Bye Bye Binky

It has been 7 days since Peanut "lost" his beloved binky (pacifier). Yes, he still got a pacifier during naps and at night. A week ago, Jared was putting Peanut to bed and couldn't find the binky. They tore Peanut's room apart looking for it, but no luck. Jared and I were about to dip into the backup stash when we thought this was a good opportunity to get rid of the binky (something we meant to do a year ago). Oh boy, we had no idea what we had in store.

With a binky, Peanut easily took 2.5 hour naps and slept 11 hours a night (8pm to 7am). The last 7 days have been another story. First of all, Peanut has not taken a single nap since. On the first night, Peanut didn't fall asleep until almost midnight and only because Jared sat with him for about 30 minutes. The second night, same thing, but he fell asleep around 11pm. On night 3, Peanut passed out on his own around 10pm because he was exhausted. Peanut's been falling asleep on his own about an hour earlier each night since, but it hasn't been easy. He comes out of his room about ten times with excuses ranging from needing a toy left in the living room to wanting to go to the potty. Tonight, he passed out a little after 8pm.

For three years, the pacifier was Peanut's sleep cue and aid. That is what he used to fall asleep. He slept so well that we didn't want to change a thing. He's retraining himself now and it's been a painful process for all of us. Luckily, it hasn't interfered with his potty training. I was sure it was going to make him regress, but it seems to have had the opposite effect.

I am hopeful that the potty usage continues to go in the right direction and his naps come back.