The first night without a pacifier!!

[Anonymous]

I just have to tell someone – so, I’ll post it here.

My dd will be exactly 3-1/2 on Sunday and has been addicted to her paci to go to sleep for naps and nighttime. She would like to have it all the time, but knows that it is only for in bed.

We had planned to get rid of it after she got adjusted to her brother’s birth 15 months ago. Then came his endless crying and “colic” (actually reflux and MFPI) for 7-1/2 months, so she became even more addicted to it and to her “Lambie”. The past 7 months have been in turmoil due to my ds’s nighttime reflux wakings and my father’s death.

So, now…the time is as right as it will be. We have been talking it up for months that her paci has to go. She used to have three, but two fell in the toilet during potty training a long time ago. This last one has had a hole in it for ages (it grosses me out to think of the germs it has harbored). Tonight, we cut the nipple off from it and she threw it in the garbage can. Yeah. We were going to take her to Build A Bear and sew the handle into a bear, but she decided she’d rather have (of all things) a bulldozer instead. Go figure. She actually ended up choosing a plastic tool set so she can be like “Handy Manny”.

My husband decided to sit in the room with her as she went to sleep tonight to help her go to sleep. I could hear her talking for a long time, but now she’s asleep.

It made me tear up to watch her put it in the trash and hear her say “I’m going to miss my paci”. I know that she needed to get rid of it, but it hurts me to know that this remnant of her babyhood is gone. (Thankfully she still loves Lambie. It will be sad when she stops sleeping with Lambie. Kind of like the velveteen rabbit story.)

Thanks for letting me ramble. I needed to tell someone about this historic day!

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Oh that’s so sweet! What a big girl!! I hope the rest of the transition is smooth sailing! Congrats to Elizabeth!!!

[Anonymous]

That is a beautiful story. I have had many other mom’s tell me how hard it is to get rid of the paci…. Cooper loves his, but does spit it out after he falls alseep and occasionally will fall asleep without it…. but he is only 3.5 months not 3.5 years…. I hope you continue to have wonderful paci free nights!

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Awww! I remember Luke getting rid of his too. It was so sad to see him not carrying it around anymore. He didn’t seem like my baby once he let it go. We actually got rid of his before Justice came along. I am so glad we did or we would have been in the same boat since Justice also had reflux. Thanks for sharing your story.

[Anonymous]

That’s great! I’m glad to hear that it went well. We are planning to have the paci fairy come and take Kaelyn’s this summer (once I am out of school, so if we have a few sleepless nights it won’t matter as much). I hope that it goes as well for us! She has only used it at night and naptime for over a year, but she is definitely hooked for those times.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

All the time!

[Anonymous]

That’s so sweet!

[Anonymous]

That made me tear up! I get sad so many different times thinking of how Addy is a toddler now and not a baby. (She’s still my baby though! ) We were going to get rid of the passie this weekend too but I couldn’t even think about it! I love babying her…maybe a little too much!

You guys did a great job!!!

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Hang in there! You’re doing the right thing! She sounds like such a smart and sweet little girl! That is GREAT that you’ll get a “mommy helper” for a few days! My grandma always talks about how it was ‘custom’ when she had my mom that a young girl from the community would come and stay with them for a few weeks to help out with the housework and cooking! Can you imagine! My how times have changed!

[Author]

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