A parent weaned her 6-month-old May off the pacifier after it got chewed through, replacing it with a small lovey and gentle patting at night. The baby took slightly longer to fall asleep the first night but cried zero times, and was fully weaned within four nights. Car rides were rough the first week but improved fast.
Come look at what I found in May's crib. She quite literally ate her pacifier. So come with me as I share the story of dropping the paci. First, let this be a PSA that you actually really do have to upgrade to the 6 months plus pacifiers when they start teething. It's no joke. So once I realized that her paci was now her new favorite chew toy, it scared me so badly that I decided that's it, we are weaning the paci tonight. She was really only using it for sleep and for long car rides anyway, so this was kind of the kick in the butt that we needed to just drop it fully. Tonight we gave her a little lovey instead of her paci, and I'll admit I was terrified this was going to be horrible. Did take her longer to fall sleep that night, but she never screamed or cried. She just woke up a couple of times during the night and we'd go in and pat her butt a little and she went right back to sleep. That night went so much better than I expected, and 4 nights later it was completely weaned and we had a great sleeper again. I will say long car rides were brutal the first week, but now she doesn't even miss it. But take it from me, double-check your passes before each sleep and know that sometimes having a great sleeper means big transitions will go even better than you're imagining.
