Since she had her burns, she started sucking on it constantly again and now it's harder for her to be without it. I've noticed it's starting to shift her front teeth a lot and don't want her to have it after 3 years old, so we did it.
I looked online for some ideas and saw a post that for their 3 year old, they put the pacifier in a Build-a-Bear. The boy knew it was there and even though he couldn't suck on it, it helped. So I thought that would be a good idea for Aria. And they have a rainbow teddy bear that I knew she would love.
The night before I told her about this idea, and she wouldn't have a pacifier to suck on anymore, and she agreed. I got my hopes up thinking she was all in. Saturday morning she kept wanting to get to the mall to get her "animal". She picked out the rainbow bear, went through the whole song and dance (literally), and even shoved the pacifier in the bear herself. She seemed fine while we were there and walking out of the mall.
Then we headed straight to Bonne Maman and Bon Papa's house. She hadn't napped yet and was getting tired. She cried and yelled the whole way there for her pacifier. Then at their house, on and off she cried for it. At one point she tried to rip the bear open to get her pacifier out. But when she calmed down I told her she hurt the bear, and she kissed it and said she was sorry.
On the way home, she cried and whaled again until she exhausted herself, 10 minutes from home. She slept until 4:45am and then wouldn't calm down. Frederic mentioned turning on the TV to distract her, so we were up since 4:45.
The rest of the day we were outside playing with the neighborhood kids. Nap time didn't happen. She actually took the bear out of her crib and shoved it between the wall and crib, pushing it onto the floor. So I started to think her seeing the bear and being reminded wasn't helping. Later on, Frederic and Luc hid the bear in her closet. We'll take it out when she's over her pacifier and has forgotten a little bit.
The second night she passed out quickly because she was so active and tired from the day. But she woke at 3:30am and started with the whining and crying. We let her go on and on for over an hour until she fell back asleep.
She's a fighter. And I think going cold turkey is the only way. I just hope she adjusts and forgets sooner than later. She doesn't take bribes (new toys, candy, etc) and keeps wanting it. And now we're kicking ourselves for not doing this a year ago when it would've been easier.
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Update 9/13:
Aria has not had her pacifier. It's totally random when she thinks and asks for it. At night, when she's going to bed, she rarely asks for it. The last two nights she's slept all the way through with no waking and crying. When she woke up yesterday, she wanted her "fier" (as she calls it) and then proceeded to have a meltdown for 15 minutes, while also refusing to put a shirt on. Mommy won. On both accounts. Though she did go into the car without shoes...I'm picking my battles.The bear is still hidden in her closet.
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Update 9/20:
We're now more than a week without the pacifier. I think we deserve to celebrate. After the first few days, Aria was fine. She asks for her "fier" in passing once every other day. Usually I answer with a "yea, in a minute." or just ignore her and change the subject and she forgets about it. We even traveled to NY last week and was successful with no pacifier. Whew!Bear is still in the closet though...
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