On the night of 3/31, my kid and I were doing his nightly routine – bath, get in some jams, have some warm milk, read a book and sing. What I didn’t expect was for him to say “no” to the paci and leave it on the floor when it fell. I took that as a sign that, well, I guess we’re gonna do this thing now. So on March 31st, we said good-bye to all the pacis, and decided it was time. Here is a real life account of the nights and days and what giving up the pacifier entailed, but first a few details:
Sheffield will be 21 months old on April 10th. We only used the pacifier at night, during naps, in the car, and in public to prevent a massive meltdown, so he was already accustomed to not using it during the day. He loves that thing, and this is going to suck. The end.
March 31st, 2017 – NIGHT – Let’s call it D-day if you will. The kid threw the paci on the floor, left it there, and I took it as a sign from the skies that it was time. So I left it there too. I texted the a-hole bros and asked them to pray for me. I’m going to say they did, because he did not wake up once screaming for the pacifier. I woke up around 6, and was like HOLY SHIT, HE DIDN’T WAKE UP. Then I did my husbands most favorite thing, and woke him up to tell him the good news. He mumbled something (I’m going to say that he said “THAT’S SO AMAZING, WE’RE SUCH AMAZING PARENTS!), and went back to sleep.
April 1st, 2017 – DAY – Car rides today were brutal. He kept asking, “Paci? Paci?” And then would burst out into tears. Oy. I fear car rides are going to be worse than night time. He doesn’t sleep with his paci at daycare during his naps, so he was used to this and slept through his nap time as normal.
April 1st, 2017 -NIGHT – So, if the first night was a dream at the start of this, let’s call last night a nightmare. Well, it only became a nightmare right around 4, when he woke up screaming. I went in there, rocked with him for about ten minutes. He fell back asleep on me, and I made my getaway. About twenty minutes later, some more screaming. I waited about another twenty minutes to see if he’d calm down on his own. He didn’t. So back in I went — rocked some more, fell asleep again and back into the crib he went. NOPE. B went in for the third time, rocked him, left. NOPE. So, B was like, let’s just bring him in our bed (this was around 6 or so) – maybe he’ll fall asleep with both of us. LOLOLOL. We’re dumb. This didn’t work – I know you’re shocked.
April 2nd, 2017 – DAY – No car trips planned for today, just a bunch of outdoor playing. And since we’ve all been up since 4am, he went down for his nap quickly and quietly: no paci ,no problem.
7pm update – today was pretty much a disaster. When we walked past our coffee maker (the stand once housed a paci – I don’t know why), he screamed out “PACI!” and burst into tears. I resisted and took him downstairs. Where he continued to have a melt down. I honestly said “fuck this,” and went back upstairs to get it. But there wasn’t one there. So I didn’t bring one back down – Yes, I almost caved. And yes, I’ve cried more than I want to admit, but he is still paci-less.
April 2nd, 2017 – NIGHT – I got woken up twice last night, but none were because of a screaming, paci-less child. We made it through the night again! Although, I’m sure this is more due to the fact that he was so tired from being such a paci-less buttface yesterday. Anyway, a win is a win, and we won again last night.
April 3, 2017 – DAY – Sheffield woke up with a giant rash all over his body. After a consultation, the stress of not having his pacifier was causing him to break out in hives (which you may remember happened to him after his stressful airplane rides). We caved and gave him back the pacifier in the car this morning. Nothing is worth that much stress. We will try again later.
I give ourselves an A for effort this go-round, but definitely an F in all other aspects. I’ll be back for a part 2 — hopefully soon.
Maybe you can work on him not taking it at night since he has fallen asleep and slept twice through the night without it…and just give it to him in the car or something? I dont know. Poor little guy. The paci is a hard thing to break. I told you about how my mom did it with my sister. I am sending you guys all the good “kick the paci” vibes!
Oh my goodness, hives?! That is scary! Sounds like you were really standing your ground and doing well though so yay! A good start! Caleb loves his binkie. He only gets it for naptime anymore, and also when he’s sick. He’s been sick the last week or so he’s had it nonstop, but other than that, we’ve gotten it down to just at naps.
Good grief hives??? I’m thinking we had it pretty easy now. It was basically 2 nights of waking up screaming multiple times and then she was mostly okay. Mostly 🙂 I still do wish we had it sometimes for getting her to sleep faster, but oh well. She was only using it for naps and bed, though, so maybe take away one thing at a time like not in the car or whatever? Oh man good luck, girl.
A+++++ for effort!! I wouldn’t have held out as long as you did! Like Sheffy, Wyatt only gets his at naps, nighttime and in the car, but I don’t think we’re ready to give it up yet, although I say I’m a bad parent for letting him depend on it so much. Bravo to you for trying!! It would break my heart to hear that “PACI!!” cry. Try again some other month…no kid goes to college with a paci. (and hey! sorry I”ve been mia from the blog scene for awhile)