To start off, I've never been opposed to binky's. Mae loved hers from day one and it was a lifesaver. For Will, I think its been more of a habit because he is mostly happy all the time and often throws his out of his crib in the night and still sleeps fine. Anyway, both Mae and Will are pretty attached to theirs now. Mae is just over 3 years old and Will is 20 months. I want to just be done with them and deal with the sadness and never have to think about the dang things ever again! It is always a scramble to find a paci (Or SASSI, as Will calls it), or take them with us when we go somewhere, or make sure they are clean... and I'm tired of it. They are annoying to ME but then again, what harm is it doing to them? Mae's dentist even said not to worry about it until she is in kindergarten! So it is really only bugging me. Will it harm them if I take them away? Will I regret it years down the road? Is it THAT big of a deal, or am I just panicking over nothing? I have no idea. All I know is Mae and Will are not little babies anymore. They are still small but what about that need to suck thing? When does that wear off? Do they really NEED them or is it just a habit? Have you weaned any of your children? Any advice?
6 comments:
I grew tired of McKenzie having a binky, too. At first, I told her that binkies were only for bedtime and she had to leave them in her bed. Once we got that down, I tried a few times to take it away completely, but always gave in after a few hours of misery. Eventually, she listened when we told her she was too big for a binky, and she was done. Just like that! I've heard of some people cutting the tips off of the binkies, wrapping them up to give to new babies, or setting them out for the binky fairy to take away and leave a prize in its place.
Good luck!!!
I have no idea about binkies, Hailee is just 3 months. BUT I DO know that I am SO happy to have your blog address! I haven't read all that is going on, but you kids are darling and I am excited to know a bit about your life. Thanks for you comments and I look forward to keeping in touch!!!
I can only tell you how it was for my kids, since every kid is different. Do with the "advice", what you you will.
I had one that was just over 3 and one that was turning 2. I was sick of the hassle of them. One day, we just threw them all away without them knowing. Then, when they asked for them, we just told them they were lost. It was an issue for about 3 days and you could be in for some temper tantrums, but if you can stick through them, they will let it go rather quickly.
That worked for them.
When we decided to get rid of bottles/binkies for my oldest child, when she was about 1, she actually helped put them all in a walmart bag and carried them out to the garbage and threw them away. She was just done.
So, gauge the attitude and readiness of your kids and roll with it.
Or not. If you don't mind the hassle (but, it sounds like you do), then leave them be.
Well, Grace never got attached. At a very young age (just a few months) she realized that her binki was associated with being put to bed, so she didn't care for them much. But I did have one idea. I know they make something you paint on a child's thumb to get them to stop sucking it. I wonder if you could use it on a binki? You might ask a pharmacist? If it was safe, then they would choose to stop using them and they may not get mad at you. Who knows, though...
All I can say is that we tried to cut it out cold turkey with Tanner & I ended up in Walmart at 2 am cos I couldn't handle it anymore!! Wimp, I know. We also tried to cut it down to a little nub, but that just got me more crying and another trip to Walmart. I guess I am saying, I am no help in this department, but good luck!!
I think the consensus here is as long as Walmart's involved you're doing something right.
It seems to me there are addicts (Mae) and non-addicts (Will) when it comes to pacifiers. I think you'd probably have to use different approaches for each. Ours was a non-addict so the time-to-be-big approach seemed to work well (albeit with some agony). Her addict cousins on the other hand seemed to do well with the trade-the-binkies-in-for-a-toy-at-the-toy-store approach (handing over the sales-clerk the binkies and everything).
There's also a Santa Clause house not far from us in France that has a Christmas tree decorated with bottles and pacifiers where kids can "give" Santa their sucker for Christmas by hanging it on the tree. But I'm not sure if that would be more extensive then you planned.
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