Oh Binkie, you started out as such a wonderful tool of comfort and silence.Now, however, you reveal your dark side: toddler addiction.
We have been trying for a few months now to gradually break Josh of his binkie habit. We limited it to the crib and for a while, it seemed to go pretty well. He would willingly relinquish it to our hands in the morning and it provided a good incentive to go down for a nap. However, on two recent trips this month to WA and CA, we gave Josh free reign with his bink because there were many situations where we needed him to be quiet. He's going through a very annoying screaming stage right now. Since we got back from our last trip, the binkie war escalated to a new height. Josh will no longer willingly give up the binkie, not even for food. I have to forcefully pry it from his teeth and the ensuing hysterics are, shall we say, unpleasant. If you live within a two-mile radius you could probably hear the screams.
Yesterday morning was terrible. When I took the bink, he launched one of the worst offensives I've ever seen. He ran through the house screaming at the top of his lungs and threw a whole bowl of cheerios across the living room. He wouldn't stop, so I put him back in the crib and locked him in his room before David came home to find his son duct taped and gagged in a closet. You may laugh, but that was actually one of the nicer thoughts I had on what to do to him. Then of course I had to go into my bedroom and berate myself for being a terrible mother and ask myself why on Earth I'm having another child. After we both calmed down and removed our murderous thoughts, we actually had a pretty good day.
So last night, I decided to try putting Josh down with no binkie, to see if the 'cold turkey' method might work. He cried for a few minutes, but went right to sleep. He woke up fussy at 2am and I did give it back to him, because I thought we should probably wait until the weekend for the full experience out of respect to our neighbors.
I'm happy to report this morning that it wasn't a huge battle to give up the bink. Josh wouldn't willingly release it, but he only cried for about 3 minutes and didn't have a huge meltdown. We'll try again tonight and tomorrow to go the night without a bink. Perhaps we've found a solution to the binkie wars.
5 comments:
Ah, the binkie. I understand. We were determined not to have a four year old running around with the thing (I've actually seen this and thought it was ridiculous), so at about the one year mark we decided to suck it up and the binkie just disappeared one morning never to be seen from again. It was time. Both boys managed to learn to self-soothe and all was eventually well. It's that leap of faith for the parents more than anything. You are NOT a bad mom. Fits can be part of the process. Remember it's ok to give the child and yourself a time out to cool off. ;) And if you have to, phone your neighbors and let them know the situation and I bet they will be supportive.
Go ahead and take it away, for good. it probably inhibits his speech. I learned this from Super Nanny and my own desire not have a toddler with it is his mouth. You are not a bad mom and he is not a bad kid, you both are just learning .
Josh hasn't had a binkie in three days and we don't plan on ever giving it back to him. It has turned nap time and bed time into a battle, but not bad enough to tempt us to give in.
I was so against binks, but it turns out if you don't give them one, they are more likely to result to sucking their thumbs! I can't get Claire to stop. I haven't been trying awfully hard, but I will be soon. Krista said she sucked her thumb til she was SIX! Why am I told about this AFTER I make the decision to do without binkies?
Oh, and I would have let him scream with or without neighbors...;) You're thoughtful. I would have only been thinking about me and my kid.
bad mom? pffffttt! don't be ridiculous. Oh! We want you to come out in Sept with the Harpers!
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