Bye-Bye Binky & Hello Big Girl Bed

Addie and her binky (6 weeks old)

When Adeline was born we planned to wait a few weeks before giving her a pacifier in order to avoid nipple confusion, based on our readings. That all went by the wayside as she screamed incessantly one night after we brought her home from the hospital. And thus began Addie's love affair with the binky--and mine too, since it was a wonderful soother during the day and sleep aid at night.

Initially, I planed to break her of the binky habit at one year of age. However, she was teething and I felt terrible taking it away while she used it to ease her pain. We didn't want Adeline to be sucking on a pacifier as an older toddler, so the next plan was to take it away at eighteen months, but yet again she was teething. In an effort to end her dependance, we limited the pacifier to naptime only. Next, we decided to take it away after our move to Tucson. But then, so much had changed in her life that I felt bad taking it away during that transition period. In December, Addie had her first dental cleaning and the doctor told me what we already knew, her front teeth were moving forward and we needed to get rid of the binky. That was one week before Lincoln was born, and knowing that he could come any time, I didn't want to break her of the binky in case someone else had to watch her at night and she might not sleep after just losing the binky. Then, Lincoln arrived and I didn't want to take it away from her during yet another transition. One excuse after the other. We HAD to do it! 

Soothing herself while sick (12 mo. old)

Tim and I strategized and strategized trying to think of the easiest way to transition her away from the pacifier. I sleep trained Adeline around six months of age and ever since then she's been a fantastic sleeper. I didn't want to ruin this by taking away her sleep aid! So, we needed to make this work right the first time! We finally decided to get her a "big girl bed" in hopes that she'd be so excited about it that she'd be willing to give up the pacifier in exchange. 

We wanted her to be a part of the process, so we let her choose which bed set she wanted for her new bed. I pulled up several options from Amazon and she chose an Ariel set. I did this with her a couple times and she chose Ariel on both occasions so I went ahead and ordered the set below and a little toddler bed.

We hyped up the "big girl bed" and "covers" (as she calls them) all week, expressing our excitement and explaining that the binky would have to go "bye-bye" when her new bed arrived. Whenever we spoke about the new bed she would say, "Binky go night-night" so I knew she understood what was about to happen. The night the bed arrived, sheer jubilation shook our house! We went so overboard in our excitement, but we wanted her to understand what a big deal this was and involved her in every step, starting with putting the bed together. Nothing's safer than letting your naked toddler operate a screwdriver, ha. She was very proud to be helping! 

After the bed was built and her bed set was washed, we moved it to her room while Tim took down the crib. Adeline kept exclaiming, "Oh my gosh!" and jumping on the bed while singing "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."

We then reminded her about the binky situation. Earlier that evening we decided that we needed to give her a good reason to give up her binky--she's too smart for us to just take it away without a reason she could comprehend. And an explanation about her dental health wouldn't quite cut it. So, we decided to tell her that Santa was coming to take the pacifiers to other babies that needed them, now that she was a big girl. She saw Santa at Christmas and was infatuated by him; again we tried to make this exciting for her. We took her out to the mailbox and she placed her pacifiers inside without any hesitation. Success!

Then, we went back into her room and went through the usual bedtime routine: brush teeth, read books, pray, and sing songs. Before we turned out the lights she asked for her binky and we reminded her that they were in the mailbox waiting for Santa. We didn't add a nightlight to her room because I didn't want her to be able to see, thinking she would get out of bed and play. When we closed the door she ran to the door for a couple seconds calling out for us and then quickly returned to her bed. (We still use a monitor and watched her to make sure she stayed in bed.) She whimpered for her pacifier for about 30 minutes, then fell asleep and stayed in her bed all night. Hallelujah! Our plan worked!

When Addie woke up in the morning we praised her over and over again for staying in her bed all night and I took her out for donuts to celebrate. When we returned, we checked the mailbox and Adeline found a note from Santa thanking her for giving her pacifiers to other babies who need them. 

We kept expressing our happiness that she stayed in her bed all day, in hopes that she would be just as inclined to stay in bed during her nap time, despite her room being bright enough to allow her to see (and play). Thank goodness, she cooperated again! She ran to the door, called out for me, and then headed right back to her bed and fell asleep. What an awesome kid =).We never even had to tell her to stay in bed or discipline her for not doing so, which I feared would happen. Her early sleep training crossed over and made this another successful transition--something she's going to have to get used to in this military lifestyle!