Those of you following my Twitters already know what went down last night at the Strings' rez. Dash had a dentist appointment yesterday morning and per our dentist's strongest recommendation, little Dash, our happily addicted Nuk (Gerber Brand) user, was denied his fix. Permanently.
Over his lifetime, we've scaled back his nuk use from 100%, to only in the car and bed, and then to only his crib. Here's a clue to we can tell he's an addict: he actively goes to his crib upon coming home, just for "a little lie-down," then nuks away for a while until he gets bored, dinner's ready, or Rosie distracts him. I've been planning to cut the nuk out entirely for a while now, but for various reasons, eh, keeping the status quo, it wasn't a priority. I guess I'm just an enabler.
The dentist, however, could tell he was a user straight from her visual exam. The nuk's affecting his bite. I decided to embrace her advice and follow through with nuk-eradication immediately. It's a good enough time for it—he's also transitioning to the pre-school program at daycare, and I'm planning to convert his crib to a toddler bed imminently. No more nuk, no more crib! What a big boy! (Except for the withdrawal caterwauling.)
Funny stories about the nuk:
Dash has a toy duck, called Happy Duck, that always seemed to be right next to his favorite pink-nuk (pictured) whenever it was misplaced. So Happy Duck wanted the nuk! I would have Happy Duck chase Dash all around trying to steal his nuk away (much giggling!). After that became a fun game, I started placing the nuk on the beak or arm of different toys, so when the nuk went missing, Jojo the Bunny took it! or Robert the Turkey swiped it! (giggles galore!!)
Ah, good times.
Well, until further notice, I expect the wailing of grief to continue. Last night Dash told us while wet-faced with tears and hoarse with lamenting, "my lips and tongue miss my nuk-friend!" He'll get over it soon enough. Didn't we all? How did you all get your kids off their pacis?
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You might not remember this, but Thea drank from a bottle at bedtime until she was about 2 and a half. We got her off the bottle by trading the bottles for a big doll she picked out herself. At one point she wailed, "I don't want the doll anymore, I want my bottle!!" But only for the first night, and in the morning we congratulated her on being suck a big girl.
ReplyDeleteSo, in short, we used bribery and flattery.
He totally had a meltdown in the dentist, so I had to take him to the crappier for a potty break and told him that if he let the dentist scrape his teeth, he'd get TWO cookies. To which he replied, "How 'bout...four cookies?"
ReplyDeleteAfter totally freaking out over the soft rubber polisher, he had zero problems with the mirror and hook shoved in his mouth. Totally in the "cookie zone" happy place from that point on. So there's a lot to be said for positive motivation (ie, bribery).
Bribery here too. Youngest was a total addict. We also timed it with the bed switch which actually seemed to help. He got the concept of Big Boy bed = no nuk. And in order to keep US strong we threw every last one of them out in the big trash can outside so that we were not tempted to just keep him quiet the easy way. As with all things with kids, a couple of days and then it was history and not nearly as bad as we had dreaded.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Thanks for the advice! I switched out his bed to a toddler bed last night & he did cry for his nuk for a minute, but Monkeyrotica and I were firm about no nuks in the big-boy bed! And for bribery, M&Ms if he stayed in his bed all night.
ReplyDeleteHe did such a good job staying in bed! I flattered him outrageously this morning for it, but I think he was too cranky with sleepiness to appreciate.
BabyRat never had any love for the Nuk, so I have successfully dodged this child raising bullet. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHR
Last night might have been the first night he didn't ask for his nuk. 5 days later? Not too bad.
ReplyDelete