Anyway, the pacifier is gone and we got rid of it by weaning. I’ll be honest with you, I had no idea when I wanted to get rid of the thing. We were minding our own business and then suddenly my cousin’s 10-month old twins and my friend’s19-month old toddler were all pacifier free!
I was amazed that I was suddenly behind the curve. I did my research and found that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends complete weaning from the pacifier (and thumb sucking) by 24 months. My baby was only 18 months at the time so I considered waiting a bit longer but the more I read and talked with friends the more I began to fear the wait would just make things harder. With the support of friends and our sitter, I made the decision to dive in.
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| 6 months |
In the case of my friend’s toddler and my cousin’s twins, their mother’s took the cold turkey approach. Warrior women, they are. I, however, chose not to do that to myself or Baby P. It’s not that I’m against the cold turkey method, per say, it’s really about me not wanting to deal with the backlash of an angry toddler.
We weaned from breastfeeding to bottles and then from bottles to cups with success so I’m thinking we are weaners and not turkeys… pause for laughs.
We started by taking the pacifier away during outside play. This was during the summer months so there was quite a bit of that. Before we left the house we would say “You have to leave the pacifier, go put it on the table.” and her love for being outdoors always trumped the paci.
After a week or so of this, we moved on to keeping the pacifier away all day except for naptime and bedtime. This presented a bit of a problem during her meltdowns but we powered through with a lot of cuddling.
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| 12 Months |
Eventually, we were able to get her down for a nap without the pacifier and last but not least, we tackled bedtime. This one can still be difficult, but each day it gets a little bit easier.
At some points I doubted myself. Seeing her desperately searching for it during meltdowns was really a test. On the flip side, not having to wake up in the middle of the night and search for a pacifier makes it all worth it. Not to mention, her screams of frustration when she’s falling asleep in the car seat and can’t keep the stupid pacifier in her mouth are long gone!
It has been a month and a half since she has used the pacifier on a daily basis and I am really glad it’s gone. Ever since we got rid of the paci her speech has improved greatly and she has grown steadily more independent. There was a threat of thumb sucking after a few days of no paci but I nipped that in the bud right away!
The slow weaning method worked for us and I would suggest trying it with the warning that once you start make sure they don’t see it again or you’ll have to start over!
Good Luck Mommas!
