Operation No Paci: Day 1

As I mentioned in my last post, we are attempting to take away the paci before Kyler's first birthday. Last night was our first night without the pacifier. It took me probably over an hour to get Kyler to sleep but then he slept through the night without even a peep. He did a lot of what I would call "fake sucking" as he was getting more and more tired and was definitely squirming around a lot. We rocked, then I tried putting him in bed and kept making him lay down, then we stood, then read a book and rocked, and tried all of these things multiple times. Finally he was really tired and I bounced him in my arms for a few minutes and he finally went to sleep, and stayed asleep when I laid him in his bed.

Today at daycare I told them we were going to take away the paci. They said that during the day he fusses and looks around for it when it isn't nap time. So they are going to give it to him only when he naps for now until I have him able to go down easily without it. (With several other babies to care for, they obviously can't spend an hour trying to get my one kid down.) They called me at work saying Kyler had a fever so I had to pick him up early. Even with the fever, they were able to limit the use of the paci to nap time only.

I was able to put him down for a nap this afternoon without it as well. This time it took a little less time, around 40 minutes. We tried reading books then rocking, laying in bed, standing and bouncing, and finally a bit more rocking did the trick. He was gumming his fingers a little but at least not sucking on them - I don't want to create a thumb sucker by taking it away which is why I have waited until now. I put him in bed when he wasn't yet sound asleep and he didn't even fuss.

Since Kyler's fever was this afternoon he won't be able to go back to daycare tomorrow so hopefully by Tuesday when he does go back he will be completely free of that darn paci. It will definitely test our patience as we are driving to and from Wichita for Easter and it might be a long car ride. Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa won't mind hearing a baby fuss while I try to get him to sleep without a paci over the weekend. Sorry Grandma and Grandpa - I guess I picked a bad weekend!