We first introduced pacifiers to Darius before he was one month old (see The Necessary Evil?) and although we are glad he has only been attached to them either when he is sleeping at nights or while in his stroller, Catherine and I have been looking for a good time to wean him off them.

Darius used to require sucking a pacifier before he would quietly fall asleep in his stroller, but ever since we got him a new stroller (see A New Stroller for Darius!), he has not been dependent on it much, and would doze off fuss-free himself, aided by the slight rocking motion as the stroller is being pushed.

For the case when he was sleeping at nights, we have started to wean him off his pacifiers shortly after we bought him his new bed (see Darius’ First Night on His New Bed…). After observing his first night on the bed, we noticed he was sleeping better than when he was in his cot. That’s why we believed that was an appropriate time to start.

On his first night without his pacifier, it did take me longer than usual to pat him to sleep, but he didn’t fuss nor whine for not having a pacifier in his mouth. He did however, open his mouth instinctively once or twice but he soon closed it realising that nothing was to come into his mouth. ^^|

It has been almost a week since we let him sleep in the nights without a pacifier and things have been encouraging so far as he had been able to sleep well generally. There were still a few occasions when he woke up several times in the wee hours though, and I was tempted to just put a pacifier into his mouth so that I could get back to sleep. So far, I’m glad I had not succumbed to this. Hopefully we’ll continue to stay firm so that he will be completely rid of the pacifier soon! ^^

Related posts:

1. Darius’ Journey with the Pacifier Before Darius was born, Catherine and I told ourselves that...