He only used it for his nap and at night, but Michael and I both felt like it was time to wean him off of it. I kinda dreaded doing it because he would sleep so well with it - he would take great long naps and sleep good at night by putting it back in his mouth anytime he would wake up in the middle of the night. So part of me was hesitant on messing with a system that was clearly working well, but I knew it was the right time and needed to be done. I wanted to make sure we were home for several weekends in a row before our travel starts up for the holidays to get him adjusted to sleeping without it. And then I didn't want to wait until after the holidays because then we are basically on a 6 week countdown until baby brother will be born!
So, we started last week and for the most part it has gone quite well. I made a big production about how we were all done with the paci's and the paci's were going bye-bye. He waved bye to them and I put them away. I also took down the small little shelf where we would keep the paci's during the day (out of reach) because he very much associated that shelf with the location of the paci's. Honestly, after saying bye-bye, he seemed more preoccupied with the fact that his shelf was taken down!
I was most nervous about Joseph being able to fall asleep without the pacifier/sucking action, but that has been the easiest part of it all! He now gets to take his little bunny to bed with him so he has a little cuddle friend which he seems to really enjoy. Now when I see him sit up after his nap, his bunny is the first thing he reaches for. :) The challenges have been him sometimes waking up/crying out in the middle of the night and not having the paci to instantly going back to sleep. Luckily, we've only had one rough night. I've messed up by giving him the paci a couple of times to help him go back to sleep (once during the rough night and once after a very short nap). But now we are definitely paci free and are just going to work through any rough times as they come.
He is waking up earlier in the morning and his naps have been a lot shorter, but the past couple of days have been better and his naps have gotten a little more decent. So, I'm hoping that with time (and am praying for by the time the baby is born) that he will be back to sleeping just great! :)
This was how he fell asleep for his nap the other day. He always ends up laying sideways and on this particular nap, you can see bunny's arm sticking out from underneath Joseph's back. Poor bunny. :P
3 comments:
Impressive! You guys are such great parents. And I bet you'll be so happy you did it now instead of waiting until new little guy gets here.
He is so precious, He sure looks uncomfortable against the rail with a rabbit under his back, but he is so peaceful
Way to go Joseph!! When I took the pacifier away from my girls they started sucking their fingers instead, so I guess we never really defeated it.
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