Pacifier Weaning
If you hang around the Extreme Couponing Mom Facebook page you might have noticed last night I made a post about getting rid of Bella’s suce addiction. Last night was the first night she would go to sleep without any pacifiers, and yes it is plural as she always needed THREE! One for each hand and one in her mouth.
Over the past few weeks I have read a slew of pacifier weaning articles online and to be quite honest I was putting it off because I was terrified no one in our home would sleep. Of course some “experts” have the opinion they will rid themselves of it in their own time and I know she wouldn’t be heading off to college sucking on her suce. At the same time we have noticed it is causing some issues with her teeth and yesterday I noticed she was getting a rash on her mouth where her suce sits. That in itself was enough for me to call the shots and decide it was time to kick her pacifier to the curb.
See, I wasn’t kidding THREE PACIFIERS at all times! Lord help us if we could only find two, both Steve and myself would be flipping the house upside down to find a third.
I am not a judgy mom, I believe everyone makes parenting decisions that work best for their family. When I had my older daughters I was in my very early 20’s and refused to give either of them pacifiers. Abby was such a quiet baby and content baby I never had the urge. Hailee however was colic and I will admit I did attempt to give her one but she wasn’t into it.
While I was pregnant with Bella I had the same mindset I did with my older two, I was not going to buy any pacifiers because I simply hated them. Well, when Bella was born premature and had a couple weeks stint in the NICU I arrived one day to see her with a pacifier in her little hand, stuck in her tiny mouth, suckling away. I felt horrible not being able to be there every second of the day and night to comfort her so I felt as though the pacifier was giving her comfort. Most days it would just be laying at the top of her little hospital bassinet.
I will admit, the suce grew on me. As much as I hated how they looked in other kids mouths when I looked at Bella with hers she was adorable.
It followed us on many adventures like our yearly pumpkin patch family trip.
Weekly shopping trips.
And of course to the Doctors for her immunizations.
Seriously, writing this post is giving me watery eyes. Looking back at all these photos of Bella when she was so tiny, then chunky, and cheeky – my heart is exploding!
Well last night the task began. COLD TURKEY is my pacifier weaning method of choice and as expected it was a bit of a rough night. She took a lot longer to go to sleep than usual but the jumping and calling out for her suce finally stopped just a little over an hour after putting her to bed. I reluctantly went to bed around 1 o’clock in the morning thinking I was in the clear … HA … not a chance. She was up and freaking out around 2. We brought her in bed with us, put on Bubble Guppies, made her a bottle and hoped she would settle down. She watched the entire episode while holding my hand and snuggling. After it was over I told her it was time to go back to bed and I didn’t hear from her for the rest of the night.
This morning I could hear her calling for me once she woke up, as well as calling for her suce. I got her out of bed and she immediately crouched down to look under her crib thinking maybe they were just hiding on her. She looked up to me and in the saddest voice ever said “SUUUUUUCE”. I scooped her up and said “you are a big girl now Bella and suce’s are for babies”. She cried out “SUUUUUUUUUCE” I replied “no more suce, they are all gone” and that was the end of that.
She normally doesn’t get them throughout the day so we had no issues leading up to nap time. As I prepared for a meltdown I was pleasantly surprised that she not only didn’t ask for it, she went to sleep a lot faster than she normally does at nap time.
So here we are, 9 o’clock and it is almost bedtime. I am not sure what tonight will bring but I know that we will all make it through and in a few more days the suce will be a thing of the past.
Did you have a hard time getting rid of your little one’s pacifier? Have any pacifier weaning tips or tricks to share? Let me know in the comment section below!
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Erin says
I recently also did cold turkey with my 3 year old. Anytime during the day that she would take it out of her mouth and put it down I would scoop it up and hide it. We got down to just nap and bedtime that she would use it. Then when Nanny came to visit and helped with bedtimes etc it slightly changed up bedtime routine so the habit of reaching for her suce didn’t come so fast. Our daughter was waking in the night before this but the waking didn’t increase for us. It just seemed it was the right time and she was ready. I do find her biting on her stuffed animals sometimes but we are now at three weeks without and she has stopped talking about it. It was a lot easier than I thought but definitely cold turkey is a must.
Aimee says
That is awesome. Last night was rougher than the first, while she didn’t wake up at 2am she didn’t go to bed until almost 1am … I am a tired mama today! Thankfully she never really used it during the day only at sleep times so that is our only battle right now. It’s strange how her nap has improved without it but her bedtime is worse. I would think both would be worse but she’s a funny girl. I know it will get easier with each day and there really is no turning back because they are all gone and I am not buying anymore!