Momfession: My daughter’s dentist strongly suggested that we give up the pacifier at her 2 year dental visit. That was exactly one year ago.
I had every excuse under the moon and always came up with a good one: she was about to be a big sister…we were on the verge of potty training… we were traveling and needed the fussplug…all of these excuses made me feel justified about not giving up the binky. Eventually, we began to limit the pacifier use to just during naps and bedtime. Let me tell you, this girl is a bear and you do not want to wake the bear! She has always been a great sleeper (just jinxed that) and we were too nervous to mess with whatever was the reason. In our minds, it was the blessed binky.
As I was filling in the family calendar for the month of September, I realized we had just days to go before her dentist appointment. I was in a full blown panic about her teeth and the amount of money we would one day have to spend at an orthodontist. So, I decided it was time. We went cold turkey. The first night, I stood outside of her room as she cried “I am not a big girl. I need my binky. I don’t want a prize. I don’t like the binky fairy. I need binky now!” I was crushed and knew that if I gave in, we would one day be packing pacifiers for her college dorm. I decided to grab one, cut the tip, and go back in there to calm her down. I have no idea where I heard about this cruel trick, but you guys, IT WORKED. I explained to her that she had used them for so long that they broke. As predicted, she promptly suggested that I head to the store and buy her new ones. I gave her the excuse that it was night time and all the stores were closed. She sighed, calmed down, took the useless binky, and after fiddling around with it, threw it over her crib and went to sleep. She slept all night.
We made such a big deal about “no binky” the next day that the praise was enough to get us through nap time. We went out on an adventure to buy a new bedtime friend just for big girls, a soft little mouse named Gus Gus. Thanks to Gus Gus we have been binky free for two weeks. The binky fairy also paid us a visit and left a little dough for a special surprise. At first, she asked for a TV for her bedroom but then settled for Frozen figurines (phew)!
If you see us around, say hi, and I guarantee my big girl will say, “Hi, guess what! I sleeped without my binky!”
Oh, and we had a new lovely dentist at our appointment who didn’t even ask about pacifier use.
For more information about the pros and cons about pacifier use and smarter ways to use them, check out this article from Babycenter.
