I Never Thought This Day Would Come....

but....the BINKY my child's lifeline, is now gone for good!!!

I honestly can not even believe I am writing this. My son has been a binky lover since his 6th day of life. We slipped that beloved piece of plastic in his mouth during his first real bath, and he took to it like it was crack. God forbid we try to remove it from his mouth. 

Since his 6th day of life he has been a binky addict!! He wanted it 24/7.  So many of my friends broke their children down to just naps and car rides, but I had decided early on that with Caleb it would be best to take it all together.  I have dealt with the criticism from some on the fact that he always "had that binky in his mouth", and I have always smiled and said "We will work on that when he turns 2".  I mean after all, he was still a baby, and his binky was his source of comfort.  It was his security blanket when he was scared, his calmer when he was upset, his tool he needed to fall asleep, and it was also a great help to mama on those early days with 2 under 2.  I was in fact in no hurry to let in go.

With that being said I knew that once he hit 2 it was recommended by dentists to get rid of it, and it was also probably impairing his speech. He has been a little bit of a late talker, and probably due to the fact that he always had it in his mouth. 

I stayed true to my word, and the day after he turned 2 we started this method.  I highly highly recommend this method.  We are 4 days into the process, and my formerly binky addicted child has not asked for his beloved "na na" in 2 days! That is HUGE for us.  "Na na" used to be one of the only words he said on a daily basis. 

We started with poking holes in the tips of his binky for 2 days. The idea behind this was that it would signal the brain into thinking the binky was not as pleasurable. Caleb however, did not even notice and as of Saturday the binky was still in his mouth all day.  Once Sunday arrived we clipped the tip of all of his binkys.  Some were clipped further than others. We handed Caleb his clipped binky, he stuck it in his mouth, and he instantly spit it out. He grabbed it, looked at it, and threw it while crying. He then repeated the process with all the binkys.  He was very upset at first, and the first day was ROUGH! He would grab his binky and bring it to us crying. We just kept saying "Oops looks like it is broken". We even endured a 30 minute car ride with a SCREAMING toddler. I had one  non clipped binky hid, and I was so tempted to give it to him.  However, I kept repeating the greatest piece of mother advice I have ever receieved in my head..."All habits can be broken in 3 days".  Sure the days are going to suck, but they can be broken. 

Naps and Bedtime are getting easier. We have to pat his back for a few minutes to get him to calm down for bed now, and we used to just be able to lay him down and walk out. However, it is a learning process. We are still fussing during car rides, but  I am hoping this will end soon. 

He is talking SOO MUCH more just in the last 4 days. It is amazing.  He is also giving lots of hugs and kisses that are not blocked by the binky. I am a binky loving mama, and I am so thankful for that little piece of plastic saving grace. However, it was time to let it go, and it is a bittersweet moment. My little man is just that now, a little man, no longer a sweet baby. I will never again look at him with a "baby binky" in his mouth, and that saddens me a little. However, his cute smiling face saying "mama kiss" is more than enough for me. 

 

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