mouth by himself. If you see that your little one still finds this difficult, you can bring his hand halfway to his mouth and let him do the second half himself. If you see that he still finds this difficult, continue with step 1 for a few more days. If your little one has mastered this movement completely by himself, go to step 3.

Step 3

Place the pacifiers in his bed around your little one’s head. This so that it is easier for him to find a pacifier. If he starts to cry because he lost his pacifier, go to his bedroom and tap the mattress where the pacifier is. This so that he can grab it himself and bring it to his mouth. If he still can’t do this, you can put the pacifier in his hand and go back to step 2.

Step 4

Repeat step 3, but try to give your little one 100 seconds to find the pacifier before walking into the room to help him.