How To Get Rid of the Pacifier…

Even before Gavin was born, I knew I wanted him to have a pacifier, despite many people’s contradictory opinions. Working with children who have self-regulation difficulties, or kids for some reason or another who haven’t learned to soothe themselves when they are upset, I was determined to find something for him that would help him self-calm that wouldn’t be me, the bottle or my breasts. And much to the lactation consultant’s dismay, he had a soothie pacifier the day we left the hospital, and never suffered a moment of nipple confusion. Call me crazy but my personal philosophy was simple, you can’t cut off a child’s thumb or fingers, but at some point when they are ready, you can transition them away from the binky by throwing it away, cutting the nipple or giving it away. Gavin is now 2 and his Wubbanub soothie pacifier is his best friend, and I’m not kidding.  As he has learned to talk, he has had multiple nicknames for it along the way, “ming ming, minky, my minky, binky,” and I know as well as anyone, once he named it, we were doomed. Now, like many people, here we are right in the throes of trying to figure out how to get rid of the pacifier.

We tried for a week over the summer taking it away cold turkey when he was about 20 months. For those of you familiar with Wubbanubs, which is an adorable animal, attached to a Soothie pacifier, we actually removed the pacifier from the stuffed animal and gave him the animal to sleep with. That week was the most miserable of our lives, probably more so than his. After 1 week of being pacifier free, we actually gave it back. Yes, I broke the rule and did what everyone told me not to and I went back on my word. Nap and nightime got harder and harder for him to fall asleep, or he would wake up in the middle of the night and would be crying desperately trying to find it in the crib. Being a full time working parent and blogger, I personally needed Gavin to sleep consistently because his nap time and bedtime is my work time. Though we didn’t fully transition him away from the binky forever, during that experience we did make some headway. He stopped bringing the binky to daycare for naps and at home we have tried to allow access to the pacifier only in his bed or in his room.

So now that he’s two, we are on step 2 of the plan. A few weeks ago, was national “Put Down the Pacifier Day.” I was asked about reviewing a copy of a new Sesame Street DVD, called, Bye-Bye, Pacifier! Big Kid Stories with Elmo and I jumped at the opportunity. This DVD features 3 different segments with Elmo and his Sesame Street friends that help kids make the leap to big kid things like saying good bye to the pacifier, riding a bicycle and getting a haircut. Gavin is mesmerized by the pacifier segment. What I love about it is that there are multiple strategies that Elmo proposes as ways that he tried to stop using his pacifier. He places them all in a box to give to another baby, he attempts to trade one in at Hooper’s store for another comfort item, and leaves them under his pillow for Abby Cadabby the Binky Fairy. Multiple times along the way Elmo is not successful or ready for the big transition either. That’s the message I love about this DVD, it gives kids a way to practice and plan for the big event. There’s an adorable song that Elmo sings along with Gordon called, “Bye- Bye Binky, Binky Bye -Bye,” which Gavin frequently requests that we watch together on Youtube and I hear him singing on his own when he’s playing. We don’t have a specific timeframe right now of when the big day will come that we will say goodbye to his best friend again, but in the meantime, we’ll keep watching Bye-Bye Pacifier! Big Kid Stories with Elmo hoping that our good friend Elmo will help pave the way for a successful transition, whenever it may be.

Wubbanub Review at Toy Fair with ToyQueen