goodbye "paci"

Jackson loves his pacifier - absolutely loves it and it has been a life savor - but my mission for this week is taking it away from us him. I realized yesterday that Jackson will be 4 months in another week and he still has his pacifier. For me, this is the perfect time to take it away. Dont get me wrong, it has been great especially with 2 kids and why fix something that is not broke, but I feel that we have been using to our benefit sometimes more than to his. And if it doesn't get taken away now, I feel it will be a lot harder once he is older which brings me to my favorite all time author - Dr. Harvey Karp. And those who know me, know that I do not beleive everything in a book but he is seriously awesome! For the $1.50 that I spent on his book, on Amazon, it was worth every penny!

I was happy to read that he agrees with me about the pacifier as he says that the pacifier should be taken away before 6 months because this is the time when babies start to form emotional attachments to blankies, stuffed animals, and pacifiers. Before this 6 month mark, the pacifier can simply be taken away within a few days! So, I am trying his technique with a little bit of mine and so far, Jackson has not had a pacifier for over 14 hours! So how am I taking his pacifier away? Very carefully!

Since Jackson is so active now and is so busy "tasting" everything, I felt that this is the perfect time to let the pacifier "disappear" and to let him find new ways of soothing himself (sucking his hands, looking at his mobile, etc). I started about a week ago only giving Jackson his pacifier at naptime and bedtime. Other times he was fussy, I wouls swaddle, rock, or hold him to comfort him. Now I am getting ready to take it away during nap and bedtime and this is where I used Dr. Karp's method. When I put Jackson down to sleep, I let him have the pacifier; once he is in a deep sleep, I take the pacifier away and wake him up a little bit. Once he tries to find his pacifier or starts to fuss, I use his other favorite things (swaddle, rocking) to sooth him and put him back to sleep. I tried this once last night and he went to sleep with just being swaddled. Over the next few days, I will keep taking the pacifier away a little at a time until he no longer needs it! Today, I didn't even have to use it for his morning nap so I would say it is going great! The real challenge will be Monday night when I go to work and it is just JD home with the kids. I might have to hide it from Daddy! Now if I could just finish potty training Addy...