To Pacify or Not To Pacify

We are on the sixth day of being pacifier free in our house, and I’m not thoroughly convinced this is the way to go.  When Judah was a few weeks old, I knew we’d be in trouble with him if I didn’t find a pacifier he would take.  He had started sucking his fingers and I was not about to go down that path again (like we have with Audrey).  After buying every brand of pacifier, and finding one he liked, I was constantly shoving it in his mouth so as to prevent a habit forming of finger sucking.  And I was successful!! Which was great, except he really got attached to it and wanted it in his mouth pretty much all the time; and of course, I let him being that he was just a baby. I figured there would come a time when he would have to be weaned from it, but figured it would be so much easier than weaning him from his fingers (which has been nearly impossible with Audrey).  Well, fast-forward to this time last year: Judah was 2 and we were making some big transitions in his life from baby to little boy.  He moved from his crib to a bed, he potty trained himself, and he started using the pacifier during naptime and bedtime only.  The next step I wanted to accomplish was getting rid of the pacifier all together.  We made a feeble (and might I add unsuccessful)  attempt when he turned 3.  When he brought it up about a month ago saying he would not use it anymore when he turned 4, red flags and warning bells starting blaring in my head.  “FOUR!! That’s entirely TOO old to still be using a pacifier!”  I calmly but firmly started formulating my plan, “After Christmas, you will get rid of the pacifier!”  This time I talked it up the few days beforehand, changed up the schedule and skipped the nap that day, and promised a trip to the toy store for being such a big boy (nothing like bribing, right?  I never claimed to be mother-of-the-year!)  We have been successful for the most part.  There are times when he whines for it a little, but every night he has been able to fall asleep without much problem.  Did you catch it?  Did you read that I only put NIGHT?  That’s right, since the pacifier has gone away, mysteriously so have the naps!!  Now, I can’t complain too much because he’s not been the terrible little monster I always thought he was if he didn’t get a nap.  But without expecting it, my afternoons to myself have all of a sudden disappeared!!  The only other downside is he doesn’t sleep quite as well without the pacifier.  If he wakes up in the middle of the night, it is harder to get him to go back to sleep; and if he wakes up too early it’s likely he will not go back to sleep.  The other day I had one last fleeting thought of going back to using it, blurting out to Matt, “So what if he’s 10 and still uses a pacifier?”

Ahh, cute and sweet Judah!!  January 2008 at 16 months: