Last night the Hoos and I began implementation of our strategy to rid LP's life of the pacifier.
For the last few months she has only really been allowed to have it in the car and in her crib. At day care she hasn't even had a pacifier for nap time. This happened more as an oversight - we thought they had one, they didn't, so she just got used to not having it.
Despite the limited availability, she is smart enough that she would often run upstairs to her crib, sneak her hand in between the bars (since we don't have bumpers in) and snatch the pacifier out and plunk it into her mouth. We did try to leave the pacifier out of reach, but she would somehow maneuver her blankets so that she could use them as a tool to extricate the little sucker. Kids are really smart, I assure you.
Anyway, after a bath, her milk and tooth brushing, we placed her in her crib, as is the norm. She quickly noticed the lack of her standard soother and began making unhappy sounds. These noises escalated to serious crying, some hyperventilating, and persistent rattling of the bars of the crib. After 10 minutes or so the Hoos had enough and went in to calm her. "I have never seen her so upset," he called, "what should I do?" I had no idea what to do and told him as much. He ended up sitting in the glider with her laying on him until she fell asleep - sans pacifier.
This small victory lasted until around 5:30 this morning. LP woke up and when she couldn't find the pacifier, which usually lulls her right back to sleep, she began making noises. I pulled the blanket over my head, resolved to ignore it. The Hoos got up after 10 minutes, since the volume seemed to be increasing, and gave her the pacifier. She ended up sleeping until NINE!! You can't really complain about that.
Nap time was once again a test of wills. My mother was over and if she had been alone with LP the kid would have had the pacifier at the first whimper. The good news is, baby girl finally fell asleep, again after 10 minutes or so of unhappiness, without her drug of choice. The bad news is, we are seeing that the pacifier challenge is far from over.
4 comments:
That is so funny that you are trying to rid LP of the paci... we are trying to do the same with Little Man A. He has been throwing it overboard during naps for the past 3 months and thinks it a great game to make mommy come back in and retrieve it. It's so strange how they can get so attached to something! Here's to hoping it goes quickly for you!
It is so difficult to get them to break the habit. Hang in there. I am currently struggling with both of mine to stop them from having their "leakproof" sippy cups in my bed... I am sooooo sick of changing sheets stained with strawberry yogurt milkshakes! Help!
My husband initated the getting rid of the pacifer - not me. Mikayla was about 18 months and we were going to Florida in about a week. I wanted to wait until we got back but then without telling me he stopped giving it to her. She was fine with it - at times on the plane ride I wanted to give it to her but he would not let me. We stopped cold turkey. Same thing though she was using it hardly at all at daycare.
Zeze didn't have a pacifier (she hated them) but my nephew did. It took a while to get him off, but eventually he gave it up. His sister also had one but they made her go cold turkey after she bit a hole in the nipple.
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