Anyone gone cold turkey with a young one? My baby is 2 months and since she was born has needed the paci to sleep. This is fine b/c she won't take it at other times. My problem is that she is completely dependent on it. She can't fall asleep without it. She was fine throughout the night, waking only once and even then I only had to give it to her half the time. Well for 4 nights now I've gotten up several times to give it back to her. Definitely a problem is developing. If I do decide to go cold turkey with her, how can I help her fall asleep without it and not resort to accidental parenting? The pat/shush only makes her cry more most of the time. She could be completely screaming her head off and it will calm her a bit but she won't stop crying. She gets to the calmer point then expects the binky (she won't take it before then) and if she doesn't get the binky it just escalates and she is a mess and I give it to her and lay her down and she is right off to dreamland. The paci is the heart of our routine, whether she's crying or not. She knows she gets swaddled, then gas drops, then paci, then cuddle/song, then crib, and then I leave and she falls asleep. If she jerks or yawns as she is falling asleep and it falls out I will sometimes have to replace it one or two times. I don't mind this at all. So I don't really know what to do. I'm not sure how else to calm her since when she is upset pat/shush doesn't work. I've tried the gradual weaning but she screams until the binky is put back in and finally is so overtired the second it's back in her mouth for the umpteenth time she closes her eyes and how can you watch for the 2nd stage of sleep if the eyes are already closed? Is it okay to rock her her to help her relax? Is there some way I can get her to stay asleep at night without having to worry about putting the binky back in? She's always slept through without out it up until now. I'm going crazy! I went cold turkey with DS at 4 months and can't remember how I did it. He wasn't on any kind of Baby Whisperer thing and didn't sleep through the night until the binky was completely out of the picture. He never sucked his fingers or anything. That is until he was about 1, 1 1/2 at which age he began thumbsucking completely out of the blue. He has been a great sleeper since I got him off the binky. My spirited boy is 3 yrs now and will often tell me when it's naptime and sometimes even skip his routine just wants to sleep and knows it will help him feel better. How do I get my 10 week old on the same path??? Parenting is so complicated!
Please help!
Kate
