The first night without a pacifier!!

Well, that was torture – I just now succeeded getting her to take a nap…after 1-1/2 hours of trying. It would have been soooo simple for her to fall asleep with her paci. At one point she came out and said “I miss the other part of my paci.” I wanted to cry. I know it will get better and she’ll get used to falling asleep without that ‘crutch’. I’m just glad we chose to do this on a 3-day weekend so both my dh and myself are available to help her get to sleep and deal with my ds at the same time.

Thanks for letting me ramble. Its odd how telling someone else about my issues helps me cope better….anyone else feel that way?

Well, tonight didn’t go that great either. MANY times out of bed, lots of flopping around. A paci to suck on and she would have been asleep in no time since we spent a lot of time at the park this afternoon/evening and she was very tired. She even said again “I really miss the other part of my paci” again with such a resigned little voice. Then she suggested that “maybe I could borrow Andrew’s paci” but already knew that I would say “no” since she’s never been allowed to use his paci’s. So, my husband had to go in and sit with her again until she finally fell asleep.

Lately (before the demise of paci) she had started resisting going to bed and it was such a convenient tool to say “If you get out of bed again, I’ll have to take paci away. Should I just take it now?” and she’d always say “no” and stay in bed from that point on. Now, we don’t have that line of reasoning any more.

I’m so glad we picked a three-day weekend to do this on. Plus, I have made arrangments to have a friend’s 13-yr-old daughter be a “mom’s helper” for me on Tues, Wed, and Thurs so she can help with my son if Elizabeth still is having problems going down for her nap without a paci. (Better safe than sorry…!)

I hope each time of successfully going to sleep without a paci to suck on will make it easier for the next time. I personally use a cloth over my eyes to block out the light when I go to sleep and I find it hard to doze off without it. It must be the same for her with sucking on something. And, aside from falling asleep in the car, she has sucked herself to sleep every nap and nighttime since she was a newborn in the hospital (nursing and/or paci). That’s a long history of using a sleep crutch to suddenly have to quit cold turkey.

I know it will get better. And…there is NO WAY we are going to give in and give her another paci again. Her teeth are already angled funny (maybe from the paci) and I’m pretty sure that the phonics sounds she mispronounces are due to her use of the paci.