Monday, January 18, 2010

Love/hate the dummy

We have a dummy (paci) free house! Hurrah. Well, kind of. The catalyst for this change was Master R's constant whining "Dummy gone!". Mr M and I were completely fed up and while we were away I threw out every last one.

It wasn't as hard as we expected for Master R to quit. After his operation I'd been a little lax and had given into the whines allowing him to play with it in until he got sick of it and gave it to me. A bad habit. We don't mention that D-U-M-M-Y word now simply referring to it as "D". He has occasionally cried out for it and it takes longer for him to fall asleep. With the D he'd fall asleep almost immediately now it takes a little while often with tears.

Master T on the other hand would not take one. I tried on numerous occasions to hold one into his mouth only for him to gag and spit it out in disgust. I tried other brands but he wasn't interested preferring only the real thing. Interestingly he'll take a bottle from our child minder but not the dummy.

There is upside to Master T's behaviour but there's also downside - he sleeps much less than his big brother. Not only that but he seems to wake more frequently. Currently he sleeps less during the day than Master R. But at least there's no attachment to an innate and often dirty object. And no weaning off it - that part I'll take.

4 comments:

  1. Oh Mama N- I am jealous. With the arrival of Master L, Master A has been clinging to his paci. It had been just a bedtime thing for almost a year- but now that the baby uses it- Master A wants his all day. With all our travel and disruption, I haven't been pushing it, but I know it will be a battle. He alternates between giving it to the baby and yanking it from the baby's mouth. Anyone have any suggestions!

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  2. Master R was really attached to his too. It was just about 24 hours. I thought it was going to be harder than it was.

    It will be harder with Master L still using one. If you're feeling strong you could try going cold turkey with both of them? Or just let Master A continue with his until he's old enough to understand that they're just for babies. Friends have said that around 3 kiddies start to understand it.

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  3. I think your hate for the paci must outweigh the tolerance of whatever backlash you may face. Otherwise I would just go on until he is 2.5-3 and can really understand and grow out of the "need". I feel like when 1 "problem" is solved it is replaced with another in parenting, so don't stress it!

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  4. Thanks mamas- I'm trying not to make a big deal about it- b/c that's leading to Master A swiping Master L's paci more often. I had hoped to be done w/it much earlier- but I think I may have to wait until he understands and try to just keep it a bed thing if I can.

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