Today is the 2nd day of breaking off Dani's dependency on her pacifier. Its definitely harder than taking a candy from a baby.
She's about 2 years and 2 months old and based on the research I've made, 2 is the best time to break this habit.
"While parents worry that binkies may harm baby's teeth, they typically have no affect on a child under 2. "From a dental-health perspective, it's best to limit the pacifier when a child is 2 and stop it entirely by the time a child is 4," says John Stritikus, DDS, a pediatric dentist in Dickson, Tennessee. Past age 4, pacifiers can cause an overbite, open bite, or crossbite -- problems that affect chewing, speech, and appearance, and often require orthodontics to correct, notes Dr. Stritikus. Unfortunately, so-called orthodontic pacifiers don't make a difference. What matters is the frequency and intensity of the sucking habit."
-http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/behavioral/bye-bye-binky-ending-the-pacifier-habit/
Like they say, its your child's first "addiction". It has been her comfort and ally. She started off with her fingers. But with our pediatrician's advise we gave her her pacifier. Its more sanitary to say the least.
We prayed and talked to her about it before. But its only been this week that we decided its now or never. Bryan's been quietly pulling her pacifier out in the middle of the night. Sometimes she didn't feel it. Sometimes she does and starts her whimpering.
But it surprised me how well she has handled herself. Dani actually exceeded my expectations. I was expecting tantrums, kicks and screams. But the 30+ mins of whimpering last night was not so bad. This afternoon she asked for it twice in a very calm manner. I answered no. Then she let it go.
This morning I gave her a lot of praises and high fives saying how she has been such a good girl. How grown up she has become. She laughed and I could see she was pretty happy with it, too.
Tonight expecting anything but so far so good.
We've been praying God give her the strength and peace to this challenge. Its a foretaste of more things she will have to go through someday. So far, she is making me very proud. Thank you, Lord!
- Cris Syching
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