Thursday, October 16, 2008

Dirty Family Secret Revealed


Yep. Here it is, our family secret. My three and a half year old with his "pass". This particular one is his Halloween pass, but he uses it year round. He received this two years ago, when it was still age appropriate and still has it. In fact, he has about 25 other Nuby pacis strewn throughout our house.

I had the best of intentions getting him off the thing, really I did. At his second birthday I was going to tie balloons to them and let them fly away. But I was pregnant and didn't want to make him sad.

Then I was going to have him "give them all to the babies" in the hospital on the day Tess was born. I was going to even wrap them in pretty packages for the full effect. Nope. Didn't happen. I felt way to sorry for the little guy. His world had just been turned upside down with the addition of his tiny little sister and she had a pass, so why not him.

The excuses are never ending and I have come up with the most creative ideas of getting rid of the suckers (no pun intended). And now, I am just too damn lazy. He loves his pass, LOVES it. But the fact of the matter is, he is three years old. OVER THREE YEARS OLD and can't seem to get this monkey off his back! He looks like Baby Huey walking around with that thing.

I have gotten a lot better at making him have it at nap and night only. But there have been times when he will find one in the playroom and pop that sucker in and go on about his day.

So what is a mom to do? I know most of you practiced responsible parenting and got rid of the pacifier at a normal age, so trying to take it away from a big kid is going to prove to be a little more difficult.

Pointers would be greatly appreciated. Is there even a rehab for three year old paci addicts?

Seriously.

9 comments:

Debz said...

And once again I'm laughing at you!
This picture is adorable - and I didn't even know that you could buy Halloween binkies.
On the one hand you can understand the fascination. Who doesn't like to suck on something from time to time?
But on the other hand (and I may be wrong about this, there was that one other time I was wrong), I think it can start affecting the way his bite will grow. SO from a purely dental standpoint, you may just wanna come up with something - Christmas is coming, maybe Santa needs them for all the babies who have none - to break that habit.

And you did so good with stopping Tess with the bottles. So I know you can do it. He will be fine too, it may just take him a little longer than you like. Good luck!!

Julie {Angry Julie Monday} said...

LMAO. Love the pic.

We went cold turkey without the paci at one year old. My mom left ours at my house and Angry Toddler didn't have one all day. That's how we solved the problem.

It seems the older they get, the harder it is to get them off of it.

I would keep trying the paci fairy and things like that. It might be a rough couple of nights at first.

starnes family said...

Let him have it. I have 3 kids and each of them refused to take a paci. I always wanted a pacifier baby.

Now, wasn't that helpful?

michelle matthews said...

HOW CUTE! He is adorable!

I have 0 paci advice. I'm sorry! I tried and tried to get Luke to take one so that he would be more comfy but he refused it.

It's okay! There aren't any older ODLER kids out there w/pacis. He'll grow out of it. Right?!

Live.Love.Eat said...

The 2 pics of your kids sleeping are priceless. I never even bought pacifiers for my son when he was a baby so I am useless in this department but I am here saying they are cutie pies.

??? said...

Lauren was like 4.5 when we gave up bottles!! I just felt it was her comfort and I wasn't gonna take it away from her until she was ready. She threw them away and we made it just fine. So don't feel like you HAVE to get rid of them. If its not affecting his teeth and speech, let him enjoy them a little longer.

I know I'm no help!!!!

Maggie said...

Hi! I came across your blog today and just love your stories. I added you to my follower list!!

My little one (20 months) still has his passy, BUT my sister tried this with my niece and it worked like a charm. She put all her pacifiers into a box and set them out for the 'Passy Fairy' overnight (so she could come and get them to give out to the babies). The next morning, the Passy Fairy left her a special 'thank you' surprise! It worked for her, but she was also a girl!

Good luck!! I think we'll keep the passy around for a little longer at our house. =)

Angie said...

Syd didn't care for a pacifier so I got rid of it around 5 mo. Sam LOVES his, but I know he could live without b/c he doesn't take one at school. I keep telling myself I should just throw them away b/c I think I could make an easy transition right now, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Your post makes me think I should just go cold turkey.

Piece o' Coconut Cake said...

It can affect his speech and bite. My niece used one until she was 5 and it TOTALLY messed up her bite. They're paying for it now-literally! Braces! When Peanut gave hers up, we would give her a Princess doll every morning when she would wake up (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc.)and she cried about two nights a little but then she was fine. it took about a week to get her over it. She was 2 1/2, 3 when we did it. It was also a big help to push that only BABIES use them, not big girls (she was going through the whole diaper/panty big girl thing). I also snipped a bit off the tip so it really didn't work or stick it with a pin to put a small hole in it and it won't be as satisfying for them. Just tell him that it's broken and that they don't sell them for his age anymore-seeing as he's a big boy now and how he needs to help with the BABY who still takes naps, doesn't talk, etc. Good luck!