My son is 6 years old, and my dughter will turn 3 next month :)
When I became a FIRST time parent in 2005, everyone, well most people encouraged me NOT to give my son a paci or (bobo), I like ot call it. The main reason was that a child who uses a paci will end up with a gap between thier teeth, OR the child might have language development issues! My son, NEVER took to the paci, believe me, I would try to give it to him on those rest less night that every baby has, and parents suffer through :) But, he would not take it. However, with my second child...my daughter is an ENTIRE different story! As soon as she was fresh out of the womb, I held her onto my stomach and she was sucking on her fingers! I tried breast feeding her (which lasted about 4 weeks), if she wasnt on my breast, then she would be sucking at her fingers! So that's when I went ahead and bought a pack of paci's for her!
She is now almost 3 years old and STILL has a deep love for her "bobo" as she likes to call it. Many family members were telling me that she is "too old" to be sucking on her paci. I tried to get rid of them, it was a constant war in the middle of the night. She would scream and cry sooo LOUD that I seriously thought people would call the cops, thinking we were hurting her. I honestly couldn't deal, her father had to be at work, he couldnt deal with it either. I need my sleep, and when I lack it, I am not the easiest person to say the least to get along with :) So we would let her have it in the night time to soothe her to sleep.
I went on to Facebook and asked for some advice on how to get rid of a paci! I got some good tips from friends and family members!! Some people mentioned to throw her (my daughter) a "good-bye" party for her bobo. Another suggestion was to put a hole in her paci so that its malfuntioned. And of course there was the obvios, cold turkey...that didn't work to well for us :(
Since her birthday is late-June, I am thinking about going with the idea of throwing her a little party to say good bye to her bobo, BEFORE her actual 3rd birthday party!
The "good" part about her having her bobo is PEACE within the home, esp during night time!
The "bad", is the SEVERE attachment issues she has
The "ugly", is that she is beginning to get a small gap between her teeth, and I have noticed that she will say some words odd, because she will try to talk with her paci in her mouth, which totally gets in the way of her tongue rolling to make appropiate sound for letters!
In no way, am I trying to suggest that a child will end up with a gap or language development issues, but it may happen! And I am not telling anyone how to raise thier child and what is right or wrong. Every child is different. Like my son, he never liked them. So it all really depends on the child. I knwo what works for me and my children, and I feel that 3 years old is way TOO old to be sucking on a pacifire OR fingers!!
This will be a tiring process, and a battle, but I am ready to fight and conquer this war of the paci :)
I will keep you guys updated! Also, suggestions, PLEASE feel free to comment below on your journey with pacifires or good ideas, leave comments! Thanks, and Thanks, xoxo
Just pick a block of time in which you can dedicate to solely hearing her cry say 24-48hrs, the good thing is kids are resilient and can bounce back from any tragedy that occurs. During this time let her cry, kick, scream and wallow without her binky - she will eventually give in within that time frame but dont give in before her and she will understand and of course a party to pamper her. But its good for kids to learn to soothe themselves because they will resort to other ways to soothe themselves their whole lives and it will be easy for her to loose control when things don't go her way. Sucking is a soothing mechanism for baby's -- but as you know their are many adults who develop an oral fixation and need to suck their thumbs and thats harder to break. This blog is getting good loves it!!
ReplyDeleteThank you sooo much for your advice! Really means alot! So far, parenting has been really easy, EXCEPT for this part, lol. I know I am not the only parent that has to go through with this, but sometimes I feel like I am!! I guess "cold turkey" is the BEST idea for now, and I just have to tell myself that she will get over it (I just tend to feel so bad when she is crying her eyes out). So thanks!! And thanks for the kind words about my blog...I started this one day because I had a lot on my mind abut various things, and figured it was a good way to express myself :)
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