So, um, mission aborted!
Holy Cow - Carson loves his paci. He wasn't just mad, he was freaking out. We've never seen him express that kind of behavior before. Just to clarify -- he only gets his paci in his crib, so all this happens during bed/naptime. But we now realize we need to find a way for him to get some closure -- and our next attempt won't happen during an already busy weekend (I painted the living room and we were stressed out enough w/o a screaming baby).
April 2024
1 hour ago
6 comments:
Amber,
if it makes you feel any better, Carsen had her paci until she was at least 3. I decided to ignore everything the pediatrician told me and just let her have it. When she was old enough to understand what was going on in her world, we had a bye bye paci party and tied each paci to a balloon and floated them up in the sky (to be with Jesus). She also got one present for each paci that went bye bye. It was a hard day or so, but then it was totally fine. Also, at least 5 of my other friends let their kids have their paci's until they were 3ish...not trying to persuade you to do anything, but just telling you that it is not a must that they get rid of it at a certain time.
oh that's a great idea, katrina. thanks!!! i really don't mind the paci, and i'm not feeling a lot of pressure from others, but i think dan wants to get rid of it ... we'll see.
I don't think Jesus and the paci is theologically accurate...at least I don't ever remember that in the pictures ; )
In case you were wondering about the Paci Party details, here is the link to Katrina's blog. Lee and I thought this was great.
http://simonandkatrina.blogspot.com/2009/08/bye-bye-paci.html
After my friend and I cried for Carson today, she told me her daughter had done exactly the same thing as Katrina. Carson may even give it up on his own when he is a little older. My three kids did. Right, Daniel? When was the last time you saw Amber's paci?
It sounds like you've gotten plenty of encouragement...but we also bailed on our first bye bye paci attempt (and we had cut all the ends off - supposedly that removes the suction they like, and then they give it up on their own. You leave it in the crib with them, so they still have it, it just doesn't work.) He didn't throw fits or anything, but he also didn't sleep. He went from sleeping 10 hours at night and taking 2 naps a day to waking up between 5 and six and hardly napping at all. And my joyful, friendly, happy child was having 18 meltdowns a day. I stuck to my guns for about 10 days, but it was just too much. And obviously he wasn't ready.
I love my pediatrician, but she likes for them to be off the paci by 15 months - and when I asked about it (what could possibly be less healthy for him than getting SIX hours less sleep a day?), she suggested I help him find his THUMB. Because the paci is bad for their teeth, but the thumb isn't. Whatever. Having a niece who sucked her thumb until first grade, I was like, "Lady, you're crazy."
As we left the doctor's office, I told Luke, "We always do what the doctor tells us. Except not going this time." :)
So back I went to Target to buy more pacis. He went back to sleeping all the way through the night, but he's never napped the same again, even with the paci.
We tried again later (maybe around 2), figuring we'd try for 2-3 days and see if he seemed more ready (but this time, I only cut one, left it in there for him - he only had his in the crib too - and hid the others so if it didn't work I wouldn't have to buy more.) That worked like a charm. He talked about it alot - told every one we say, "Boken paci!" - but after a day or so, he was sleeping through the night and napping (sort of) normally again.
All that to say... I think you know when your kid is ready. I think the suck reflex does wear off, but there's no magic date. And you're totally not there yet, I imagine, but the same thing goes for potty training.
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