Pacifier Success!

You all remember the post I made about taking away the pacifiers, right? Yeah, I thought so. Well, we took the plunge this weekend. Saturday we said, this is it, no more prep work, it's time to say goodbye to those nasty pacifiers. Our prep work up to this point had been to tell her every night that because she was 3 she wouldn't get to have her pacifiers much longer. She was a big girl and big girls didn't use pacifiers. Every time we said this she would become very upset until we gave her the pacifier and said goodnight. One time we even tried to bribe her with the promise of gum after she woke up, and that was a mess. So on the big day (Saturday) we decided to do some research about the best way to go about this process. Thank heaven's for Google, that's all I have to say. We learned that people had the most success when they cut the tip off the pacifier and then gave it to the child. Since there was no more suction it was less satisfying and the child gave it up faster. So Doug cut the pacifiers, and I was in charge of breaking the news to her. We went through the normal bedtime routine, and then I took her into her room and gave her the modified pacifier.

She put it in her mouth--"Uh oh, it's broken!" She holds it out to me.
I say "Oh no. Well, that's what happens when you turn three, you're pacifiers break."
She said--"We have to fix it!"
I said--"I'm sorry honey, but we can't fix it. It's broken because you turned three." At this point I was trying not to laugh, because she was just so concerned.
She says--"Oh, okay."
I leave the room.

That was it! No crying, no screaming, no fussing, nothing! I was floored! It did take her a little longer than normal to fall asleep, but she didn't even try to get out of bed or anything. It was actually one of the more successful bed times I've had. Amazing. The next night, we cut them even shorter, so the only way she can keep it in her mouth is by biting it with her front teeth. She looked at it funny and then rolled over and went to sleep. I just can't get over it. My daughter continues to surprise me every day. I thought it was going to be weeks of screaming and crying and whining and awfulness. Nope. Not even a hiccup. Definitely the only way to go. Weaning Eloise was harder than this, and she wasn't even that bad! So there you have it folks. In my opinion, this is the only way to wean a pacifier.