When SJ was about 3 months old she started sucking her thumb. I panicked, I blogged about it, and finally embraced it. Then after all that she quit at about 6 months. She loves the pacifier now, but she will ONLY take the Soothie brand. I have heard that it is the kind that they give you at the hospital (although, I wouldn’t know first hand). I had about 4 or 5 them which soon dwindled to two and then one. I had committed in my mind to never have to spend any money on a pacifier. When they are gone they’re gone, I told myself. Easier said then done. We would be up in the middle of the night looking for the paci. I would overturn furniture in desperate attempt to find the paci during the day. I literally have had multiple dreams about these coveted soothie pacifiers. I had a dream this week that I was on a beach and SJ’s soothie pacifiers were washing up onto the shore. Another time I dreamt that there were a bunch of them in the back of a drawer. Soon enough and with the overwhelming support of my husband I did go out and buy some more soothies… in every color.
Z was a paci addict too, but he took any paci we gave him. He took other kids pacis from them. He would suck on a paci while crawling around with a backup in his hand. I was worried sick that we would never be able to break this child, but when the time came (he was 16 months old) I packed them up with some of the other things I was bringing to the attic and that was that. It was so much easier than I ever expected.
However, I know this is not always the case. I heard this comedian, Dorie Mclemore tell a story about her daughters addiction and her attempt at an intervention. They called it a binky and in the middle of the night they took the binky while she was asleep. When the girl woke up she started looking for it and wanted it back. So Dorie explained “while you were asleep the binky fairy came and took all your binkies away, but look she left something under your pillow for you!” The little girl looked under her pillow to find 4 shiny quarters. She immediately cheered up and with with hope filled eyes cried out “we can buy another binky!”
I love that story. I don’t know what recovery looks like for my little paci addict, but what I do know is I am not going to worry about it right now.
Do you have any paci/binky/soothie testimonies?
Shawn is so against pacifiers so I didn't do one with Caleb and now he sucks his thumb. But I'm like, ok, which is easier to take away, a paci or a thumb?!?! I think our next one will be a paci baby if I can get him/her to take it 🙂
The good news is that mine are 12 & 10, and neither one of them sucks their paci anymore! 😉 Elly was really easy to break from it ~ she threw up with it in her mouth, and then she would look at it & say "nasty…yuck". Cody on the other hand…I think he would still stick one in his mouth if we had one lying around! j/k ~ it took about a solid month, but he got over it!!