I was never one to be a huge fan of little ones with pacis in their mouths 24/7, but Savannah had a mind of her own. She LOVED them. She NEEDED them. And let's face it.....I was tired. If she was happy with a paci in her mouth and I could get some rest, then so be it!
Anyway, back to the point of this post....the paci is gone! Sometime around her birthday we had gotten down to only using the paci in her bed and in the car. I couldn't even imagine getting rid of it completely, because Savannah actually would hold the paci in her mouth all night long (not dropping it after nodding off like most kids do.) Within the last few months, though, I started to realize that her addiction was getting worse, not better. Since she knew where her pacis were during the day (in her crib), she had taken to banging on her bedroom door, crying and whining for them whenever we were at home. I was talking to my mom about this new little problem, and she said, "Well, maybe it's time to be done with the paci." As I went on trying to explain to her why she wasn't ready, and why it would be better to wait a few more months, maybe until her 2nd birthday, I realized that there really weren't any good reasons to wait! Why not do it now?
I talked it over with Matt and we decided to take them away. We waited until his summer break started, in case we had to suffer sleepless nights. So Monday was the day. In retrospect, this probably wasn't the greatest day to do it, since she had missed her nap the day before due to a busy schedule, but I was eager to put our plan in place. We gathered up the pacis in the morning and put them in a Ziploc bag. I told Savannah that she was a big girl and didn't need them anymore, so we were going to throw them away and say, "Bye-bye pacis! I don't need you because I'm a big girl!" Savannah loves to throw things in the trash, so she happily tossed the bag in there and said, "Bye-bye!" I told her she was such a big girl, and she happily replied, "Big girl!" and skipped off to play.
A few hours later it was nap time. Savannah asked for her pacis. I reminded her that they were gone. She went to the garbage, and I showed her that they weren't there any more. I told her the garbage man took them away because she doesn't need them anymore. She was not happy. She cried, but after only 15 minutes she was out. Unfortunately, she woke up 45 minutes later. We went about our afternoon, and then bedtime came. She was very agitated during her bedtime routine (she would normally have the paci as we read a book, sang, and prayed.) She asked for her paci; I reminded her that they were gone. I told her that she was a big girl and that I was so proud of her. I reminded her that she could cuddle her babies and blankets to help her sleep, and then I left her room. She screamed terribly for about five minutes and I went in when I thought she might throw up.
She was NOT a happy camper. I sat in the rocking chair with her, rocking her and singing to her and telling her all the fun things that she could do now that she was becoming such a big girl. Want to hear my confession? I think I was just as upset this first night as she was. I felt SO badly for taking away her favorite comfort item, and I really wanted to just hand them back to her and allow her to pop them in her mouth and look like my tiny baby again. I seriously wanted to cry, too. But....I didn't. After I had her almost asleep, I put her down. She whimpered a bit but then fell asleep.....and slept all night long. I was shocked! I seriously thought she would be up all night looking for her paci. When she woke up in the morning we lavished her with praise and told her we were so proud of her.
Yesterday was day two, and things were easier. She asked for them a few times, but ultimately slept at both nap time and bedtime just fine. The main difference has been that she wants to "cuddle cuddle" in the rocking chair much longer at sleep time. She used to cuddle for a minute or two but then be fine to get in bed. Now, she asks to cuddle repeatedly, getting upset if I try to put her in her crib, and wanting to be rocked almost to sleep. For now I am rocking her until she gets very drowsy and I see her eyelids droop, and then I put her down. She usually cries a minute or two but then drifts off.
On today, day three, we had a little surprise for Savannah. We told her that since she has been such a big girl and because we are so proud of her, we were taking her to Toys R Us to pick out a new toy. We walked her to the baby doll aisle, and oh my goodness, was she happy! She kept exclaiming "Baby!!! Baby!! Hug! Baby!" We took a bit of time showing her a few different ones, and finally she made her selection.
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| She was so happy to have that doll! |
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| "If I knew this was coming, I would've gotten rid of those pacis a long time ago!" |
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