Project Pacifier

Tyler turned 2 in June and still takes a pacifier at naptime and bedtime. I have been wanting to do away with them for some time now but have procrastinated. He is so dependent on them for sleeping; they really soothe him, and I don't think he's going to give them up easily. Some of the other moms in our playgroup used the method of cutting them, and it worked like a charm. Their children just said they were broken, threw them in the trash, and that was it! I decided to try this. (uh oh!) Yesterday I cut one and put it where Tyler would find it, just to test the waters. He found it, looked at it with confusion, decided it was broken, and what do you know, he threw it away! I cut two more last night, which he threw away this morning. And I just cut the tips off the rest a little while ago. I'm thinking even if he doesn't view these as garbage-worthy, he won't enjoy sucking on one with the tip cut off, so either way it should work, I hope. I'm afraid this is really going to affect his sleep. I'll have to see how naptime goes today. More to come...

Update

Naptime was difficult, as I imagined it would be. He found all of his pacifiers broken and threw them away. He asked for one when it was time to lay down but of course there weren't anymore. Tyler didn't know how to relax without his pacifier. It took him about 30 minutes to wind down, but he did eventually fall asleep and nap for 2 1/2 hours. But tonight was a different story. Tonight Jeff put Tyler to bed and he didn't even ask for a pacifier!!! AMAZING!!! And he fell asleep just like any other night. I never imagined it would go that smoothly. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll do fine through the night and we'll be doing even better tomorrow! (Whew! Big sigh of relief!)

A rough night

Tyler woke up around 1 a.m. and didn't want to go back to sleep. He never does this. He has been sleeping through the night since he was a small baby. He was wired and couldn't relax to go back to sleep. He didn't fall asleep until probably close to 3:30. Not the greatest night! I hope that things go better for him today. I knew not having his pacis would be tough...

A couple days later

Tyler is doing better and has slept through the night the last couple of nights. It still takes him a long time to relax, but we are working on it! He is definitely improving!