It started out so innocently…he cried and we needed a quick fix of peace and quiet so the binky pushing began.
Unlike the other boys, he actually took to the pacifier. It was pure heaven at first, but then he needed more, more, more.
More binkies.
More pacifier time.
More urgent cravings.
It was an ugly out of control spiral…
We had a binky intervention…twice. There are even family members who refuse to associate with him when he is using.
Tough love.
Tough times.
Tough side effects.
At one point I began strict pacifier rehab. He resisted treatment. I caught him stealing moments with his binky. I saw him sneaking hits. I saw him hiding the evidence.
He had to shake this habit before it ruined his life.
Ruined his life?
It isn’t like his drug of choice is illegal…
At that point we cut him a little slack.
Enablers.
At that point we decided to ignore the problem and hope it goes away.
Denial.
That was several months ago. We have given Rhett free and unfettered access to a never-ending supply of pacifiers. Slowly the pacifiers have been wearing out. Slowly the highs haven’t been as high.
Tonight as Rhett went up to take a bath blog-Stedman asked him if he wanted to take his binkies upstairs while holding out a handful of pacifiers.
Rhett turned and said “no”.
I asked him during his bath why he didn’t want his binkies.
He said “because I am not a baby”.
And he went to bed cold turkey.
He woke up about 45 minutes later shaking from withdrawal, but his resolve was firm. I am scooping him up and taking him to my bed.
This could be a rough night, but it is the first step…I have mentioned a few hundred times that Rhett(3) has had a bit of an addiction. He could be the poster boy for Pacifiers Anonymous (PA).
It started out so innocently…he cried and we needed a quick fix of peace and quiet so the binky pushing began.
Unlike the other boys, he actually took to the pacifier. It was pure heaven at first, but then he needed more, more, more.
More binkies.
More pacifier time.
More urgent cravings.
It was an ugly out of control spiral…
We had a binky intervention…twice. There are even family members who refuse to associate with him when he is using.
Tough love.
Tough times.
Tough side effects.
At one point I began strict pacifier rehab. He resisted treatment. I caught him stealing moments with his binky. I saw him sneaking hits. I saw him hiding the evidence.
He had to shake this habit before it ruined his life.
Ruined his life?
It isn’t like his drug of choice is illegal…
At that point we cut him a little slack.
Enablers.
At that point we decided to ignore the problem and hope it goes away.
Denial.
That was several months ago. We have given Rhett free and unfettered access to a never-ending supply of pacifiers. Slowly the pacifiers have been wearing out. Slowly the highs haven’t been as high.
Tonight as Rhett went up to take a bath blog-Stedman asked him if he wanted to take his binkies upstairs while holding out a handful of pacifiers.
Rhett turned and said “no”.
I asked him during his bath why he didn’t want his binkies.
He said “because I am not a baby”.
And he went to bed cold turkey.
He woke up about 45 minutes later shaking from withdrawal, but his resolve was firm. I am scooping him up and taking him to my bed.
This could be a rough night, but it is the first step…
It started out so innocently…he cried and we needed a quick fix of peace and quiet so the binky pushing began.
Unlike the other boys, he actually took to the pacifier. It was pure heaven at first, but then he needed more, more, more.
More binkies.
More pacifier time.
More urgent cravings.
It was an ugly out of control spiral…
We had a binky intervention…twice. There are even family members who refuse to associate with him when he is using.
Tough love.
Tough times.
Tough side effects.
At one point I began strict pacifier rehab. He resisted treatment. I caught him stealing moments with his binky. I saw him sneaking hits. I saw him hiding the evidence.
He had to shake this habit before it ruined his life.
Ruined his life?
It isn’t like his drug of choice is illegal…
At that point we cut him a little slack.
Enablers.
At that point we decided to ignore the problem and hope it goes away.
Denial.
That was several months ago. We have given Rhett free and unfettered access to a never-ending supply of pacifiers. Slowly the pacifiers have been wearing out. Slowly the highs haven’t been as high.
Tonight as Rhett went up to take a bath blog-Stedman asked him if he wanted to take his binkies upstairs while holding out a handful of pacifiers.
Rhett turned and said “no”.
I asked him during his bath why he didn’t want his binkies.
He said “because I am not a baby”.
And he went to bed cold turkey.
He woke up about 45 minutes later shaking from withdrawal, but his resolve was firm. I am scooping him up and taking him to my bed.
This could be a rough night, but it is the first step…
In my experience, cold turkey is the only way to go. Son bit through the end of one of his binkies, cried because it was broken, watched me sadly as I threw it in the trash, and then had to live with the knowledge that the binkies were no more. I had to stealthily collect up all the others lying around the house, so he wouldn’t realize that there was not one single UR-binkie but really many replicas. It took three nights of tears (night two was the worst; night three was just for show), and then it was over. The scenario happened differently with Daughter, but again, cold turkey worked. Good for you. Congratulations!
We always gave our patients jonesing from withdrawals cigarettes. I am thinking maybe you should do something else. Lighters are dangerous and playing with matches make you wet the bed.
I was lucky that my daughter did not like it when I tried one with her as a newborn to “pacify” her. My girlfriend’s daughter liked the pacifier and how my friend broke her of it later on was to cut a bit off the end every few days. On the last day, Jessica put it in her mouth and there wasn’t enough left to suck on or grab hold of. Problem solved.
Good luck and hang in there.
We had pacifier problems with our youngest too. We were worse than you though, he slept with it til he was FOUR! (I wouldn’t let him use it in public — we kept it our dirty little secret.)
Ben did the same thing. One night, after a string of many like it, I said, “hey, wanna try sleeping without this thing tonight” and he shocked me by saying “Okay.” And, he’s been without it ever since.
Cold turkey is the way to go. But, it has to be THEIR idea. They have to WANT to quit. Just like with all addictions! ha.
My oldest sucked his fingers until his fifth birthday. (Really? Gross.) And then he said, “I’m not gonna do this anymore.” And that was it. Maybe he could be Rhett’s sponsor.
What a sweetie! Lollipops might ease the shaking.
Geez this was a good post. Mine wouldn’t take a binky at all. and I think I’m grateful, but those LONG LONG car trips where the 4month old screamed for 6 hours straight. I dunno. I’d trade. I would.
Stay the course, big boy! You can do this… Isn’t there some sort of gum or sucker that can kill the craving?
brave brave rhett. admitting you have a problem is half the battle.
What a great story, I think of binkies in my sleep! I have a 2 month old and the binkie fest has started would love for you to join my blog ๐
http://www.MomMeVille.com