(Taken last week while sick)
It's no secret that older toddlers and preschoolers walking around with paci's in their mouth drives me crazy. Paci's have their time and place. Personally, I do not believe that is in a 3 year olds mouth. :) The AAP recommends using a paci until the age of one to help prevent SIDS. Some kids take to them and some don't. Olivia took to hers right away. I was fine with this. I fully intended on taking it away at one. There is no way I was going to be a hypocrit.
Well...... she turned one in the summer when I was working 11 and 12 hour days and she was having to nap in a very uncomfortable pack n play at Little Man's house. I was not about to take away the ONE and ONLY thing that would even remotely help that sleep situation. And to be honest, I was OK with that. She wasn't a 2 year old yelling from the back of a shopping cart, trying to talk and balance that paci in her mouth all at the same time. Plus, it was only used for sleeping, so I wasn't worried about it impeding any talking. So I decided I would take it away after the summer.
Well...... then we moved. I figured we might as well wait until we do that little transition. What's the difference in a few weeks?! A friend's pedi had told her to take it away no later than 18 months, because that is when they can fully understand and start asking for it and having melt downs over it being taken away. Then another person said that her father in law was a dentist and recommended not taking it away too soon. If they replace the paci with their thumb then you are in big trouble. So I felt a little reassured and vowed it would be gone by 18 months.
Well..... then two weeks turned into three and then four and I was scared to take it away. She knew what to call it and was attached. Not necessarily to sucking on it, but more as a comforting tool. She didn't even sleep with it in her mouth. Most of the time she liked to play with it in her hands.
We talked about taking it away.... then she got strep, oh and all 4 molars at once. I figured comfort is comfort, right? (Yep, momma was scared!!!!!!!)
Finally about a month ago Michael said, "Umm, so when are we taking the paci away?" I said, "Not before we spend 16 hours in the car and a week sleeping in strange places!" I'm not crazy!
So when we got back from Thanksgiving we yet again had the "when?" conversation. Well, I wanted to do it over a weekend (Hello! Reinforcements, yo!) and I had an all day event the first weekend of the month. Then she got sick. Do you see a cycle here?
Unfortunately, she's been sick for about a week and a half now. She's on the mend though. However, her sleep got REALLY messed up. To the point where we thought we were going to have to sleep train her all over again. So we figured if we had to have a battle on our hands, why not kill two birds with one stone?
Michael put her to bed on Sunday night without the pacis. She stood around talking and playing for about a half hour, but laid down to sleep without a fight. I knew nap time was going to be the bigger battle though. She did cry for about a half hour. She never once asked for a paci, and honestly I don't think the crying was all because of the paci. She was mad that I had just used the aspirator on her nose. She was mad because I was putting her to bed and she had decided sleep was no longer necessary. So I'm sure it was a mix of things.
Then tonight it was 10 minutes and she was out. So we did it! Once again it was much easier than I had worked it up to be in my head. This has been proven time and time again with her, but every time I think "yeah, but this is different". So I can proudly say we gave up the paci before 18 months. It may only be a week before 18 months, but it was before 18 months. :)
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