Bye Bye Paci (and good riddance)

Oh, how I have looked forward to the day I could write this post!

For the past 20 months we had a love-hate relationship with the pacifier. It started as hate. Every breastfeeding expert or book about breastfeeding we read stressed not to introduce the pacifier, saying it would keep your child from breastfeeding properly. They scared us away from the pacifier so much that it was even in our birth plan that Olivia not be given a pacifier after she was born. We continued without one the first five weeks of her life. If she was upset-although this was not that often-I could nurse or find other ways to soothe her.  But around 5 weeks Olivia wanted something to suck. I would give her my clean finger and she loved it, and wanted it more and more. I was becoming bit of a germaphobe about it and asked my pediatrician about it. She told me how infants naturally want something to suck at this age and a pacifier would be a better option than my finger. We gave in and boy was it amazing! If she was upset the pacifier would soothe her immediately. (This was during the love stage with the pacifier.) Still, I didn’t want her to always have a pacifier in her mouth so we limited it to car rides, naps and bedtime.

This relationship worked easily until Olivia was around 14 months and she started requesting her pacifier whenever something upset her, whenever she didn’t feel well, whenever she was sick, etc.  Her favorite part of helping unload the dishwasher was when she was able to open the container holding her pacifiers and she would immediately try them all out! At first it was cute when she called out for her “pass,” but that grew old quick when in the middle of the night you heard her wailing and yelling “pass.” We knew the pacifier's time was limited.

However, a series of fall colds and sinus infections kept us from getting rid of the pacifier until around the holidays. We started reading books about giving up the pacifier and even let her watch Elmo Says Bye Bye Pacifier (in our house television is reserved for long car rides only, with rare exception). We made very strict rules about when the pacifier was allowed (car rides, naps, bedtime) and every morning when Olivia woke up she would say “Bye Pass” and leave the pacifier on her dresser. The pacifier relationship was working at this point.

Then the Disney trip happened and all bets were off-she was having long days, sleeping in her stroller, and completely off her routine. The pacifier stopped meltdowns in their tracks (love); yet refusing to give her the pacifier started huge tantrums (major hate-“Mama get Livie her pass now-WAAAAAA"). So once the holidays were over it was time for the pacifier to go. And surprisingly, unlike past attempts to limit the pacifier she seemed ready. Olivia would not even ask for her pacifier until the very last minute she was about to fall asleep whereas before she wanted it as soon as the bedtime routine began. And as long as she didn’t see her pacifier she didn’t ask for it during the day. I decided to take the plunge last week. I told her that she was a big girl now and no longer needed the pacifier. The pacifier would be going with Dada on a plane and he would give it to a baby girl who needed it. She could sleep with a stuffed animal instead. She chose “Hop Hop” and “Giraffe” and really struggled to fall asleep the first night. When she would ask cry for the pacifier I would remind her she was a big girl and big girls get to sleep with stuffed animals. The second day nap she didn’t resist much and the second, third, and fourth night went smoothly. The funniest part about it is that she keeps telling us repeatedly, “two days” –meaning two days without her pacifier. When she holds “Hop Hop” she says “Livie gets Hop Hop, two days.” I guess we should tell her it has been longer than two days now…