Jen, you asked about weaning Arabella from the pacifier, and it was really rough and easy at the same time. What did we do?
We took it away.
What I did was prepared her for the idea , gave her a deadline, and on a predetermined day I took the pacifier before she could get out of bed. I hid all the spare dee-dee's, and told Arabella she could have them at naptime and bedtime, but she had to give it to me before getting out of bed. If she foudn one I took it away. For about 4 days she would ask for it, and I would say no, and not talk about it any longer. We kept our days busy for about a week , to keep her mind off of it. After about a week I let her leave it in bed, but had to revert when she began playing with it ("Cow-cow has the dee-dee, oh, I'm just holding it in my mouth for him ..."). Eventually she was good for leaving it in her bed, but a year later I took it away for good, saying we had to give them to the new baby. I rounded them up and threw them away. Of course for being big enough to give them up, I gave her a gift, and that distracted her for about 2 days, at which point she tried to give the toy back in exchange for her dee-dee's, but I told her it was too late.
I really wish we had done it much earlier, but 2 1/2 was when I realized a few thngs. A friend said her children had all been really hard to wean from pacifier / thumb-sucking, and that one child in particular had used a pacifier until nearly 7. I finally realized the paicifier addicted child was also the one child of hers with what I would term a moderate to mild speech impediment. When I realized this was when I really got focused on what I termed the Pacifier Abatement Program.
I hate giving Sabine a pacifier, knowing that if she loses it while sleeping it will wake her up, and that I really don't want her addicted. On the other hand, I realize she wants to suckle to fall asleep, but not neccessarily nurse, so this solves many of the fussing at the breast problems, since she isn't getting overfull and uncomfortable when all she wants is comfort and a sleeping crutch. It also helps keep her occupied when she is hungry but we are not in a position to nurse (in line at Wal-Mart for example).
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Pacifier Weaning
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4 comments:
Thank you for the advice. I will use it for sure. We have, lazily, been trying to only give her the binky in the car and at nap/bed times. But we've been lazy about it. I guess we should get tough sooner rather than later. I am so not looking forward to this. The binky is a crutch for me as much for her. Oh well, here goes =)
Jen, better to be firm than to give Evie mixed signals. Sorry, I know how tough it is on you as well as on her. The best part of having a toddler with a pacifier is they don't stick everything in their mouth, since there is already something in there.
Mike was weaned on a pickle. That's why his face is like that!!
Hi! I was searching blogs for tips for our upcoming weaning-from-the-Binky, and I came across your post. Our girlie is only 15 months, but her doctor said that it's best if she's Binky-free by 18 months. I think we'll begin with limiting the Binky to bed and nap time, then just bedtime, then bye-bye Binky. But we aren't even going to try until after the holidays, since we're travelling.
Thanks for posting your advice!
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