A reader writes " My youngest son is 2.5 years old and I want to wean him off his pacifier and his blankie. I encourage the habit of using it only for nap and bed time, but when he's sick I do allow him to walk around the house with them because it soothes him and helps with the mood. I thought I'd ask if you have any tips or tricks to successfully wean him off?"
I'm afraid it's just like everything else in life ...we need to bite the bullet to make it happen. It never really works to prolong the agony. So pick a time and day and START!
Begin by talking about it for a few days.
Pray with him and perhaps even make a chart of smiley faces for a week of good "going to bed" celebrated by a treat at the end.
A good book to read to your child through this trying time is Berenstain Baby Bears: Pacifier Days, which tells the tale of how one little bear said goodbye to his pacifier.
I sure do wish there were easier tasks at hand but this too will dim in the days ahead. Just love the little guy. Cuddle while you can, talk and pray and encourage him with something special. It won't take long ...it will only "feel" that way! :) But, again, my personal feeling is not to prolong it too long. Work your way down from whenever to naptime and bedtime and then make the "plunge". Reverting back because of sickness etc is only going to make the break harder in the days to come.
Thanks for the question!
Blessings!
Maybe you could make a "sweater" for a teddy bear out of the blanket?.... A gift for a year to come.
We talked with our daughter for weeks ahead, and told her that the Pacifier Fairy would take her pacifiers to the little babies who needed them...We decorated a box, and then one night put all her pacifiers in the box for the fairy... the next day, the pacifiers were gone, and there was a little gift for her. It took about a month for her to stop talking about her pacifier on and off, and about a week to get her sleeping ok, again.. and there were some tough days, but overall, it worked out really well!!! just an idea! :-)
ReplyDeleteGavin was just about three and they wanted to get rid of the binky but he was very attached to it and my daughter-in-law is very sensitive where Gavin is concerned as he is an only child. To makealong story short, they had a small dog named Dobie and he was on his way out, very old and not well and blind. Gavin loved this dog and was said to think of Dobie dying and asked his mother if Dobie would go to heaven. Well Dobie died not too much later and Dina,my daughter-in-law had a great idea. Gavin was sad and wanted assurance that Dobie was in heaven so she said to Gavin I bet it would make Dobi feel better if he had something of yours, why don't we send your binky up to him since he knows how much you loved it. Dina went and bought a dozen balloons they went out to the back yard and sat down on the ground and she said to him is it alright if Itie your binky on to the balloons and Gavin said yes so once that was done, she handed the balloons to Gavin and said when you are ready you release them and we will watch them fly to Dobie, he immediately released them and they sat and watched until they were out of sight. He never asked again for his binky.
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