BINKY/Pacifier removal question/clarification needed: what tool to use?

[Guest guest]

We are getting ready to get rid of the pacifiers. My son (who has moderate to

severe CAS, hypotonia in his trunk through facial muscles and some vestibular

sensory integration dysfunction) is 3 and my daughter (who has a significant

speech delay with vestibular sensory integration dysfunction) will be 2 in a few

weeks ONLY use the pacifiers at night time and on rare occasions when they are

sick.

We know that it's not a good idea for them to have the pacifiers and we want

them to have some other soothing/coping skills prior to taking them away

completely. Any suggestions? We have the soft " lovies " that both sleep with.

My son still sometimes awakens and if he can't find his " binky " he gets pretty

frantic. Our cranial sacral person suggested that the pacifier is serving some

use to help move the cranial fluid around...

In any case... the aim is for April to be binky-removal month.

QUESTION: how does one make the criss-cross hole in the tip? What instrument

do you use so that this is both effective and hygenic? The only thing I can

think of is a surgical knife! It would have be something very thin and make a

concealable/unnoticable hole.

HELP!