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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Weaner.

Since becoming a mother, I’ve adopted the “never say never” mentality.  I’m more of a “whatever works at this very moment, go for it” type of mom.  So, that’s why we started giving Anna a pacifier when she was just a few minutes old.  Nah, days.  It kept her from screaming.  It allowed me to hold on to the last ounce of sanity I had.  Win-win, right?

Once the sleep deprivation and hormonal outbursts of early motherhood wore off, I continued giving Anna a pacifier because, hey, she liked it.  Who am I to withhold likeable stuff from my child?

So, now here we are.  I have an almost 2 year old pacifier addict.  We’ve begun the weaning process, and it’s been a very slow and very painful ordeal.  First action, take the paci away from her during the day.  Most days, this works just fine.  Other days, she walks out of her room or another room in the house with a random pacifier that I thought was lost.  How she finds them is beyond me.  She’s like a hound dog with a buried bone.  She can sniff out a pacifier from a 3 mile radius. 

If she doesn’t find one of her own pacifiers, she’ll steal her cousin Jackson’s pacifiers.  It’s always humorous to see my large child sucking on a 0-3 month sized pacifier.  It’s barely big enough to cover her mouth, but she doesn’t care.  She’d suck on a clothes pin at this point because that’s how addicted she is.

If I catch her with a pacifier during the day, she has started doing one of two things:

1) She covers it up with her Dot so as to throw me off.  I mean, no way could she be hiding a pacifier behind her Dot, right?  Smart girl.  Dumb mom.
2) She shoves it down her shirt and sucks it through the fabric.  I walked up to her the other day and noticed she was sucking on her shirt.  When I looked more closely, I noticed the familiar outline of a pacifier nipple.  I give her props for being so inventive, but she clearly didn’t think that would fool me.  Well, OK, it almost did.

I’ve cut off the tips.  She won’t take those, but she begs for another pacifier, so then I’ve ruined a pacifier and can’t find another one.  The screaming ensues.  I go crazy.

So, here’s where we are today:

Anna will sometimes go the entire day without a pacifier, if she finds a random one lying around the house, she will suck it through her shirt. Mom = 0, Anna = 1

She is doing OK with riding in cars without a pacifier.  As long as she has a mouth full of goldfish, she’s golden.  Mom = 1 point, Anna = 0

At night she still requires a pacifier to go to sleep.  If it falls out of her bed in the middle of the night, she can self-sooth and fall back asleep without one .  Mom = 1 point, Anna = 1

So, right now we’re tied 2 to 2.  My goal is to actually win this war.  I need suggestions from the other mothers who have gone through this hell.  I’d really like to have a paci-free child by her 2nd birthday.  So, we have 2 months.

Then on to potty training.  One thing at a time, folks.

annapaci 
For the record, Anna actually did all of this AFTER I wrote this blog.  I promise.

Here’s a video of her hiding it in her shirt.



Here’s a video of her covering it up with Dot.



7 comments:

HarmSkills said...

okay this makes me glad I never gave my son a paci! But ive had to deal with 16 months of FUSSY!

Mungee's Ma said...

Awww, the 2nd video is hilarious(ly cute).

Mungee sucks her thumb likes it's nobody's business. I can't take that away eventually though. I see some sour apple spray in our future ...

Mrs E said...

We're also struggling with the weaning of the paci addict. He also turns 2 in October which was my deadline as well.

I DO love that 2nd video of her covering paci with Dot. So cute. SO CUTE

Allison aka Half of VAMH said...

lol -- love it. More videos please :)

Mandy Ford Art & Illustration said...

Oh man that is one creative child! I'm cracking up at her hiding it under her shirt - she is scary smart Nat. I wish I had some advice but it sounds like you are already on the right track keeping them from her during the day (most of the time) :)

Unknown said...

I'm right there with you. I started potty training Lane a month ago because he was very interested. I had a goal of paci-free by 2, but since we started potty training...I decided to hold off taking the paci. I figured one big change at a time. Ever since he was 1 we only let him have it at night/nap. He has to drop them in his bed before getting out. He turned 2 last week and I am due in 6 weeks with baby # 2...the paci is sometimes a life saver for us! I'm not ready to part :-) So weirdly enough I have a potty trained 2 year old who still takes a paci-not quite how I had planned it! Sorry I'm no help! Sometimes it's just nice to know you're not alone.

M Smith said...

I got my son weaned from his pacifier about a month after his second birthday. I started off way before then, keeping vigorous track of where they were. Gathering them all up in a box high above his bed as soon as he was up for the day (eating breakfast and not concerned that something else should be in his mouth). Once he was comfortable going through the day without it (and I always told him they were only for sleeping time), I was also working on not letting him have it in the car (sometimes difficult on long car rides). Somehow, he quit asking for it for naps, so I never offered. Then, after his 2 year check up, when the Dr. commented on his teeth... I knew it was time to go cold turkey. He only needed it at night, so one night I didn't give it to him. I hid them all on a shelf in the closet (just in case) and went back to rocking him to sleep. He cried soooo hard, but I sang to him and that somehow helped (trust me, I don't know how). It took 3 or 4 nights and he quit asking for it. Good luck with Anna!

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