I am not afraid to admit that I was terrified about having to take away the pacifier from Little Piñata. From the time we brought him home it was our go-to soother for him. We never left him with a baby-sitter or at the church nursery without it! It was the only thing that kept him from screaming all day at the part-time daycare he was at in the fall. He was definitely very attached, so I was quite worried about how this transition would go. At home, the only time he had it was during his nap and at night, and we loved that it would keep him quiet and calm in the mornings until at least 7am (most of the time). It was his “wuvey” and he LOVED it!

But, when Mr. Piñata’s mom (an amazing speech pathologist) came to visit on Memorial Day Weekend and suggested that it might not be good for the development of his teeth (he may have the beginnings over an overbite), I decided we needed to wean him from it immediately. But, Mr. P and I were both so scared about it! Because we were leaving town just 5 days later I knew we would need to make it as quick and as ‘cold turkey’ as possible, so the night my in-laws left we didn’t give Little Piñata the pacifier. He had actually been using a pacifier that was connected to a soft, little blanket, so we talked about how now that he was such a big boy he would have his blankie, but not the lovey.

There were no tears shed and he just smiled about it. I was a little surprised by this, but breathed a sigh of relief. But, when bedtime came along, this kid would.not.sleep! Usually I would joke that we could just throw him in his crib with a sleep sack and his lovey and he’d go right to sleep within 5 minutes because that’s pretty close to what he did! (Another big reason why I didn’t want to get rid of the beloved pacifier). But, the first night without the pacifier he cried on and off and rolled around and played and talked in his crib for at least 2 hours. I went in fairly frequently and would rock him and soothe him, but he just couldn’t fall asleep. I knew he wasn’t being stubborn and just felt so sad for our poor little guy! It was as if his only sleep “tool” was taken away from him. That first night he didn’t fall asleep until at least 2.5 hours after I originally put him to bed and I definitely had to rock him to sleep.

ADVERTISEMENT


Look mom! No pacifier!

He also woke up really early the next morning crying and wouldn’t go back to sleep. And I had to rock him to sleep for his nap too. This pattern continued into the second day as well and I was pooped from all the rocking. Plus, I was also really worried that without his pacifier, he would need me to rock him to sleep for the rest of his life! (It was more than a slight exaggeration, but yes, I worried we were creating a new bad habit.)

After 2 days and nights of him waking super early and needing a whole lot of help to fall asleep, we decided that our ‘cold turkey’ approach might have been a bit too drastic to start with. We really wanted him to continue to sleep through the night, so we decided that when we would go to bed between 10 and 11pm, we would put the pacifier in his crib so he would have it if he woke up in the night or early in the morning. And once he got better at FALLING asleep on his own without the pacifier, we would then work on him not having it in the middle of the night and early morning. And I’m so glad we decided to change our method a bit. This way we knew he would get a good nights’ sleep even if it took a long time and a lot of help from us to fall asleep.

We actually gave him his pacifier during nap and bedtime when we were on vacation too, which is probably not recommended, but I knew I wanted him to sleep well while we were visiting my sister. I was surprised that when we returned home and told him there was no more pacifier, he did great without it from then on out! At that point we didn’t even give him the paci for the middle of the night, and he started staying asleep all night and staying quiet in his crib in the early morning (if he happened to wake up super early) and I’m glad to say that for a month Little Piñata has been pacifier-free!

Looking back, it was actually a whole lot easier than I feared. The first couple of days when he would cry and ask for it were really hard. I was afraid we had started the process too early or too late, but in retrospect 2 years old was the perfect timing for him. And actually, since we got rid of it, he has done perfectly in all his childcare situations where he used to have meltdowns and need his lovey. I have no idea how this compares to other kids, but I think Little P was extremely flexible and great about learning how to sleep without it. I knew when he turned 2 we would have 3 big upcoming transitions — pacifier weaning, potty-training, and the transition to a big-boy bed. And I’m so, so grateful to be past that first big one!

When did you wean your little ones from the pacifier? What was the transition like for your family?