Last summer, when breaking Brady of her thumb-sucking habit, we gave a ill attempt to eliminate Reese’s pacis.
So we decided to give it a go again this Saturday. That night the paci fairy appeared on the dinner table.
We explained that Reese is now a big girl and that pacis are for babies. The paci fairy is going to give them to the babies we know (I listed the names of the babies she knows well). In return for being so nice and giving her pacis to the babies who need them the paci fairy will bring her a surprise in the morning. SO Reese easily and happily placed her pacis in the fairy’s bag.
Well, the falling asleep part is where this all fell apart. (By the way, she only got her pacis for sleeping). That first night, we put her to bed at 7:30, and long story short, she finally fell asleep at midnight with me asleep on her floor. That lasted only 3 hours and I couldn’t get her back asleep. SO at 4 she fell asleep in my bed with me, but was up at 7. She only got half the amount of sleep she normally gets. You can see it in her eyes. But she was very excited about all the surprises the paci fairy left for her.
We skipped her nap that next day to help her be able to fall asleep at night. Plan worked, at 7 she was asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. I told Karl it can’t be that easy, only one bad night. I figured we would be on a rollercoaster between good and bad nights. Well as soon as I said that she was awake crying at like 9:30. I sat there with her, by her side, until she fell asleep again at like 11. Now check out how sleepy her eyes looked the next morning!
Well, tonight is our third no paci night. I gave her about an hour of struggling to fall asleep, I don’t want her to get in the habit of me being in there with her, I want her to attempt to self soothe. So at 8:30, I sat in her doorway and just played with my iPhone until she fell asleep. I recorded this video on my phone at 9:00 exactly, she was out by 9:04!
So we are making slow progress, HOPEFULLY…we will see if she sleeps through the night tonight! I wish this wasn’t so heartbreaking to do!
Oh poor Reese! Giving up a paci is so hard. I remember Natalie crying for hers, which made me cry too! But it did pass and you'll be so glad that you broke the habit now versus later!
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