Project Paci Removal

The time has come for the pacifiers to disappear. We had planned on doing it at one year, so we're not too far off. She's not a full time paci baby, but there are always two in her crib, and two in the diaper bag for car ride meltdowns. When she was one month old we started working to get her to take a paci since she was such a high sucking needs baby. All babies need to suck, but Ariana wanted to suck all the time! She would nurse, comfort nurse, and pass out, but still want to be latched on constantly. If my nipple wasn't in her mouth, she was fussing and rooting. Now, with all breastfed babies, the constant need to suck in the first couple of months is nature's way of establishing and maintaining a good supply. It's recommended to not introduce a pacifier to a breastfed baby until 6 weeks, or even not at all, as all of their sucking energy can be expelled on it instead of the breast. There are different sucks for a pacifier and a breast, so it can also hurt a baby's latch, causing pain for the mother. Of if I knew then what I know now! But in all honesty, we never had an issues with nursing save oversupply and overactive letdown which just took some time to get her used to.

She finally started accepting the paci around 5 or 6 weeks, and would only get it in the car. As she got older and a bedtime routine was established I would switch out the breast for the paci once she was old cold and not sucking, but still latched on. This became our habit for naps, too. Now that she thinks she's too much of a big girl to be nursed to sleep, she unlatches herself and pops the paci in her own mouth (she likes to hold it while we nurse) and push away from me to be put down in her crib. So now at just days shy of 11 months old, we're going cold turkey with taking the pacifier away.

I'll update this post as the day goes on and for the next couple of days so others thinking of doing the same thing can read our experience and apply it to their pacifier weaning

Bedtime Tuesday Night
The first thing we did was take the pacis out of her crib so she wouldn't see them.
We kept everything the same routine wise (bath, music on, naked time, lotion, jammies, book, nurse) except while nursing in the glider, we held onto her horsey, which is another comfort item for her. When she popped off herself and opened her mouth for her paci. I held her upright against my chest with her horsey and rocked and sang to her. she pushed off of me as usual, but I didn't want to put her down and begin a freak out session (we're very anti-cry it out). I offered her the other breast, but she just poked at my nipple and laughed, so that wasn't what she wanted. I finally decided to try just putting her down as usual, but sans pacifier. She rolled over hugging her horsey and went to sleep! I was amazed and excited as how easy this was going to be!

Morning Nap Wednesday
While playing in the living room, Ariana started rubbing her eyes and yawning around 10:30am so we moved to the bedroom. I changed her diaper, turned on her music and we sat down to nurse again with her horsey. Everything went the same as last night, but after about 5 minutes of being in her crib singing to herself I think she realized what was missing and started yelling at her bedroom door. I went back in a few minutes later to find her blankie, horsey, and froggie strewn across the floor and her standing there looking at them still yelling. I sat back down with her and offered the other breast which she took eagerly. She only comfort nursed for a few minutes before popping off and trying to sit up. she threw her horsey on the floor again. I tried rocking her in every position with and without the horsey. She was quiet and resting her head on my shoulder so I tried putting her down. The second her back hit the mattress blood curdling scream erupted from her mouth. I grabbed her up and tried walking with her. Didn't work. we sat back down, but she wanted nothing to do with my breasts, her blankie or her horsey. I tried patting her tush, I tried singing "You are my Sunshine", I tried humming, I tried tracing my fingertips on her forehead and temples. Nothing worked and she just kept pushing me away and screaming. Not too many tears, just screaming. I almost gave in a few times, but I kept reminding myself that we would just have to go through this again for her afternoon nap and most likely bedtime, too. We are both stubborn so it took an hour and 15 minutes before she was asleep and in her crib. I even resorted to putting her down when she got quiet and rubbing her back, but she would start screaming again and stand up reaching for me. I know she was confused, I know what she wanted. But she doesn't need her paci anymore, plus it's such a pain for us to search for a clean paci when she's crying in the back of the car after 10 minutes of driving. What finally worked was attempting to nurse her again, which she accepted being so overtired at that point, and rocked her so hard I thought the glider was going to tip over. I lowered my face right near hers she when I sang quietly to her, she could feel my breath on her forehead. Her arms and legs went limp within minutes and I was able to break the latch without her even flinching. I rocked her for another minute before putting her down. That was 30 minutes ago, and I haven't heard a peep from her room.

Afternoon Nap Wednesday
...never happened. I should also add that she woke up crying maybe an hour after she finally fell asleep for her morning nap and refused to go back down. Not fun. Needless to say, she will be going to bed early tonight!

Bedtime Wednesday Night
instead of her normal bedtime of 7:30/8:00, she was out of the bath and in her jammies by 6:30! She started fussing and rubbing her eyes during dinner at 5:30, though so she needed to go to bed early as I predicted. She popped off after nursing and started gurgling at me, so I offered the other side. In all of her almost 11 months we have never nursed on both sides, so she is still wanting to suck more. This may help bring my supply back up, since it seems to have dipped again as is common around a year since babies are too active to be bothered with nursing as much! She went down just fine, but woke up FOUR times crying throughout the night. She slept in until almost 8:30, so she made up for it. Thankfully Marty has the day off, so he got up with her and fed her breakfast so I could sleep in until 9:30! Have I mentioned how much I adore my husband? Each time she woke up last night, she would nurse for less than a minute before falling back asleep again, so I'm guessing she usually wakes up periodically throughout the night, pops her paci back in and drifts off. I hope this passes soon! I fell asleep with her a few times in the glider!

Afternoon Nap Thursday
Since Ariana's been fighting her afternoon nap, or just taking very short naps every day for about a week now, I'm experimenting with only one nap today. We went to the park and out to lunch for a couple hours, so she was up for 4 1/2 hours instead of her usual 3 before she goes down. She did so well! I was worried about being in the car without a paci to soothe her, but she only fussed a few times and a board book or a little toy did the trick! We nursed on both sides again, and she was out instantly. I rocked her for a few more minutes- I miss those days so much- before putting her in her crib. She hasn't made a peep in about 30 minutes, so we'll see how she does. So far so good today, though! Update: her nap lasted an hour and a half. She's still fussy, but won't go back to sleep for anything.

Early Evening Nap Thursday
Ariana wouldn't go back to sleep, and was being really uncoordinated. She would cry every time she plopped down from walking, which is really unlike her, so while Marty was cooking dinner around 4:30/5:00, I attempted to put her down for a cat nap until dinner was ready. I think my mistake was trying to do only one nap and she got waaay overtired. We nursed and I rocked, sang, hummed, walked, bounced, tried to nurse again, but she was screaming and crying in my ear. I came close to breaking and just getting her a paci, but I felt that we had made progress and I didn't want to regress. It felt like hours that we were in there, and quickly I started crying and feeling her frustration. She started pushing me away and hitting my chest because nursing is not what she wanted. I knew what she wanted, which was the hardest part, but I know she doesn't NEED it. She threw her horsey across the room, which is usually such a comfort item to her, she didn't want her taggie blanket. I finally put her down on the ground, defeated and with my blood pressure through the roof and she instantly stopped the hysterics and toddled off to play. This was by far the hardest part of project paci removal, but I'm hoping we had a breakthrough, and not leaving her to cry it out hopefully helped her to know that we're not trying to leave her to her own defenses, but rather help her find a different way to fall asleep.

Bedtime Thursday Night
Marty gave Ariana a bath, then handed her off to me for the rest of our routine. She did great and passed out after nursing on both sides. Bedtime really hasn't been the struggle, though. She woke up crying around midnight and nursed for barely 2 minutes before going back to sleep, then again at around 4:30 when she did the same thing. What an improvement from last night when she woke up FOUR times!

Morning Nap Friday
We went into her room at the first sign of sleepiness so we could avoid the overtired scenario from yesterday. We turned on her music, changed her diaper, and sat down to nurse. She stopped nursing and started poking at my face and "talking" to me. I snuggled her as long as she would let me before giving her the horsey and laying her down and walking out. I was doing laundry, but keeping an ear out for her. She was playing for a while before she started fussing. I went in to find her blanket and could stuffed animals we keep in her crib on the floor and her standing there pointing at them. I gathered them up and put them back, picked her up and snuggled her some more this time holding her horsey with us. her eyelids were heavy, but wouldn't close, so I did the same thing as before. Again, like before she started fussing maybe 15 minutes later after talking and playing by herself, so I replaced the again strewn about items, but this time offered to nurse again. She hesitated, but latched on and just suckled for a few minutes before drifting off peacefully. I rocked her to make sure she was really sleeping, then put her in her crib. She's been sound asleep for about 30 minutes, so we'll see how long she sleeps! I'm really excited at her progress already though!

Afternoon Nap Friday
What's an afternoon nap?

Bedtime Friday Night
Bedtime, as usual, went without a hitch. The best part? She woke up once at her pre-project paci removal time of midnight. She woke up for the day at 7:45. I am in paci free heaven!

Morning Nap Saturday
She fought me tooth and nail on this one. Absoloutely refused to even close one eye. So after 20 minutes of trying, I brought her back out into the living room where she could play with Daddy before he left for work and expell some more energy. Not even a full hour later she walked up to me rubbed her eyes and yawned. Off to bed she went like an angel! It only lasted about an hour, though.

Afternoon Nap Saturday
She went down easily, but woke up SCREAMING bloody murder after about 30-45 minutes. I bolted in there expecting to see her head stuck through the rails of her crib, but she was just sitting there, eyes still closed. That first sleep cycle is harder for her to get through without being able to suck on her paci. Understandably so. I rocked her for a few minutes until her limbs were limp and she went back down for... drumroll please... TWO HOURS!

Bedtime Saturday Night
Bedtime went as bedtimes do lately. I think we have successfully accomplished Project Paci Removal!