Binky Free!

First off.. I'm seeing a pattern here. Monday's are when I feenol like writing. The past few weeks I'm only able to post once a week and both are Tuesday morning. 

I love Monday's actually. I know everyone hates Mondays. I'm pretty sure I hated them too when I had to commute to work and do the whole thing. But Mondays nowadays are like my day to catch up from the weekend. Throw in a couple loads of laundry, clean up the house, go grocery shopping for the week and get ready for the rest of the week!

I guess I feel like I get a new clean start!

Anyways.. Last week we took away Kenzie's binky. My plan of action? Cold turkey!



I had already started kinda trying to let her use it only when she was getting tired for naps or bedtime..But I did use it as a crutch for sure. If we were out in Target or wherever and she started getting a lil cray I would pop it in and it would give me just a little longer of shopping time. So I was just a little afraid to try it out...but everything has gone great!

Last Wednesday she woke up with it and then as we were getting ready for our weekly Wednesday "Mom's Time Out" playdate we put it away.




When I picked her up a few hours later, it was definitely naptime and she was asking for "Eeepy mommy! Eeepy" aka "Binky Mommy, binky" :p Followed with some whining and tears.

I simply just responded with "Binky went bye bye, baby" which was then followed with "huh?"
me: Binky went bye bye
kenz: huh?
lol over and over. And tears..Not a meltdown but she was definitely tired. And she didn't get it. Luckily we were right down the street from home so as soon as we got inside I grabbed her babydoll which she just recently started giving any attention to and just sorta tried replacing her comfort with that. We climbed into my bed and laid down, with her arm around her baby and she was out.

She woke up great, asked for her binky a couple of times but I just said the same thing, "binky went bye bye". She was still confused but then I just would instead ask if she wanted a snack or to go outside..whatever to change the subject and distract her and she was fine. I also had plans to keep her busy and distracted with cousin Bradley coming over.





Again as it was almost bedtime she started to get cranky and started asking for it. Same thing as naptime...we were ready for bed too so we just brought her to bed with us.. (btw that's just how we found works for us to get her down for bed.. It's usually bath, cuddles in our bed and she falls asleep where we then transfer her into her crib).

This time though as soon we are ready for bed, it was like she got a 2nd wind and wanted to play and wrestle with dad. I thought maybe if she had her binky she would soothe herself to sleep... so maybe this is what kept her up since she didn't have it? She was up late, about 10-10:30 she fell asleep finally.

Thursday, she woke up perfectly fine! No mention of binky! Whoo hoo! I thought wow this is so easy!

I had a dr appt to check up on little babe #2, and my mom watched her in the waiting room (I go to my mom's office which is awesome so she watches Kenz while I have my quick little appts). My mom said she asked for her binky once but no meltdowns.

Really from there on out we haven't had any issues at all. I was a little nervous since we had a wedding Friday night but she was great! She talked a little during the ceremony which the old me woulda popped her binky in immediately so she would be quiet.

These are now are little lovies.. She never really had a "lovie" before. I had always sorta tried to give them to her but she never got attached. Sometimes she would grab a stuffed animal on her way to bed or grab her little taggies blanket and bring it with her in the car, but now before bed she asks for "baby" and grabs her little blanket with Baby. And sometimes "Puppy". :)



This will definitely be our plan for baby Kylie as well. I think especially with nursing.. I don't want to be her pacifier (which I've had many friends where their babes wouldn't take a pacifier and only would calm down/fall asleep once they nursed). I have no problem with giving her a binky. We will just stop before she turns 2. I think that age is perfect.. 

Kenzie will be 2 in just over 30days and she just recently started really asking for her binky. I'm glad I did this now rather then wait probably another few weeks or longer because i'm sure it would have been much more difficult to break that bond.

Also I encourage just to go Cold Turkey! Or at least try it! I've seen some other methods, like cutting it little by little every time so eventually there is nothing more to suck on. Or there are books out there that really help with explaining to them. Binky Fairies, etc. I think at her age and just telling her it went bye bye, really worked.

Next up! Potty Training!! I just have to pick a time where we really don't have much going on for the week since I'm probably going to try the No Pants/diaper method. Just let her go free. Good thing we have hard floors. We'll most likely spend most of our days out in the back yard. Anyone have advice on potty training little girls? :) Any tips and tricks are very much appreciated!!

And if you need to try breaking from the binky, good luck!!! It was easy peasy for us!