For months now, I have been planning to wean Maddy off her ever-more addicting pacifier. Apparently, children get MORE attached to the thing as they get older, so I've been dreading it. Putting it off. Avoiding it. But Ray suggested that we take advantage of our trip to visit our families and accidentally "leave" the pacifiers there.Make no mistake, it wasn't an accident and we didn't leave them there. That makes it doubly difficult when Maddy is asking, pleading and crying for her pacifier!!
We arrived home from our two-week vacation a week ago and we started our experiment that night. We figured that Maddy would be out of sorts after the vacation and all the traveling, so might as well add fuel to the fire and go for broke. Boy, did she wail! I think I was crying just as hard as she was, and it was so hard because I knew exactly where the object of her desire was. If Ray hadn't been strong, I would've broken down.
But I have to say, since that first night, it's been bearable. Not enjoyable, but bearable. Maddy still asks for her pacifier daily but isn't crying for it. The worst side effect is that, since her mouth isn't plugged up, she won't quiet down and GO TO SLEEP when it's bedtime or naptime!! She talks to her bear, her babies, Cady, herself, whoever. It's taking her an average of an hour to fall asleep at naptime. And for those of you who know me well, you know that I don't like variations in sleep schedules ... but we're surviving!!
2 comments:
We took the pacifier from Stevie in January, when we were on a trip too! He was totally having withdrawals. He would wake up looking all over the crib for his paci. The first night was the worst for all of us.
That is quite funny! I knew it was time by the look in your eye when you took it away from her at Dad's house.
Post a Comment