Samantha was a very colicy baby and as a consequence, we used the paci a lot. It was one of the only things that calmed her down. To start, it was just when she was sleeping. Then stupid me said "look how cute she is sucking her paci" and encouraged her to use it all the time. What a mistake!! A while back though we broke that habit, and now she only takes the paci for naps/bedtime and while we are driving in the car. She can typically do okay without it in the car, however if she is tired it's a completely different story!!
I talked to her in the car about the Schnuller Fairy (we call the paci a schnuller) and said that the Schnuller Fairy was going to come over night and take all her pacis to babies who needed them. She seemed pretty on board and was good about saying "no more schnullers" and "no crying". I didn't have high hopes but I figured we'd try it out.
Before bed we collected all her pacis from her bed, 7 of them!!!, and put them on the landing for the Schnuller Fairy. She happily waved goodbye to them and then we headed in to her room.
Of course, the first thing she did was run to her bed and frantically look around saying, "Where's my schnuller?" I told her again that we put them outside for the Schnuller Fairy and she seemed okay. I read her two books and then put her to bed. Then the fun began! She was NOT a happy camper. She kept sitting up and slamming her head into her pillow and I could tell she was very restless. Thankfully only a little crying but nothing awful. I went up once and laid with her and she was fine while I was in there, but as soon as I left, she got upset again. Finally after 30 minutes my husband had had enough and he went up and gave her two of the pacis back. Can you guess what happened next? She instantly fell asleep.
Our plan for now is to keep her at 2 pacis and see how she does. We originally had more so that if she lost one in the night there was always another close by. We won't keep her at 2 for long though and will either remove one or both of them next. Hopefully it goes a little smoother. Maybe if I lay with her longer.
When she woke up this morning there was a note waiting for her!
She found it right away and was very excited to see what it said!
Samantha was all smiles as we read the note and seemed excited at the idea of a little surprise once all her pacis are gone. Hopefully it won't be much longer!
Did you have a paci addicted kid? How did you get them to break the habit?
2 comments:
that's such a good idea to help her get over them and give them up. Smart momma. Thankfully I never had that but I have fingers to deal with and well I can't detach those..so I'll be in a world of hurt when it's that time.
I have never known anyone to use them, but I've seen plastic finger guard things that you can put over their fingers so they can't suck them.
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