Going Pacifier Free

Chris and I have decided it is time for Caleb to give up his beloved pacifier. Caleb is 22 months old now and we would really like him to pacifier-free by age two. We know that there is no reason to "push" him but we also know how easy it is to keep allowing it to go on too long.

Here is a little history....

First, I said "NO PACIFIERS" before he was born. He would breastfeed (which he did for four months) and would not be offered a pacifier. You don't have to take away something he doesn't know about, right? At four months he was weaned to the bottle, but he didn't want the bottle at first. He was a "Mama's boy" if you will. I had this grand idea that if he took a pacifier he would take the bottle. Mistake #1.

Second, we said we wouldn't upgrade his pacifiers from 0-3 months to 6-18 months size. I ended up buying him two of the bigger size swearing I would never buy replacements if they broke or were lost. Amazingly, I did keep that promise. Caleb got used to the new size and loved them. He would sleep so soundly with them. Mommy and Daddy got drunk on the ease of it.

Third, we swore we would take the paci away by one year old. That was right around the time of our trip to Poland. We could not take the paci away right before such an adventure when we would really need that vice. Time continues to march on and the paci is still there.

Fourth, Caleb is 18 months and we know it is time. We plan a trip to Rockford, Illinois that would require an 18 hour car drive. The paci would be very important for that, right?

The New Year gets here and we decide to try the "poke a hole in the tip" method of weaning him off the paci. We kept making the hold bigger and Caleb just compensated. It didn't faze him one bit.

Caleb is approaching two now and we know that this has gone on way too long. We know from experience how easy it is to just let it go. So, we set a date to make the hole in the tip count and that date was Sunday night. I took the scissors to the tip and cut a hole about the size of dime.

We put Caleb to bed and gave him his monkey, blanket, and paci. He sucked and sucked and there was a clear air sound. Yep, there was zero satisfaction there. We thought, "Here we go!" It was a long night. Caleb fussed and cried. We got him up twice to cuddle. He finally fell asleep after Chris allowed him to take his Letter "A" from his Fridge Phonics set. We checked on him later and he was fast asleep with the paci at the other end of the crib and the letter "A" in his grasp.


Whoo! We made it through the first night of Going Pacifier Free.