Sunday, May 5, 2013

Pacifier Diaster

Baby A has always been in love with his pacifier, pretty much since day one. While I was pregnant I swore that I wouldn't give him a pacifier and I even had it in my birth plan that he was not to be given one during our stay at the hospital. My delivery was pretty rough, Baby A was born at 9:31pm on a Thursday night, and by the time the excitement of a new baby dissipated for the night and my amazing waiting room guests went home, it was nearing midnight. After the nurses had wheeled me into my recovery room I was looking forward to a good nights sleep with Mr. Hunky on the couch and Baby A within arms reach in his little hospital crib. My dreams of a good night sleep quickly went out the door when my first night as a new mom was welcomed with screams, wails, and a very unhappy newborn. Refusing to accept the nurses offer of putting Baby A in the nursery so I could sleep, I forced myself to keep my eyes open throughout the whole night to console my sweet baby boy. Now you may be wondering, why on Earth didn't I just wake up Mr. Hunky? Better question, why didn't Baby A's screams wake up Mr. Hunky? Well, you would have thought that he had just brought a human into the world with the way that he slept. I tried everything, there was no waking him up. Pillows were thrown, his name was yelled, nothing worked, he was in his own deep dreamworld and I was left to brave the first night with a newborn alone. Don't get me wrong, I was perfectly fine with mastering the new parent thing on my own, like I said, I was pretty determined. After being up all night, I was destined to be up all the next day with the visitors who would be coming and going, so needless to say I was really looking to my second night as a mother and having my mother be there all night to help with Baby A. By the time I was able to go to sleep that night, I was out. Hard.

Although I said there was no way I would let Baby A have a pacifier, I caved. I was so exhausted that second night that anything my mom needed to do to console the baby while I slept I was willing to let happen. Formula, pacifiers, go for it. I literally had no energy, was weak, and needed to recover. It may sound selfish, but that delivery seriously took it out of me and I needed the sleep, I needed to let my body heal, at least for the night. So that night, Baby A got his first pacifier.


We had received a number of pacifiers during my baby shower in case I had changed my mind, Nuks, Soothies, and various other pacifiers, so after Baby A took his first one I was relieved to know that we wouldn't have to rush out to go buy more. Boy was I wrong. That little fella would only take one type of pacifier, and to this day it's still the only one he will take!

Baby A is now 19 months old and this whole pacifier thing is an utter disaster. He is obsessed with his paci and is constantly begging me for one. He stashes them around the house so when I do take the one he has away, he waits a few minutes and then he goes and finds one of the ones he's hid. It's even gotten to the point where I'll put him in his high chair to eat a meal and he'll go to take the paci out of his mouth, even when he doesn't have one in. I noticed him doing that stunt a few days ago and he's done it at least 2-3 times since.

I've been doing reading around various websites (BabyCenter, The Bump, and other random google found websites) and lots of parents have various methods to wean their little one from the paci. A few of my favorites were to take all of the paci's away but one and when that one's gone, it's gone. Another idea that I really liked was to take all paci's away but three- one for morning, one for the day, and one for night- but for the daytime one cut the nipple part of the way off so it detours them from using it, but you still have one for morning naps and bedtime until you're ready to completely wean. The last idea that I liked was for the little ones who are older and communicate well- you offer them a gold fish in exchange for their paci! Tell them if they let go of the paci on their own, that you will buy them a celebratory gold fish to take care of. In the article I read the little boy took a few days but eventually told his mommy he wanted the fishy and went and threw away his pacifier. The author said that night was a challenge because he had forgotten that he threw away his paci, but as soon as they got the gold fish the next day the paci was history.

Out of the three methods I described above, I am starting with the one that you get rid of all paci's except three and cut the nipple off of one. Baby A was absolutely furious as he watched me cut the nipple off of one of his pacifiers and he threw a tantrum, so of course mommy caved and gave him another. I really don't know how I'm going to wean him from his pacifier, and it scares the snot of out me knowing that this is going to be a huge battle, but I'm really looking forward to the day where he won't need a pacifier anymore and I won't have to smell paci breath!

How did you wean your little one? I'd love to hear your tips!






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9 comments:

  1. Haha My fiance slept like crazy after babe was born too!! I labored for three days and had a baby, but he apparently was the exhausted one! Men! hahah

    Babe is 4 1/2 months old and is a thumb sucker! She had started just sucking her thumb in the car or to go to sleep, but now it's all the time and I am constantly pulling her thumb out of her mouth!

    I sucked my finger and had a blanket when I was little. My parents allowed me to have my blanket and suck my finger but only when I was on my bed. So at any point during the day, I could go to my room and have that time. Of course, little ones often don't want to miss out on the fun, so I started sucking my finger less and less. I like their approach a lot and will probably do it with my little one when she gets older and understands :)

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  2. I just read a post in a group where someone took their child to Build a bear workshop, and they let you put the paci inside of the bear when you make it. I think this child was older in age, but I thought it sounded like a good idea lol.

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  3. I'm glad I am not the only one that has that kind of story! I was anti-pacifier, too. But after Baby E was born, and hated car rides so much (he cried the whole way during a 30 minute car ride and was bright red and sweating when we stopped), I tried using a pacifier. Worked like a dream! I was worried about how to wean him, but he's weaned himself! At 6 months! I hope you find a way to wean Baby A!

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  4. My son is used to his pacifier. Sometimes, he even "sucks" in his sleep if he doesn't have one in.

    He's only 3 months old, so we'll deal with it later. And he also only took one kind (an easy to find one luckily and unluckily when Mommy forgets it!).

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  5. I wanted our son to have a pacifier because I was a thumb sucker. My mom tried EVERYTHING to get me to stop but nothing worked until I needed to see the orthodontist for something and he asked my mom if she wanted a thumb guard also...well there you go I HAD to stop because I couldn't suck. I was 8. I did not want that for our son. I wanted to be able to take it away if worse came to worse.
    He started out with MAM's but once he needed the 6+ ones they became very bulbous at the end and he would just spit them out so we had to go to Avent. We have always had it attached to his bib but now I can see that with him being older that is going to make a big problem later with weaning. When he gets upset, he will run his hand down his bib to get his pacifier....it's like a tick or something. lol
    As for when we are going to wean...I'm not in a rush. 3 years is my limit though so we will probably start at like 2-2 1/2. He does not like change and is VERY stubborn so we shall see.....

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  6. We're still using paci at our place as well. It's mostly only when he's tired...naps, night and crankiness. But we're also trying to give up bottles at night time right now, so I don't know if taking both away at once is great.

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  7. My daughter was a paci addict as well. She would stash pacis all over the house and we were finding them for years after we finally got her to give it up. So needless to say I was thrilled when my son didn't really take to the paci.

    How we got my daughter to give up her paci was we told her on Christmas Eve that Santa was really in need of some pacifiers for the babies of the world and since she wasn't a baby anymore that it would be so great if she would put them in her stocking for Santa. Well, she put them in her stocking and Santa left her a note and a very special gift (the one thing she REALLY wanted that year) she cried for a little bit after she realized they were gone but went to bed just fine that night and never asked for them after that.

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  8. Every baby is so different. The boy saw no reason for a binky. After all, nothing came out of it! The girl could so no good reason she shouldn't have one in each hand at all times. I thought she'd never give them up and didn't without a fight!

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  9. I really enjoyed reading this post. You seem to at least have a good sense of humor about the situation. I am a mother of three adult daughters and I am sorry to tell you, none of them was a "binky baby". I do have a niece who was and I can tell you, she had a binky well into her third year. My best advice would be to NOT make a big deal out of taking it away. The more you fight them to wean off, the harder it is for BOTH of you. Try to remember they will not have a pacifier forever, even if it seems like it. =)

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