Comments on: No nap.

By: vids

vids — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:09:52 +0000

Big hugs! Maddox never used a pacifier, but sleep over here has degenerated. He starts off in his crib then ends up spending the majority of the night in our bed. We are on the brink of introducing drastic change. I am just dragging my feet because aside from getting kicked in the head at 2am, it’s relativly peaceful. But the problem is he can’t seem to sleep at all with out me. Not even naps. I totally freak out and loose it just thinking about him up screaming in his crib.
Anyway that’s my ramble. Good luck. It can only get better.

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:06:54 +0000

Rosalind never took a pacifier, but her sleep degenerated into complete chaos shortly after she turned two, also. We never figured out why but bedtime went from a half hour ritual with a peaceful ending, to a regular two hour marathon of screaming and heartache. And then after two months of frustration and rage (from all three of us), she was suddenly back to “normal”.

I just can’t wait to find out how she’ll sleep in a few weeks when there’s a new baby in the house…

By: cheyenne

cheyenne — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:32:14 +0000

Careful Matt! You’re scaring my mother.

She’s possibly getting better or else we’re getting wiser. We whip out the Baby Beluga like a can of Whoop Ass, and she screams “No no no!” when she hears it, but of course she’s powerless under its magic. She went down after an hour and a half tonight! Hooray!

By: Antonia

Antonia — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:06:36 +0000

Um. We just threw Silas’ dummy away when we got sick of the meltdowns. We didn’t even tell him a nice story about a fish or anything. Just disappeared the f—ing thing. Now Mama has become the ‘nap,’ meaning that I have to read 5 stories, sing 8 songs, and lie down with him for at least half an hour while he beats me on the head before he goes to sleep.

The way I figure it, our lives are just ruined anyway for the next three years, so a little more torture makes very little difference, really. Besides, once no. 2 is born, I’ll be able to sip martinis while he’s beating me on the head, and that should take the edge off.

Bon courage.

By: g

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:56:53 +0000

Hi C, my mom did this for many little cousins and babies in our family, worked every time: create a place, not near her bed, that’s a sleeping place. Help her choose some fabric for sheet, pillowcase, take her to the store and buy a blanket with her, put nigel (or anyone) to bed in her “bad bed” or original bed, in essence give that bed away to her animals, then replace said “nap/pacifier” with reading Websters dictionary to her as if this is normal. Don’t mention sleep, nap, or any trigger near the new bed. Instead, it’s all about Websters. The key is to associate nap and pacifier with the old bed. The new bed has new rituals, that can be comforting and repetitive: the dictionary. And don’t mention sleep. Don’t trigger old cycle, old routine. Within a few weeks, with a few relapses, this can work. Good luck, I am sorry to hear about little r’s situation. Love, g

By: Peg Bowden

Peg Bowden — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:54:14 +0000

Interesting notion about associating the “nap” with sleep—and having the same word for it. You may be right. I like the idea of replacing the “nap” with a special new doll or toy or some other sleep-mate. Maybe a special song to sing when she goes to sleep. Ronin is a passionate child with passionate feelings—you never have to guess how she feels. It is right there in front of you. I love that about her. Oma Peggy

By: Kresling

Kresling — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:53:49 +0000

My mother never took away my pacifier and now I’m a 35-year-old man who can’t sleep without a pacifier. So what?

By: Ginger

Ginger — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:07:00 +0000

My friend weened her 2 year old of the pacifier by cutting off the nipple (kind of like your broken method) and that worked. And then told her to pick something (toy) out at the store that would “replace” the nap and comfort her. My dad also said that when he weened us, it was a few weeks of hell, but got better. My nephews were still taking it at 4 years old and parents finally gave the pacifier to Santa Claus. Thinking 2 years old is much better. I am REALLY not looking forward to Celine’s turn at all.

By: joshua

joshua — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:18:25 +0000

We started with the pacifier because we were desperate to help her sleep and it did help a lot. For the most part we only allowed her to have it for sleeping; to the point where her word for it became synonymous with sleep. In hind site this was dumb and we should have had a unique name for it, because we had to scramble to invent new words for sleeping that didn’t remind her of the nap.

Also it’s easy to forget that part of the reason we decided to go ahead and get rid of it was that it didn’t seem to be helping that much anymore and it was also giving her a persistent rash. I don’t think we’ll be giving it back. She doesn’t cry for it or anything, she just doesn’t know how to sleep without it. Maybe would have been better not to associated it so strongly with sleep? I’m not sure.

The ‘broken’ bit is brilliant though because she doesn’t blame us for taking it away.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:58:27 +0000

So, if you were giving advice to the parent of 4month old, would you have done anything differently in terms of weaning from the pacifier earlier? Just wondering…