wwyd reg paci

Gen & Joel

LO Loves his Paci and has no other object that he uses for comfort such as stuffy or blanky.He is 16 months right now and  I was thinking of getting rid of the paci soon but then i'm wondering if he will want it again when LO #2 arrives in nov.  My MIL says DH had his until he was 3 and i think that is too old but anyway....My MIL watches Lo 2 days a week and when we mentioned taking it away soon she said not in her house! So as far as the comfort thing goes should i let him have it and take it away before lo #2 or just wait? I know nothing is set in stone just looking for opinions thanks.

PheWms

My son had his paci until he was 3 yrs old.  He knew that once he turned 3, he wouldn't be able to have the paci anymore.  Like your son, my son was very dependent on his paci (and I have been told that I sucked a paci until I was 4 or so.... eeek!) but I didn't mind him having it.

It seems as though you are anti-paci past the age of 2 so maybe you can ween him off of it instead of taking it cold turkey.  (Which may make your MIL happy cause it seems as though you are compromising.... but it's your son and you should have the final say.....)  Anyway, what we did with my son was to pull the paci in public at first.  He could have it in the car, in the house, and of course nap/bedtimes.  Then we moved to him only having it for nap/bedtime.  My son is in daycare and when he moved to his new room last year, they weren't allowed pacis so he was napping 5 days a week without one so I knew it was possible.

I only have 1 child but as I was weening my son from the paci, I would always point out babies with pacis and explain that they can have their pacis because they are babies and he is a big boy. 

Good luck with your decision.

CaitlinJ22

DS still has his, but it has been for nap and bed only since 8 months old. I think its weird seeing kids older than 1 walking around with them all day. DS knows it stays in his room. I go back and forth with taking it away, but I feel like it will happen by 3. Its his only comfort and with the nightmares he's been having, I don't care if it has it for 6 more months. I think once he can understand, he will give it up better. I believe if you are gonna do it, do it now, or wait until he is 2.5 or older when he can understand that they are for babies and why you are taking it away. Good luck!

NavyPilotWife

DD1 didn't start STTN until she was a little over a year old. I could hear her over the monitor wake up, find her paci, and go back to sleep. At that point, I didn't want to mess with something that was helping me sleep at night. I thought about weaning her off of it around 15 months, but it was too close to DD2's arrival. There were a few times, when DD1 got really upset when I was busy with DD2 and it was so nice to tell her to go find her paci and she was able to calm herself down. By the time DD2 was about 3 months old, we cut DD1's use of the paci down to just naps and bedtime. I recently started snipping it, in hopes that we can be done with it by the time she's 2.