Rid of the Paci, Now What?

The exact same thing happened to us. Our daughter had the hardest time settling down at night after we took it away. She woke up in the middle of the night, it took her forever to fall asleep, and she always asked for it. The only thing I can tell you is to #1 give it back(we did), but that only delays the inevitable or #2 stick with it. You have aready come a week without a paci. Eventually she will get back to normal, but it just takes awhile. If you've already sufered through a week, give it one more. By the end of next week it will be better. Good Luck! FYI....we just took our sons away, he's 2 1/2 and he was so good. He hasn't even asked for it. I think it all depends on the child. It will get better.

Your doing good Mom! Keep the strength up. I taught early childhood ed. for 7 1/2 yrs. This is very common. I now have two wonderful boys. Just know that it will pass and giving in would be a lot worse. She does not need the pacifier. I do not know what it is like in your home but if she continues to talk about the paci I would suggest taking a layed back approach don't give the paci power! If you get what I mean :) Redirect her "need" or cries for the paci into something positive- if she cries during day for it just say lets read a book together or can you help mommy with this....Whatever positive activity. For night time hide a special blanket or safe soft animal that you know she'll love and when she gets upset you can explain no more paci firmly and give her the special blanket or soft toy- only to be used at night during sleepy time- In the morning it goes somewhere special- just for bedtime. Or you can just let her work it out and yes she will get over not having a paci. You know what works for your child.

Hi E.! Since you're experiencing the trouble that comes along with pacifiers first hand, think about considering only letting your younger one have a pacifier for the first 6 months or so. Technically, the whole reason pacifiers were invented was because the only instinct a newborn is born with is to suck. Once they're out of the "baby" phase, there's no need for a pacifier. I stopped giving my first baby a pacifier at 6 months. She obviously never knew any different. Then, with my second, I just plain hardly gave one to him. Sometimes I did, but not regularly. So, I never had to break either of mine of them. Plus, I took bottles away at exactly 12 months and never had to break them of that either. I am happy to admit that I have never had to break my kids of anything except for diapers. If you do it at the right stages, there's no problems and it's a lot easier on the child and the mom.

I don't have an answer for you (sorry! my son is under 2 and is still with the paci) but there have been questions about how to get rid of the paci posted and many moms mention what happened and how long to expect the effects of it. Look back over the past couple days.
Good luck!

I am on the side to wait it out a bit longer. My older daughter took her paci until she was almost 3. It is so hard to get them to give it up, so if she has already done that I would give it little more time