Well, we still have a binky problem. Are we weak or what? With Caroline turning the big T-W-O we thought to ourselves…”Okay, this is IT! We have to kick this disgusting habit now before she takes it [binky] to senior prom.”
So, after failing miserably at the whole cold turkey thing and Caroline not being fooled by the “cutting the tip” thing…we were back at square one.
Well, I did some extensive research via three google searches and stumbled across an article about “Build-a-Binky-Bear” and it piqued my interested. I read it and figured that we could totally accomplish this, so off to Build-A-Bear we went.
Note: We waited for my mom to come in town because for some reason Caroline knows Nana doesn’t like her binky, so we thought she would listen to her Nana a bit easier than she would good ole (super weak) mom and dad.
So, we got to the store and Caroline had absolutely no interest in the amazing stuffed animal options. We were completely defeated and opted to go get Chick-Fil-A to let our Chick-Calm-Down. After lunch, we went back to BAB and Caroline picked out the only non-bear (of course!) and off to build we went.
The key to the Build-A-Binky “Bear” thing is that the child participates in the stuffing the bear with the binkies process and will allegedly remember that their beloved binkies are in there and then be comforted by loving on the new animal. So, here’s how it went down.
First we selected the puppy.
Then we stuffed the puppy with four of her five binkies (mom and dad kept an emergency one).
We kissed the heart that went inside the puppy.
And that was it. They stuffed the animal full of fluffy goodness, we spent an arm and a leg on some clothes for Mrs. Puppy and we were on our merry way.
All was well in our new binky-free world until we got in the car and Caroline had a meltdown. We made it 45 minutes before we caved and whipped out the emergency binky. Sigh.
Fast forward to last week, we met with our awesome pediatrician who told us to not fret the binky habit and to just wait until she’s old enough to understand the logic of trading it in for something bigger and better.
BUT…just because this cute idea didn’t work for us, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Hahahaha!!! Oh, poor mom and dad 🙂 Nice try though!!
I thought my son was the only one who would cry for 45min and not give up ! I was super pumped about taking the milk cup away at night (starting tonight) and maybe it would keep him asleep through the night, but I have a feeling hes not going to do so well. Mommy and Daddy probably won’t do so well either !
We cut our son off cold turkey about 7 weeks ago because we found out his school wouldn’t let him take to his next class. Plus he was almost 3. It has been an awful transition. It is taking her a long time to fall asleep, he still asks for his ‘night night’… We have never wanted to cave, but it has definitely not been a fun experience. I hope yours goes better in the long run!
We took Lucy to the Disney Store to trade her binkies for a Cowboy (Woody from Toy Story). We told her weeks in advance that this is what we were going to do and she would say, “OK. Bye bye binky for a cowboy doll!” That night, she was in her crib with her beloved Woody for about 4.3 seconds before screams of “I WANT MY BINKY!!!” erupted. I’ve never heard of two parents caving faster than Husby and i did!
We’ll try again to take it away before her first slumber party 🙂