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July 17, 2000

07/17/00

We are weaning Jason off of the pacifier, and it seems to be going well. Steve and I have talked about it a lot, and decided that the time was right. I really want Jason to have been off of it for a while before the baby comes because I can foresee a situation where he holds onto it longer that he might have because he sees the baby with it. I just don't want that to become an issue. So for the next couple of weeks, he only gets it at nap and bedtime, and then when he seems comfortable with that, we'll get rid of it all together.

If I didn't know that he was ready, I wouldn't push the issue, but the fact is that he had almost weaned himself off of it before our trip in May. However, that disruption set him off, and he started using it more and more. It's been about 3 days since we began the process, and honestly he's fine. He does ask for it, but usually we can distract him with an activity or something else. He's even gotten a couple of "owies," and though he asked for his "ga ga," we were able to comfort him pretty easily without it. The only times we can't distract him, it usually means he's really tired and needs to sleep.

What I don't like about this is having to take it away from him. It's bothering me that I'm forcibly removing something that he uses to comfort himself, but I'm not sure if there's a better way to go about it. When I take it away, I do explain to him that pacifiers are only for naptimes and bedtimes, and that he's getting to be too big for it, so it's not as if I'm just arbitrarily removing it. Still, it's hard.

I've thought about using the technique about cutting off a little bit of it at a time, which seems to be a good approach, but I wonder about that being a choking hazard. What I don't know is if you cut parts of it, does that mean that other pieces could tear off more easily?

I don't know what I'll do in regards to pacifiers with the baby. On the one hand, if I never introduced the pacifier I wouldn't be dealing with the situation I have now. On the other, I remember that when Jason was tiny, he really needed to be latched on to something at all times, and I didn't want it to be me! I didn't mind breast-feeding at all, but there was a point at which I did want my breasts to myself for a while.

I guess it will be a "wait and see" scenario. I won't automatically give the new baby a pacifier, but if it looks like she needs it for comfort, then I will.