1.08.2010

Bye Bye Binky

The time has come for Claire to say good-bye to her binky.
(aka: the pacifier, the paci, the plug, etc.)

We took away Kate's right after her 1st birthday because she got a cold & couldn't breathe through her nose. As a first time mom, I was nervous that she wouldn't be able to breathe at night if she had her pacifier in her mouth. She was miserable with her cold & runny nose, so I decided to get rid of the pacifier at the same time.
(Wow, looking back, that makes me seem really harsh & not caring)

Anyways, Kate didn't even mind that we took her pacifier away & it was a really easy transition. At that point, we had only been allowing her to have her pacifier in her crib during naps & nighttime. I liked getting rid of her pacifier at such an early age because she wasn't really attached to it. It was not a big deal when we took it away, totally smooth, she didn't even cry that night.

Fast forward to Claire.
Claire has always been fixated with putting things in her mouth.
We have to be very careful with what is left around the house because she WILL put it in her mouth.

When she was 7 months old, I thought she was going to be a thumb sucker.
Remember our thumb war?
I am happy to say that I won that & she never became a thumb sucker (that was a close call)...she was content with the pacifier.
At 9 months, I started to "wean" her from the pacifier and only gave it to her when we were in the car or during naps & bedtime. At 1 year old, I only gave it to her during naps & bedtime.
I was going to take it away permanently around 13-14 months, but I never got around to it because I knew it was going to be a hard transition.

Claire is now 16 months, so this week, I decided it was time to take the binky away.
(I know this seems mean to some of you, but my thinking is that the older she gets, the harder and harder it was going to be to take away the pacifier...especially because Claire has become quite opinionated & stubborn since she turned one.)

This picture is from one of the last nights that Claire got her binky.

She was all ready for bed & then just to see what she would do, I took the pacifier out of her mouth.
She didn't mind for the first 2 seconds:
But then, I didn't give it right back to her.....
Claire didn't like that...
She didn't like that AT ALL..
Then she started to scream...
And started reaching frantically for the pacifier that I had in my hand....
(this whole series of pictures was LESS than a minute!)

Claire was so easy to put down at bedtime, I would read her a couple books, give her the pacifier & lay her down in her crib. She went right to sleep & woke up 12 hours later. Heaven.

I knew taking away the pacifier for good was going to be a little rough.
(see pictures above for confirmation of that)
But, even though I knew it was going to be a rough few nights, I knew I needed to bite the bullet & do it!

The first night I THREW AWAY the pacifiers because I knew I would cave in if they were still in our house.

I did the normal bedtime routine with her & when I laid her down, instead of giving her the pacifier, I gave her a sippy cup of water to keep in her crib.

I thought the sippy cup of water would be a nice "replacement" for the pacifier & she would accept the sippy cup.

Yeah, she was *less* than thrilled. She cried. A lot.
She woke up in the middle of the night. A lot.
She kept throwing the sippy cup out of her crib.
Naptimes were not a breeze anymore.
The first 3 days/nights were ROUGH.
And, it doesn't help that her eye teeth have broken through. Poor baby.

But, tonight was night #6 of no pacifier & it was the 2nd night in a row where there was NO crying from Claire when I put her in her crib. She fell right asleep. And, last night she slept 12 hours straight. Holla!

Keeping my fingers crossed that this continues...No more binky's in this house!

P.S. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Claire getting mole removed to get biopsied. We got the results back last week & it came back benign! Praise God!

12 comments:

  1. Wow! Now I am motivated to take away my little's. He is about the same age and I need to get rid of it!! And I have been saying it for months!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so strong! Elle still has a binky. Although, she only gets to have it in her big girl bed or in the car. She spends so much time just laying in her bed now. Whenever she needs a fix she says "mama I go night night." She says this a lot. Proud to say no more binky in public though!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Praise the Lord first for the results!!! WOO HOO!!! :)
    You are so brave for doing the cold turkey thing...I SO wish that I would have done that. I've always had a "reason" that I would wait..not the best thing! Because now I have a three year old that is OBSESSED with his. I know that I need to do it, the dentist said I need to do it and have I yet? Nope.. Maybe because he is my last that I keep procrastinating..I just keep saying "oh, once he is potty trained, I'll do it.."
    Anyway congrats! And I'm sure my sleepless nights will be much longer than yours!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think I've told you before, but I really like that Claire is 4 months older than Mason... that way I can get all the tips and tricks ahead of time! We're planning to go "paci-less" at the end of the month.

    (And praise God for the biopsy results!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. good luck claire. you are a big girl and you can do it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. woo hoo! My kids never would take a pacifier, no matter how I tried when they were newborns! But my 7 year old still sleeps with her blankie :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. What an adorable blog and header..and great pictures...I have a fun giveaway on my blog...a $100 prize ..comments will be closed on Monday night, but today's entries get extra chances...so stop by and join in the fun.
    teresa

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the binky stories!!
    You are so cute and such a great mom!!
    I am SOOOO happy about the biopsy results by they way. Thank God!

    ReplyDelete
  9. My kids love(d) their pacifiers more than they love me. Is that so wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  10. You are a strong woman taking the paci away at that age. I'm embarressed to say that we bribed my now 9 year old to give up her paci at her 4 year b-day. My now 7 year old ended her love affair with her paci at age 3 (because I thought 4 was ridiculous). The only time my girls could have their paci was at bedtime. They WERE NOT the kids walking around the mall with their paci's at 4. Our experiences were like seeing someone come off an addiction. Grabbing, stuffing their fists in their mouth, screaming. It was a tough couple of nights but didn't take very long for the adjustment.

    Thanks for sharing. It brought back memories of younger days...and I love those memories.

    I found your blog through the goat and the kid. I'll be back to read more about your lovely family.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Please don't be mad, but I laughed hysterically at those photos! They reminded me how much I need to take "the plug" away from our baby (14 months) girl. My first son was done by 8 months and my second never took one (even though I wish he had). I suppose since she's the last in our clan I'm having a hard time transitioning into the toddler stage. I just need to do it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sooooooo happy for the biopsy results!! And way to stay strong with the binky!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin