to "suess" or not to "suess"

[georgia's mama]

Georgia is almost 14 months old  and we are in the process of getting rid of her pacifier (aka. "suess").  The first night it took her app. one hour to fall asleep which is normal except she cried instead of played.  We would go in there to do the PD, however when we entered the room she would have a face full of tears and then start laughing.  YOu could tell she was trying to go to sleep but needed some support.  Yet she would be distracted by us being in the room (laughing etc...).  I pictured us in there for the next 12 hours.  What do you do in that situation? The next day she went for her two naps and to bed with little or no fuss.  Today was a different story, her first nap was horrible, she sobbed for one hour then played for the next hour - then it was lunch time, so no am nap.  She fell asleep in the car on the way to the doctor's and had a 15 minute cat nap.  Her afternoon nap didn't happen except for 30 minutes in the play pen with her "suess" in her mouth (we were desperate).  She also woke last night screaming and we had to pick her up for a quick cuddle and sip of milk.  We just got out of the night time wakings (teething, etc...) and were hoping to lose the pacifier before she starts daycare in September.  Is it too early?  She has some blankies and babies but isn't attached to them like the "suess".  Should we continue to use it for emergencies and periodically during the day or go cold turkey?  And if we go cold turkey how do we handle naps and bedtimes when she's crying and PD doesn't seem to work?  We don't like to let her CIO.  Any suggestions would be helpful.
Georgia's mommy and daddy

[deb]

When we weaned Josie from the pacifier, the first night wasn't too bad, the second night was worse, the third night was about the same as the first, and then it got better from there. Keep at it - it WILL get easier.

I'm about to be in the same boat with Natalie, whose current game involves spitting out the pacifier, crying for it, and repeating ad nauseum. If we weren't going away for the weekend, it would be TONIGHT, but I don't have the stamina to do that while dealing with my in-laws! LOL

Hang in there and fight the good fight and keep the faith and all that stuff!

[georgia's mama]

Thanks for the support, how old was Josie when you weaned her off?  Did you do it all at once or gradually?  What did you do when she cried for it? Your children look adorable by the way...I've been trying to put up a picture of Georgia but it never seems to work.

[deb]

Thanks for the support, how old was Josie when you weaned her off?  Did you do it all at once or gradually?  What did you do when she cried for it? Your children look adorable by the way...I've been trying to put up a picture of Georgia but it never seems to work.

We actually let Josie have it till 7 months, which the way things are going with Natalie right now makes me wonder what the heck we were thinking, doing all that plugging-in!! :lol:

We started off gradually using the method in Elizabeth Pantley's No-Cry Sleep Solution, which was basically to let them suck on it for a while as usual as they drifted off to sleep and then gently pull it out and hold their mouths closed, only giving it back if they noticed it. (There's more detail on the Props board.) Then she got a cold, so we held off and started again after the cold. Then she got teeth. Then she got more teeth. Finally we decided to go cold turkey at that point. I'm thinking the gradual stuff might have helped make the cold turkey more bearable, but that's all guesswork. When we finally made the break, we held her till she drifted off a little and put her down, sort of an extended pu/pd, just not putting her down till she was pretty settled. When she woke for it, we'd try to settle her in her crib, but if that didn't work we'd hold her again for a while.

Thanks for the compliment! I like to say that the girls got all our good genes, which is to say that they greatly resemble their dad! LOL There are directions for posting Avatars in (I think) the Suggestions for Website forum, BTW, or one of those other ones down there.