Please respond, we need help! Joel Andrew has enjoyed the binky, but I think it is now time. I am wondering, is 5 weeks enough time between binky withdrawl and a new brother?
He currently only uses the binky at night in the crib, and during naps at home. He goes for naps at school without the bink no problem. In the morning we make him put the bink back in the crib and he does.
Husband thinks we should just leave him have it, since it is only for these two things anyway. But I worry. What if Baby gets here, who has bink all the time, and Joel Andrew wants the bink all the time? What is my Mom, who is weak when it comes to the bink, just gives the kid the bink when she is watching him "Cause he asked for it, leave the kid alone."
What do you think? Can we do it, just stop, tomorrow night? We have a video monitor and I would say that 60% of the time he is sleeping with it...
Advice, please!
Do it now (I did it right at the same time pre-Josephine) but make sure he gets a new sleep object to replace it (we did build-a-bear which frankly the kids could have cared less about and it cost an arm and a leg). Read my blog post - naps were roughest but that only took a few days (maybe 3), bedtime was rough the first night and fine thereafter. Just don't break down if he gets sick or you know, breaks his femur. We stayed strong and they've never asked (we did have to remind Penny a few times that the pacifier was Josephine's). Read my blog about it! http://www.mommyesq.com/2010/10/security-blankets-are-for-weak.html
ReplyDeleteWhoops, we did it after Josephine was born - right after they turned 2. Whatever, but if you wait make sure the pacifier type for the new baby is VERY different than his.
ReplyDeleteI think you could do it - he doesn't sound TOO dependent on it. And cold turkey is fine - that's what we did with both of our kids. We had to do a little light sleep training after the first few days, but all was fine within a week or so. I think if you start right away, the paci will be a distant memory by the time Joel realizes the baby has one.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you find that he's miserable, you can always change your mind. But give it a good shot, first!
We took Lucy's away when she was about 21 months - I think Joel is around that age now, right? She was old enough to understand a little when I told her that paci's were for babies, and that Lucy was a big girl now, so it meant no more paci. I don't think you need to have Joel SEE you get rid of the paci, but you can talk to him about it.
Good luck!
Go for it! We didn't have time to ween Troy off the binky before Ashton came along (he was only 16 months) so Ashton never got one at all. Once you make it through 1 night's sleep w/o it and a nap it's all down hill after that. We had the "Binky Fairy" come to the house. We had taken Troy out the night before to the store and let him pick out what ever "Big Boy Toy" he wanted (ended up being a $400 power wheels but I think that is still cheaper than braces or therapy). My husband went back to the store after bringing us home and bought it. That night Troy went around the house and collected all his binkys put them in a gift bag and left them on the front porch. The next morning there was his truck and he never asked for it again! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to lie- I hated taking Maddy's pacifier away at 18 months old- it was awful. She too only used it in her crib and on planes so I thought it wouldn't be so tough but we watched her on the monitor tearing through her crib looking for it and crying a devastating cry. It was horrible for me, I just cried. We held out though - only because on the advice of another mom I cut the ends off all the ones in the house so I could give it to Maddy and she would see it didn't work anymore (it just made her more mad and she'd huck em at me). Had I left one not cut I probably would have caved!! It took a good week for bedtime and naps to be more regular again, but we did lose a lot of the cute morning play-by-yourself time. Once she woke up with no paci she was done in the crib- that sucked. But after that horrible week she didn't seem to care about other kids pacis so I think you do have time. I would still take your friends advice on using a different brand anyway. Good luck. It's hard at any age. I think I like the idea of waiting till their old enough to bargin with them and trade it for a cool toy- I just didn't want to wait for Maddy to be old enough for that. Kim S.
ReplyDeleteI had one and I quit cold turkey. I was visiting my cousins in Rhode Island and I left it there. They found it but the story my mom told me is that it was never found. I like the idea of trading it for another toy or having a good bye ceremony. You can't take it away and then give it back or else you will never be able to take it away for good. Don't be a softie or play games - just do it and be done with it.
ReplyDelete