Binky Removal

This weekend we decided it was time to take away Elliott's binky. She only uses it for naps and night time, which really doesn't bother me (especially since we did sleep training without it), but she is going through a clingy stage right now and anytime she sees it during the day and she can't have it, it turns into a giant tantrum. She has become far too attached, so we decided it was time to say goodbye.

On Friday after her nap I snipped the entire nipple off of all her binky's (this was mostly for my own sake, because having any binky's in the house would be such a temptation for me! Especially if it was a particularly bad day). So I cut them all. Then I placed the end and tip in her crib and asked for her to go grab her binky. She knows where it always is, so she ran into grab it. When she saw it laying in her crib broken, she immediately said, "uh-oh". We pulled it out and talked for a bit about what happened. We told her that had broken. She knows what broken means, and she is fine with that not having any other explanation. She brought it up multiple times that evening before bedtime, asking where it was. We would pull it out and remind her that it was broken. We were sorry but she was going to have to sleep without it.

Night one was a little rough. We tried to give her other distractions to help. She had her baby and a special book. But she was pretty upset. She cried for about 30 minutes before I went in to check on her. I got her out and asked what was wrong. She was so tired. She asked for her binky, so I reminded her again that it was broken. Having an explanation really seemed to help her. It wasn't just "gone". She had seen it and knew it wasn't going to work. So we calmed down, read some books and then put her back in her crib. She whined and cried on and off for another 25 minutes or so before she fell asleep. It was hard, but I think it could have gone a lot worse.

In all of this, I was most nervous for nap time. And for good reason. It has been harder than night time. She really used her binky to calm herself and make herself sleepy. So day 1 without her binky, she played in her crib for 2 hours without napping. She didn't cry at all. She just played.

Night 2 was amazing. She whined for about 4 minutes and fell asleep. I had to wonder though if it was from pure exhaustion having not had a nap that day. But, I was happy either way.

Day 2's nap was much better. It was Sunday so her nap was pushed back quite a bit. She doesn't nap til about 2:30pm on Sundays, where she typically goes down around noon. So she was tired! She conked out without a peep.

Night 3 was a different one. We had plans to go over to Matt and Kendal's for an outdoor movie that night. Even though we had already made those plans, we went ahead and took away the binky this weekend because all our weekends coming up have something in them. So we just went ahead with it. And we figured worse case scenario, if she didn't go to sleep over there, we would just have to leave early. When we go over to friends at night, Elliott sleeps in a pack n' play. So we set it up, put her to bed and let her be. She cried for about 25 minutes. I felt pretty good about that considering she didn't have her binky and we were at someone else's house in a strange bed.

Day 3's nap was nonexistent. I left her in there for longer this time (over 2 and a half hours) to no avail. Again, she didn't cry, but she played happily in her crib the entire time. I figure that as she continues to adjust to not having her binky, naps will come easier. I hope at least. And I think I'm going to start pushing them back later in hopes that making her a bit more tired will help.

Overall, I'm really happy with how she is doing! Even though nap times have been difficult, she isn't crying or complaining, so I'm happy. I can still leave her in there and get things done..(or take a nap, like I did today). :)