If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we FINALLY got rid of Kaiden’s pacifiers. What I thought would be this long drawn our process ended up being something we did in a day, and just like Vishnu said, K adjusted just fine!
You might be thinking, “How hard can this be? Just stop giving your kid a pacifier.”
Well, on one hand, you’re absolutely right. It should be that simple. Except in our kid’s case. He was obsessed with those things. To illustrate my point, imagine this. Kaiden needed 3 pacis at all times. One for his mouth and one in each hand. If the one from his hand slipped through the rails of his crib and fell out, he would wake up screaming. Never mind the fact that the one in his mouth was still there. Oh man! It got to the point where Vishnu and I had to put together a plan and set a date. And then Vishnu aborted the mission and just took the pacis away while I was at a Soul Cycle class. I came home and was a little upset with him because no paci equaled no nap that day.
BUT, to my husband’s credit, everything worked out just fine. That night, while Vishnu was giving K a bath, I literally threw away every pacifier I could find (fingers crossed I found them all!). When it was time for Kaiden to go to sleep, we walked around the kitchen and showed him they were gone and gave him his Curious George doll to hold instead. Because he was so exhausted, he fell asleep right away. He slept through the night but woke up at 4:30 am. A similar pattern occurred the rest of the week. He would go to sleep just fine but wake up between 4-5 am. I. Was. So. Tired.
He’s still waking up in the 5 o’clock hour, but we’re trying a few things to push that back a bit. We’ll see if we’re successful. If not, I’m just going to chalk it up to the fact that Kaiden, unfortunately, got my early bird genes!
One note – while we went with the cold turkey approach, a lot of parents end up cutting the tip of the pacifier little by little until it becomes useless OR they poke holes in the tip until it stops doing its job. We went with cold turkey because of the whole paci in each hand thing. And Kaiden really is an out of sight out of mind kind of boy.
As far as the unintended consequence from this whole thing goes, I think getting rid of his pacifiers has made him a tiny bit more independent and less needy. Instead of asking me to hold him all day, he actually plays on his own and entertains himself 10x better than he did before. I have no idea if these things are related, but both Vishnu and I feel that the pacifiers enabled more whiny behaviors. Now that he can’t attach those things to his mouth all day long, he’s breaking other attachments too. But don’t worry, I still force my kisses on him!
If you’re at a point where you feel like the pacis need to go, just go for it! It might be painful for up to a week, but kids adjust so quickly. I was telling Vishnu how I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders now that we just did it. He told me to thank him! HA!
Thanks for sharing your story. It is always great to hear words of confirmation and encouragement, especially when you’re looking to take the leap. Glad to hear it worked out for you — albeit, after a slightly rough week!