Sunday, July 25, 2010

Put a plug in it!


Aaah, the binky.

Despite our best efforts, none of my kids have ever wanted anything to do with them. 

And we tried.  Oh, we tried.

Abby, Miss "If you don't hold me a certain way, and sing a certain song, and keep pacing the house until you collapse from exhaustion I'm going to scream bloody murder for the next three hours" wouldn't even entertain the thought of something else besides my breast in her mouth.

Ashlynn did a bit better.  I think she took the binky once or twice, giving us a false sense of hope before she refused it all together at the ripe old age of one week.  She of course chose the first night I was home alone with two babies, when her sister was bleeding all over the kitchen, and she was covered head to toe in poop to decide she wasn't going to take the binky, but that's a different story all together.

Max took one occasionally as an infant, usually when he had gorged himself on breastmilk and was still wanting to suck.  Then, when he was in the hospital for his first surgery, a certain binky became an absolute lifesaver.  Since he was denied nursing and bottles for so long, the binky became his best friend. 

Tom and I started joking about how we would never be able to break him of the binky habit, and we'd have one of those five year olds who take their binky out of their mouths, carry on a conversation with you, then pop it back in.  But as soon as we returned home, he spit it out vehemently every time it was offered.  Bad memories, I guess.

That is, until now. 

Somehow, we have quite a collection of the darn things at my house, despite the fact that no one uses them.  (Check that- I often find Ashlynn with a binky in her mouth, chomping away happily.  Nostalgia?  Regret?  Who knows.)  So the other night, I put Max on the bed and went into the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, dothe whole routine before bedtime.  I came out a few minutes later to find Max, dead asleep on the bed, with a binky in his mouth.

You could have knocked me over with a feather.  Not just because of the binky, but because he never goes down that easily!

So the next night, I decided to test the theory out.  I gave him a binky, laid down next to him, and five minutes later, he was out.

So yeah.  Now, two weeks later, I have the nearly two year old kid who won't sleep without a binky in his mouth. 

I'm trying to decide how I feel about the whole thing.  But right now, I'm thinking that if it gets us more sleep at night, then who cares?  He won't still be five and still want the binky, right?

Right?

6 comments:

  1. From what I hear, it's easier to take away the binky than something else they suck on, say, a thumb. My 2nd child was about 2 when he started sucking on his forefinger and rubbing his neck with his other hand at the same time (and I swear he did it just to make us mad because he heard us talking about how our kids didn't have habits like that the day before). He is now almost six and I still have to tell him to stop at least 3 times a day. The dentist says it's ruining his teeth, but there's not a lot I can do. Wait for kindergarten and all the social pressure (okay, the teasing and name-calling and therefore hurt feelings of my sweet, sensitive boy) and maybe he'll stop then?

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  2. (oh and I say from what I hear because none of my children have ever taken a binky, no matter how hard we tried to push it, so I don't actually know if it's any easier)

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  3. I think it's OK. I tried to get Sariah to take a binky when she was around 1, just to get her to sleep at night. What can I say, I was desperate! But she would have nothing to do with it.

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  4. You have to do what works for you! And I'm quite sure that he won't want it anymore after a while. So don't worry! He needs his sleep, and so do YOU!

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  5. My oldest who took a binky till he was 3.5yo was much easier to get back to sleep at night than my youngest who refused the binky and instead insists on drinking milk to get back to sleep at 3.5yo (and still going strong). So, based on my two kids alone, I much prefer the binky!

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  6. Binkies never worked for our kids. I was anti-binky in the beginning, and then, well, we just forgot about them...

    I sucked my thumb until I was nearly 6 years old. Turned out, I didn't need braces later, either. I'm not that messed up as a person, either. ;)

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