After reading a friend's blog about her getting rid of the pacifier, I decided to do the same. 18 months is as good a time as any, right? I really didn't have a problem with E still sleeping with her pacifier, but I knew we would have to get rid of it one day. My pediatrician suggested I look up a website called Bye Bye Binky. The first couple of days you give a pacifier with holes poked in it. The third day you cut the tip. The fourth day you cut it a little more. The fifth day you make a vertical cut on what's left. And by day 7 they should be done with it altogether. I had to make some adjustments (mainly to the timing) to fit how Elliot responded with the change. Here's how our process has gone...
Days 1-2: Holes in pacifier. Doesn't bother her one bit. Life is still good.
Day 3: First cut in pacifier. First use of new pacifier was that night for bedtime. All Hell breaks loose. She knows it's different & rejects pacifier. However, she's NOT ok with going without a good one. Cries/screams in bed, standing the entire time for an hour before passing out.
Day 4: Wakes up at 6am (too early!). Doesn't go down for nap. At bedtime she cries for about an hour & falls asleep.
Day 5: Wakes up early again! No nap. We are still giving her the cut pacifier. She'll put it in her mouth & take it out several times, but it's with her. Bed time was same as usual.
Day 6: Wakes up at 4:30am?! Won't calm down until about 5am. Attempt to give her new, regular pacifier because we're desperate for sleep, but she rejects it! Sits in her bed for about 30 more minutes & then falls back asleep. Re-awakes at 7am. At nap time, she cries (tolerable level & time). Takes a nap! Sleeps holding pacifier in hand. Goes down for bed pretty well!
Day 7: Wakes up at 5:30am (Grrr). Second cut made to pacifier. At nap time, cries uncontrollably for 30 minutes. Throws everything out of her crib, including pacifier. Falls asleep with nothing! Bedtime is successful with pacifier.
Day 8: Wakes up at 5am. At nap time screams for 30 minutes & falls asleep. Goes to bed great.
Day 9: Vertical cut made to pacifier. Wakes up at 6:45 (Finally!). Does great with both nap & bedtime!
Day 10: Fourth cut made to pacifier. Now there's just a half inch stub left. Goes down great for nap time & bed time.
Day 11: Does great!
Day 12: Fifth cut made to pacifier. There's really nothing left at this point. She can't even keep it in her mouth, so she's constantly messing with it. I decided to not even give it to her at bed time, so she wouldn't wake up searching for it. She went down great. Maybe this journey is finally coming to an end.
Day 13: Pacifier Free!
So this process was a lot harder than the website made me believe. I really don't know if it was worth all of the lost sleep for any of us. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been better to wait til she understood a bit more. But what's done is done, and now I don't have to worry about it anymore!
14 comments:
Okay, that sounds awful!! I mean, really it is only 2 weeks in the grand scheme of things, but still. It seems sad!! Like one day the pacifier is okay and the next it isn't, and they have no idea why.
I am thinking I should just take Arden's away now before she gets too attached. I don't think she really cares, but we give it to her for bed/naps and at church as an attempt to keep her quiet. Do you think I should quit giving it to her?
Wow! That makes me really glad we took Harrison's away when he was 4 months. I let him cry it out as soon as the "books" said it was okay. Then we only used the pacifier for church for the next couple of months. Glad you are done with that, I am sure.
You may want to try not using one if y'all have more kids. They aren't a necessity. They just use their fingers instead. They may not sleep through the night quite as fast, but you never have to loose sleep like that until you move them out of the crib.
Oh wow, this entire post makes me cringe!! Poor mama!
I'll post an update ASAP, just for you! :-) But don't be too jealous when you read it, because I don't think we're at "The End" just yet.
Girl, it was hell for Emerson. Landon did great. I didn't try the whole process you did, didn't even know about the website. With Landon, at about 19-20 months old, I tried cutting the tip off and it just made him mad so we just threw them all away, said "bye bye" to them, and showed him the drawer where they were and were all gone. He only fussed some the first night and at nap. I think because he only used it at bedtime he did okay.
Now, last summer when Emerson was about 25-26 months old we just totally took them all away like with Landon. It was terrible as she didn't sleep at all for weeks and screamed like crazy. She then started all of the behavior issues...stripping naked, tearing up her bed, chewing the crib, etc. To this day she still doesn't sleep well and has a hard time falling asleep as I don't think she knew how to without the pacifier. She used it and asked for it all the time.
Glad E did well, even though it was a rough few days. Good thing you didn't give in as I know I wanted to many, many times. It's best that you did it earlier before she got too attached to it like Emerson did.
So my girls are both finger suckers. I can't really poke holes in them or cut them so I'm screwed.
That sounds rough!!
poor thing!!!!! that's awful! jacob thankfully did a lot better transitioning out of using the paci. stay strong, though! hopefully it's gone for good.
I'm happy that it all worked out for you! Even though that sounds like a rough two weeks!
I'm terrified of the whole taking away the binky saga with Janae. She absolutely HAS to have it in her mouth in order to fall asleep. And if she wakes up and it's not in her mouth, it's the end of the world. I want her to be binky free at a year, so hopefully starting it a bit younger will work out better? Maybe? Hopefully?
After reading this, you have me seriously considering weaning Graham from the paci pretty soon. I love it though, because if he's fussy he will calm down when we put in the paci. I feel bad for some of my friends whose babies don't take them. I actually remember my parents telling me I had to give my paci up for the new babies in the hospital, HA!!!
Doesn't sound fun! There were many times I envied parents with kids that take a pacifier, but this post makes me grateful that I never had to ween Easton off one.
When Scarlett was about 6 or 7 months, she woke up one day and didn't take her pacifier anymore. I couldn't been more happier. I hope Savannah is the same way. I'm glad you are finally done with the binky business. Catch up on your sleep!
We went through the same process with Katy but not quite as bad. Good job sticking with it!
I am exhausted just reading this! Good job for sticking with it!
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