Bye Bye Binky?

[erien22846]

I'm no expert. DS never took one. However, DD relied on one only to put herself to sleep and then broke herself of the habit around 5 months (now 6 months old). Then she started teething and this past weekend she needed it 24/7. So I'm okay with her having it to get through a few rough patches. Teething is bad enough without the stress of no binky! Or I'm just making excuses for why I don't need to break her of the habit because that sounds like hell.

She's also at a stage that if she can find the binky, she can get it back in her mouth. But most often she spits the binky out of the crib. I have NO idea how it always ends up UNDER the crib!

[happyfeet9]

DS was pretty dependent on his paci to begin with and would cry when it fell out. But he has gotten to the point where he spits it out on his own when he is sound asleep.

Not sure if you're using these, but I also bought the glow in the dark MAM paci for him to use during bedtime. He can find it on his own and pop it back in easier.

[mlee116]

I don't know how helpful I'll be, but I'm Team Binky (for now). I'm in no rush to break her of it yet since it is one of the ways she soothes herself and I like that she has that when she's with DH or at daycare. Plus, she does not like to nurse to sleep- she wants to nurse then wants the paci and nothing but the paci. She's starting to be able to grab it and put it back in.

DS was similar, although he didn't really like the paci until he was a little older than DD. This might be a FFC, but I would put a few pacis in his crib every night so he'd be able to find one and the only reason I put his mesh bumper in was so that the pacis would quit falling out!

[amiee]

I wouldn't stress about it yet. Honestly I don't remember when my oldest stopped using his paci. LO is now rejecting hers in favor of her thumb.... which will be harder to break.

[danizee]

We are slowly weaning him off his "wubby" by only offering it when he absolutely needs it (ie meltdown in car). Luckily when he started his "must chew all the things" phase about two months ago, he stopped really wanting his paci and usually chews on the wubbanub animal instead. Pretty sure I'm just going to cut the paci part off! My husband and I both had bad ear infections as kids starting at 5 months and both had to have tubes. I don't know if taking away a pacifier will help much with LO and his ears but this is probably the only thing I have control over.

[rn536]

Jun 9, 2015 9:46:25 GMT -5 amiee said:

I wouldn't stress about it yet. Honestly I don't remember when my oldest stopped using his paci. LO is now rejecting hers in favor of her thumb.... which will be harder to break.

Yup! My 4 year old DD still sucks her thumb.

[birch113]

Jun 9, 2015 13:42:43 GMT -5 vigorousbabymama said:

Jun 9, 2015 9:42:43 GMT -5 Miss Killjoy said:

My colleague put twelve pacifiers in her son's crib every night so he could always find one.

In a similar vein, I have a friend that put 4 or 5 wubanub pacifiers - the ones with a small stuffed animal attached - in her daughters crib each night for the same reason. She could always find one and they were easier to get back in while she was half asleep.

I've been considering getting a wubanub for exactly that reason!

[birch113]

I should add that I stopped counting after 6 MOTN wake ups last night. I have zero intention of taking the binky until I'm getting any kind of sleep again.

[amyface813]

Jun 9, 2015 20:49:26 GMT -5 birch113 said:

I should add that I stopped counting after 6 MOTN wake ups last night. I have zero intention of taking the binky until I'm getting any kind of sleep again.

How does this even happen? I've been there and I swear there isn't even enough to time during the night to have this many wake ups! Sorry, hope your day isn't too terrible...

[mlee116]

Jun 9, 2015 20:49:26 GMT -5 birch113 said:

I should add that I stopped counting after 6 MOTN wake ups last night. I have zero intention of taking the binky until I'm getting any kind of sleep again.

I'm sorry.  I hope you get some better sleep soon!

[happyfeet9]

birch113 I'm so sorry, I really hope you get some sleep soon!

[kookooma]

I did it with my oldest just before he turned one. He was fairly dependent on it for comfort when going to sleep. I actually snipped a slit in the end so when he sucked on it it pinched his tongue a little bit. Then we would go "oh oh! Its broken!" And make a big deal of it. We did it with all his binkies. It was hard for a few nights with the broken binkies but he got over it fairly quickly.

[kwikwi8181]

My LO has had a wubbanub since day one and one thing I love is that, given the shape, it's much harder for her to throw out of the crib. It usually gets hung up and ends up laying where she can reach it. So far it hasn't made it out of the crib!

[nbateman5]

I know this has been discussed a while ago but heads up to the mommas who use wubanubs and soothies when their babies have teeth. They're not suggested beyond 6 months because they can break down so they recommend switching to a more orthodontically appropriate paci.

[jesster88]

This is a strange solution, but DS hasn't wanted his paci at night since we started using an A&A muslin sleep sack. He loooooves to chew and suck on the muslin. We always keep a muslin within reach for spitup and DS lives to grab them and chew on them.

[chicorojo]

Jun 11, 2015 9:11:01 GMT -5 bunattack said:

So, last night the first 4 hours of LO's sleep he woke up 4 times, all for Binky retrieval. Mama can't hang with that anymore. We're attempting to wean the Binky starting today. It just took 30 minutes of on and off crying, but he went to sleep without his binky for the first time since he was a month old. Surprisingly he wasn't super pissed crying. Just kind of yelling out for a minute followed by a minute or two of silence repeated over and over. I feel bad about taking it away, but if he's going to wake up pissed 6+ times a night when he loses it I'm going to go mad. I tried the many pacis in the crib, but that didn't work. Anyway, fingers crossed this is goes smoothly!

Fx !

[chicorojo]

bunattack yay ! That is awesome!

[chicorojo]

Jun 12, 2015 6:43:46 GMT -5 bunattack said:

And bye bye Binky!!! LO slept from 8:30 to 6:30 with just one 15 minute wake up! Hopefully this continues and wasn't just an anomaly. I'll keep you posted.

That is amazing !!

[mcm]

Just one of the many reasons MCM refuses to use/like pacifiers -- dependency.

Good luck, mama!

[kboyet]

bunattack, I just realized that the handouts I sent you have info about pacifiers too so hopefully that will help!

[emichellej]

Reading this almost makes me want to try and take LO's paci away. She has a pretty intense scream and is pretty dependent on the paci. Maybe over summer we will attempt it....