No More Binky

This past weekend, we said goodbye to Michael's Binky. He never used his binky a lot. It was only for naps and bed time. In the morning we would put it on his dresser, and he was fine with that. But lately, if he sees it in his room, he will grab it off of his dresser and put it in and walk around with it. When I tell him "no, that's only for night-night," he would put it in his crib without hesitation. But, I knew I wanted it gone by the time he turns two so I figured now was as good a time as any.


This picture was taken several months ago
right after he woke up from his nap.

I had done some research on the best ways to take away the binky. He's too young to understand the "Binky Fairy" and I didn't want to just cut the tip, or poke a hole in it, because I knew he would still want it, even if it was damaged. So, we decided going cold turkey was the best method.

So Friday night, we put him to bed, and when he asked for his binky, we said, "Binky went bye bye. No more Binky." Well, he didn't like that answer and cried for a solid hour. I was prepared for 2-3 rough nights, so I knew this was normal. On Saturday he only cried for a couple of minutes at his nap time, so I was hopeful that Saturday night would go better. Well, Saturday night he cried for an hour again! This mama was not happy. I just sat at the top of the stairs crying with him. I had decided that if he cried again on Sunday night, that I was going to rock him to sleep if I had to. I was not going to let him cry for an hour again. So, Sunday nap went great, but he fell asleep in the car and just transferred to his crib still asleep. Sunday night, I let him cry for 15 minutes. Then I went up and hugged him, and rocked him, and reassured him that we love him. So I put him back in his crib and he cried for 10 minutes, and then silence! Monday night was another time where he fell asleep in the car, so I carried him in, and he stayed asleep. Tuesday night he only cried for 5-7 minutes and then was asleep! So, I think it is safe to say that we have kicked the binky habit. I just hope the rest of this week goes as well as last night went. The odd thing is, he never once asked for his binky, and if we talked about his binky, he would say, "no more binky, bye bye binky." I think he just had a hard time falling asleep without it, so he cried instead. He does have a favorite blanket that he sleeps with, so that has been helping a little. I have no plans of taking the blanket away from him. He can go to college with that thing for all I care.