I've been wanting to write a post about this but I was afraid I was going to jinx it and shit was going to hit the fan.
We got rid of Lars' binkies last Friday and to our complete and utter shock things have gone on without a hitch. I keep asking myself, how can that be? I just knew it was going to be a huge ordeal, no one was going to sleep for months and everyone was going to be upset. Not the case! Just one more thing to add to the tab of how parenting makes me eat my words.
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see all those binkies....one in the mouth, one in the hand and 2 (that we can see) in the bed. |
I went back and forth on whether I wanted to give Lars a pacifier. I ended up giving him one around 4 weeks because he was so inconsolable at times. Then we discovered my struggle with low milk supply. This was the cause for the constant crying and frustration. We remedied that situation and I took the binky away.
Then, at around 5 months out of pure desperation and in a state of being beyond exhausted and sleep deprived, we gave it to him at night. At this point I would have done damn near anything that was legal and not harmful to help us all sleep.
Lars wasn't sleeping. Just flat out not sleeping and if he did sleep he would wake up every 45 mins-1 hour. It was rough around our house. Five months of no sleep can lead to a lot of unpleasantness. If a binky was the key to solving these issues then by all means give the boy a binky. That's how we felt.
It certainly wasn't the cure all but it did help soothe him. The binky along with
some pretty strict scheduling helped Lars figure it all out eventually.
Lars has only ever gotten his binkies for sleep and in the car on long rides. But the boy loved them! They were his source of comfort at night. He would hold one in each hand while he slept even if he didn't have one in his mouth. They were toys too. He would play with them if he woke up in the middle of the night or while he waited for us to come get him. So I was dreading the day we had to take them away.
I considered taking them away at 18 months but I just wasn't ready to fight what I thought would be a battle and to be honest I wouldn't have been in a rush to take them away at 2 years old either but we noticed that his 2 top front teeth were jutting out just a bit. Maybe it was the binky, maybe it's just his teeth but it was enough to make us want to bite the bullet.
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he even manages to look cool with a pacifier. |
The week leading up to Friday (bye bye binky day) we would mention to Lars very nonchalantly that it was almost time to give away his binkies because he was a big boy now. We told him that we were going to give the binkies to all the new baby deer on our property. Lars loves loves loves watching the deer and when he sees several of them together he tells us it's a mama deer and her babies.
So on Friday I gave Lars a small basket and had him go get his binkies out of his bed, put them in the basket and we walked all the way to the back of our property (in the jungle as Lars calls it). I told him to find a good spot to leave the binkies. He left them on a tree stump and yelled 'Come here baby deer'. I told him that the baby deer would get the binkies during the night and that it was time to say bye bye. He said 'bye bye binkies' turned around and walked away. I was a little taken aback.
I had a big boy basket waiting for him at the front door. It had a new big boy pillow with a fun pillow case, new sleep friends (Connie the cow and Frank the frog), a new blanket and glow in the dark stars to put on his ceiling. He was thrilled!
When it came time for bath and bed I was freaking out (internally of course). I just knew things were about to get crazy. He never once asked for his binkies that night. I read him his books, rocked him for a bit, turned off the light and laid him down in his crib. He was mesmerized by the stars on the ceiling.
Since Friday Lars has asked about his binkies maybe 3 or 4 times. We remind him that we gave them to the baby deer and move on to something else. I can't believe this transition has been so smooth. I really can't! It just goes to show how amazing children are and how they are capable of handling more than we think they can. They are so adaptable and don't have the fears and worries about change like we do.
I took this picture on Saturday morning after waking up and realizing we had slept all night without the mention of a pacifier. I told him I was so proud and that I was going to make chocolate muffins for breakfast. This is his 'I love chocolate muffins' face.
And he got to paint on the front porch because he really could do no wrong on Saturday because I was so proud and in complete shock that things had fallen into place so nicely.