If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have noticed my recent hashtag…#binkiprobs. This post is dedicated to those of you who wonder “what in the world is wrong with me for allowing my almost 4-year-old to use a binki” and to those of you who have an almost 4-year-old who uses a binki! 😉 P.S…. I don’t think it’s funny, but humor is my way of coping… hence the hashtag #binkiprobs.
I am not quite sure how it all began… Harper’s (Roo’s) sick obsession with her binki. But alas, this is where we are. Somehow we totally weened Roo off her binki around age 3. It was no big deal. No tears. Just sayonara binki! This was a HUGE success to me because Roo tends to be our emotional child (I was starting to think Jon and I were quite good parents-LOL.). Do you have an emotional child?! Transitions are sometimes scarier for the parents than they are for the child!
Well (burst my bubble or pride) it didn’t last long…. A few months ago she got all cozy with her binki again. I really didn’t think much of it…. In my head, she was just acting like her baby brother or needing a little more attention from me… or so I thought.
SO, here we are… at almost 4… addicted to the binki. Sigh. Truthfully, here I sit, deathly afraid to take it away. Afraid to break her little (almost) 4-year-old heart. Afraid she will scream and cry for nights on end. Afraid she will turn into a little monster without it. Afraid she will not self-soothe. Maybe a little afraid she will resent me. I know, I know… I hear you screaming through the computer screen…”SHE IS FOUR!!” But she is “only” 4 to me. She is still so little and sensitive. I want it to be a good transition… not the “monster” disaster I am envisioning!
Oh, Roo. What will I do with you?!
I guess this is my plea for advice? OR maybe encouragement?! Or maybe an “I’ve been there before”? We are planning on taking the binki away around her birthday…. YIKES! We need all the help we can get!
I received great advice this past weekend from a parent with the same issue. He said that he finally cut the tips of the binkis in the house so that they wouldn’t “suck” right. His daughter gave it up within a week.
With my kids I have weaned the pacifier away by letting them only use it at naps and bedtime and then within a month just take away (but this has been at age 1…). I don’t know if that would help or at least start the process for you/her.
As I said on the other post…..dont sweat it. She will give it up in her time. Taking something away
that she is so attached to, that comforts her , that makes her feel safe in this crazy world…just because society says they should only have one until a certain age seems mean to me. I am not willing to give up chocolate when I need calming….so why would I make my kids give uo
something that works and does no harm to them. She will eventually give it up…when she goes to school it will be less and less. Just ask yourself…..why are you taking it away? if you dont have a good answer then dont worry about it.