When my 2 older kids were little they had no interest in a binky. (that is what we call a pacifier in our house) If only I had taken that as a sign that I should not have even bothered to introduce one to my 2 youngest! When my 3 1/2 year old was a baby (and yes, he is a boy!) he was hungry ALL THE TIME! Or maybe he just liked having a boob in his mouth! He is, after all, a male! When he was six months old I got sick with the flu and he had to stay with my mom and we used a pacifier to help out. He also got introduced to formula because I COULD NOT nurse while I was throwing up.....I didn't want to risk dropping him in the toilet! Anyway, he ended up falling in love with his binky. We broke him of it on his second birthday. (his little brother was born 3 months before his 2nd birthday and he had already been ousted from his crib.....no need to kick a guy when he's down!) Everything went really well until I had to be in the hospital for 4 days when our youngest was 5 months old and the kids stayed with Grandma again. Thus, the binky resurfaced but for the littlest guy this time. Turns out that older brother rediscovered his love for his long-lost binky and started stealing it from him on a regular basis. Little brother didn't seem to mind too much since he wasn't quite as in love as big brother.......yet! I went back to work for a few months and that is when the binky became his best friend. I will admit (sadly) that for a short time they both had one because it was just easier to let it go than to hear them scream. As our youngest approached his 2nd birthday (which was this past February) we decided (and by we I mean my husband) that enough was enough....NO MORE BINKY! I took them away (and by took them away I mean I didn't completely get rid of them. I hid them.....just in case) the day after his 2nd birthday. We had some pretty upset boys and 1 slightly frazzled mom (from all the crying....did I say crying? I meant screaming) for a few days
but I still needed a way to break them for good. A friend told me about how they broke their child. You cut the nipple off of the binky. That way they can see that it is "broken" and no longer usable. The hope is that this will make more sense to them than saying, "you can't have it because I said so!" (I wish I could use this logic with my older children!) Well, I cut the nipple off of one and gave it to my son and boy was he UPSET! Even the older one got mad.....how would he ever steal it now? There were tears, but I think we finally got them both to understand. Sickness enter here....the next week everyone in the house got sick with a cold. Our youngest was the worst and he REFUSED to sleep! (Have you ever seen a 2 year old on a bender? Me neither but I am pretty sure that he could have been a poster child for that campaign!) This was only making him sicker so I caved and gave him his binky back. (What?!? This was a serious case of "just in case") After he got some sleep and was on the mend I told myself that I better take it away again before he heads off to college. Long story short.....I didn't have to. Big brother hid under a blanket with some scissors (good thing I had an eye on him....but in my defense they were child safety scissors!) and cut the nipple off of the last binky in the house! So far so good.....we will have to see how nap time goes! Farewell dear Binky! You have been a great friend! We will miss you!
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