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When Sierra was born I was totally open minded to the whole soother/pacifier thing. If she took it and it helped - then great! If she didn't want it than that was fine with me too, I wasn't going to push it.
Too make a long story short she ended up loving her soother, in fact she still does. I know that for babies sucking can be a good thing, not only to help calm them but to aide in digestion and passing gas etc. As for 2 1/2 year olds - I believe it is simply a habit.
I always had an excuse for not taking it away - we were moving, I was afraid she wouldn't nap, or sleep as long in the morning.
It's not like I let her have all day or anything, it was mostly for when she slept. Lately it was getting to the point where she would keep it for an hour or more after she woke up, an hour or more before bed, in the car, and negotiate having it longer when I tried to get her to put it away. Never in public though!
This past week I started what I'm sure will be a very gradual process of eliminating the soother. Before she leaves her room in the morning or after her nap in the afternoon her soother must be put away. So far I've received only minor objections. I have also only allowed her to get it no more than half and hour before she goes to sleep for her nap or at night. I will slowly move to an 'in her room only' rule and then maybe try convincing her to forgo it for naps and of course, eventually for good. My goal is for Sierra to be soother free no later than her third birthday.
The biggest thing with her will be to talk about it and get the idea into her head. She's the type of kid that needs a lot of time to process a change before it becomes real i.e. moving out of her crib, and getting a sibling. Sierra also really wants a bike so the idea is that when she gets a bike (planned for her third birthday) than the soother goes away because big girls who have bikes can't have soothers.
Too make a long story short she ended up loving her soother, in fact she still does. I know that for babies sucking can be a good thing, not only to help calm them but to aide in digestion and passing gas etc. As for 2 1/2 year olds - I believe it is simply a habit.
I always had an excuse for not taking it away - we were moving, I was afraid she wouldn't nap, or sleep as long in the morning.
It's not like I let her have all day or anything, it was mostly for when she slept. Lately it was getting to the point where she would keep it for an hour or more after she woke up, an hour or more before bed, in the car, and negotiate having it longer when I tried to get her to put it away. Never in public though!
This past week I started what I'm sure will be a very gradual process of eliminating the soother. Before she leaves her room in the morning or after her nap in the afternoon her soother must be put away. So far I've received only minor objections. I have also only allowed her to get it no more than half and hour before she goes to sleep for her nap or at night. I will slowly move to an 'in her room only' rule and then maybe try convincing her to forgo it for naps and of course, eventually for good. My goal is for Sierra to be soother free no later than her third birthday.
The biggest thing with her will be to talk about it and get the idea into her head. She's the type of kid that needs a lot of time to process a change before it becomes real i.e. moving out of her crib, and getting a sibling. Sierra also really wants a bike so the idea is that when she gets a bike (planned for her third birthday) than the soother goes away because big girls who have bikes can't have soothers.
1 comment:
One idea I've heard (which some might say is cruel) us to cut the bulb off the soother or poke a hole in it so it deflates. Once it doesn't suck the same supposedly kids lose interest. Of course we're not nearly to that point yet so I can't say it works from experience.
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