Phase 1 was to wean Colin off the pacifier during the day (excluding naps, bedtime, and in the car). It has now been 7 days with nary a nukkie in his mouth during awake times.
Here's what happened.
Colin's the type who needs to eat breakfast as soon as he wakes up. So I let him keep his pacifier when we went to the table. When he took it out of his mouth and started eating breakfast, I'd slip it away from him and put it up on the kitchen counter. Sometimes he noticed, but was preoccupied with food to even care.
Occasionally he asked for it, but I just said, "not right now" and distracted him with something else--usually going outside.
When it was naptime, I let him have it.
We did try going without it at bedtime on day 3, and thought we might be successful because he dozed off for a minute or two, but then when he kept waking up asking for it, we decided that he wasn't ready to give it up for bedtime yet and let him have it.
Yesterday, I started giving him the responsibility of leaving his pacifier on his own. When I get him out of his crib, I tell him, "Give your nukkie to Seahorse" (this guy):
What's next: Phase 2 is taking it away at either bedtime or naptime. I haven't decided which one yet. Bedtime would be easy because he goes to sleep as soon as his head hits the mattress. But he'd wake up asking for it and not have it. Naptime would be easy because it's a shorter time for him to sleep, so hopefully he wouldn't wake up and ask for it. But he may have a harder time falling asleep, depending on how tired he is.
For now, I'm completely content with him not using it during the day. Although I'd love to get rid of it at naptime before we start daycare again. One less thing to remember to bring.
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