I have been dreading weening Dakota from her binky for months now. We had her down to just naps and bedtime before Oakey was born, but after his birth, she reverted back to it worse than before. She practically wanted one in her sight 24 hours a day. We wanted to get rid of the binky for 2 reasons.
1. We are sick of always having to find one or bring one with us wherever we go.
2. Keeping the binky in her mouth all the time has interfered with her language development (not that she was behind). But, she improves her language skills a thousand times when she doesn't have the binky.
My concerns were:
1. She wouldn't sleep without it and it would interrupt her WONDERFUL sleeping habits.
2. I would have an ornery child for days if not weeks.
Well, we are on 2+ days without the binky and it is going very well. I was debating on how to get rid of the binky and solicited advice from all my friends. But before I could make a final decision, my brother was admitted to the ICU. The morning of, I packed the kids up to go to the hospital and Rachel offered to watch the kids. Since they aren't allowed in the ICU, I decided to drop off Dakota. In all the craziness, I forgot to pack a binky. When naptime came, Rachel sent her to bed without the binky with fingers crossed. She didn't even ask for it and went to sleep. That's when I decided, there was no turning back! I came home that evening and got rid of all the binkies from sight. Dakota asked for it several times that evening but we just brushed it off. That night, when it was bedtime, we spent some extra quality time with her during her bedtime routine... singing and reading stories and playing around in her bed. When she asked for the binky, I explained that it was "all gone" and the binky had gone "bye-bye". She looked a little confused so I said binky had gone "Nigh-night". She settled with this idea and we left her for sleep. A while later, she came to her door and cried for the binky. Doug went in and she fell asleep after he left. She awoke a 3rd time, very upset, crying for the binky around midnight. I went in and patiently rocked her until she calmed down... she threw a pretty big fit. I told her I didn't have the binky and after a while of rocking her, she requested her bed and went to sleep. The next day, she asked for the binky only a few times and each time I told her it was "all gone". She would ask, "Binky, nigh-night?" and I would say yes. Last night at bedtime, she asked again and before I could answer she said, "binky, nigh-night." and was satisfied to go to bed with only her sippy-cup of water.
She got hurt 2 times yesterday and never once asked for the binky. And so far today, she hasn't even mentioned it. I think we might be in the clear... or at least, over the worst! Which honestly, wasn't that bad. One bedtime tantrum compared to many moments of crying for binky on a daily basis, was well worth it! I think we are almost binky FREE!!!!
3 comments:
Yay! Hopefully the trend continues. After you posted something on facebook the other day about it, I decided what the heck, I'll give it a try with Austin too. I had been dreading it, but never actually TRIED it. I just kept assuming it would be awful. So that night I talked with him for a few minutes about being a big boy, binkies are just for babies, etc, etc. I left his room fully expecting him to start crying for it. Never heard a peep the entire night. And the next morning I asked him if he liked "mitzi" (his nickname for binky), and he said 'No...for Babies. No Mitzi for Austin. Yucky Mitzi.' And he hasn't said a word about wanting it ever since. So, thanks for prompting me into breaking the habit. Who knew it would break so easily. :)
What a milestone. Keep up the good work. Fortunately none of my kids have ever taken to a pacifier.
I will have to keep that in mind when I have to break Keegan from it.Talan never took one so I was worried about how to break Keegan from it when the time came.Your kids are ADORABLE!
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