Jake LOVES his binkie/pacifier/Nuk. LOVES it. Has a serious attachment to it. Must have three to five of them in his crib every night and at each nap. He had been a full-time binkie addict for his first year and a half, but last summer I got him down to binkies only while he was in the crib (and during meltdown emergencies in public, when mommy is driving in traffic, the occaisional diaper change bribe, etc). I've half-heartedly attempted to break him of the binkie habit a few times in the past, but I made the decision that once his second birthday came, that was it. No more. The end.
Well, 'the end' came early. On friday, I cut the tips off of all his binkies as step one of the binkie phase-out. When you cut the tip, the binkie becomes much less satisfying. We had one in his crib for a while with a tip cut off, and he would never use it. If you accidentally gave that one to him when you were bribing him into a diaper change, he would toss it back at you. (Nice, huh?)
So he was frustrating me on Friday (demanding to have the binkie when it wasn't nap time, insisting on the binkie during all diaper changes, wanting to go in his crib just to be with binkie, etc.) when I finally snapped and cut them all. When I tried to put him down for a nap with the altered pacifiers, he flipped out. "Oh, NO! NO NO NO!!!," he yelled from his crib. He was hysterical, so I took him out with me in my office and he just kept picking up each binkie and examining its' wounds. "Oh no! Oh no! No! No!"
So I just took a deep breath and grabbed my camera. :) He eventually left all the binkies on the floor and went along with my idea to do some coloring instead.
Friday's nap took a while, but he finally stopped crying long enough to fall asleep. Friday at bedtime, the same thing happened, but we did give him one altered binkie. Saturday he refused a nap at all, and then last night he went to bed after some serious crying (no binkies at all). Today's nap took a while, but he finally went down. I am hoping tonight will be a little smoother, and then same the next night and so on. So I guess he's been clean and off the binkie since Friday night.
What's funny is that now, since there is no binkie in his mouth at night, he babbles before falling asleep! And calls our names, over and over. Which breaks our hearts, but we keep hearing about the Ferber Method ("let them cry it out") and it seems like the 'right' thing to do. I don't wanna be one of those parents that has to bribe my kids to do anything, or cave in whenever they cry. Okay, so I HAVE been that parent, but I'm trying not to be that way all the time. We discipline Jake, we give him time outs, and we set limits. When he's mean, we make him say sorry. We try to teach him right from wrong. okay... end of tangent...
So we'll be the ones up late tonight cursing because we have to get up early on Monday and there's a screaming toddler in the next room. We'll be second guessing ourselves around 11 pm. And I just found ONE binkie that's still in tact. Just in case ;)
5 comments:
Kelly,
I have been there! And not that long ago either. It was so incredibly "trying" and we too did the Ferber method and man, it was hard.. worth it... but hard.
Now when Landen sees a "nuk" (as we called it)he jsut smiles, and ignores it, he doesn't even take a second glance at it.
In a couple days it will be soon forgotten about and you guys will be stress free... ha ha well not stress free but Binkie free!
It's so hard, isn't it? Cameron wanted no part of a pacifier (no matter how much we tried), but Connor was also hooked at naptime and bedtime. Our pediatrician warned me that after 15 mos it would be a serious battle. So, we took them away cold turkey, and it was bad for about three days, (pointing to where we kept them, screaming his word for pacifier, etc.) but then it was over. I don't think he has thought about one since. My heart melted for you and for Jake when I saw those pictures and read how he kept inspecting each one. It's hard being a mommy! I promise, it will get better, though. Keep us posted and I hope this phase goes quickly for you both.
Taking away the pacifier was not easy! I, unfortunately, made the decision to do it while I was home with Maddy over Christmas, and she was teething. By Wednesday, I wanted to go back to work. She eventually got over it, but our bedtime routine didn't settle down as quickly as I would have liked. She's fine now, but if she manages to get her hands on one, it's right back in her mouth. The worst part about all of this is the fact that she wouldn't take one initially. For some reason we kept trying until she finally took it. Boy were we idiots! We're going to try to avoid using one with this next baby. (It's one of our many "with this next one we're not gonna do" lines)
we took our sons binkie away right before he turned 15 months like our ped. recommended. It was hard but I believe if we would've waited longer, it would have been horrid. In just a couple of days, Jake will have forgotten about them and find something else for him to be addicted to. Ou son likes chewing his finger nails now. AHHHHH!!
Having never truly had a binkie-taking-offspring (not that I didn't try!) I can't totally relate, but MAN those are some wicked photos. Esp. the cut-off-binkie-closeups. You should print, frame and hang that in Jake's room! Okay, maybe that would be too mean of a tease at this point. But, someday...
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