Soother/ pacifier - weaning solutions!

On my ever increasing to do list is to write a piece on soother weaning, however I have just read the perfect one that cover's everything I was planning to say!

So thank you to Circle of Mom's! You can read it via the link here or pasted below, with some thoughts from me.

For us - we have only offered the soother for the sleep and if he is not bright as a button upon waking then for the first 5 minutes and I just carefully sneak it away whilst introducing a toy or drink. Dad is more of a grab and go guy - which works for him!

I'd thought we'd wean by 1 year - just based on my dentist's advice, but then with teething and a few bugs we are now approaching 14 months and working on teeth 13-16 in one go, we've let it carry on. At first I was bothered by this until I thought about it, he really only uses it for 5-10 minutes whilst falling asleep and if he re-wakes in the night. So his exposure over the last year has been minimal, he lets us take it without a fuss - so it's not yet too big a 'crutch'. I am hoping after he gets these next 4 teeth in we will get a break for a few months and can choose a route from the below ideas for weaning.

I'd especially like for him to be used to not having it before the fall and baby two's arrival! One thing that has helped us in the night - or at least helped him is his SweetDreams soother blanket!

I liked all 6 of the tips below and can imagine that for us snip the tip may be the best one to get him to lose interest! Will report back - hopefully in a month or so!

1. Snip the Tip
One of the most popular pacifier weaning tricks is cutting off the pacifier’s tip. After the ability to suck is removed, many children quickly lose interest. Try telling your child that the pacifier is broken, and let her throw it away. If the initial snip doesn’t do the trick, moms like Christina M., a mother of one son, suggest gradually cutting off more of the pacifier: “I tried cutting the end of the pacifier off a little bit every few days until there was nothing for him to suck on, and then he didn’t really want it anymore.” Just be careful that your child isn’t chewing off pacifier pieces, which could be a choking hazard.
2. Swap Soothing Items
“Try replacing the pacifier with something else that can give her security,” suggests Kate G. While a child may not instantly forget her pacifier, many moms found that alternative soothing items did eventually replace the pacifier. As Angela C. recalls: “I replaced the pacifier with a ‘sleep blanket’...The first couple of nights/naps she would cry for about 10 minutes, but her blanket against her face kept her warm and happy eventually.”
3. Gradually Reduce Use
While some moms advocate a cold-turkey approach to pacifier weaning, others like Meredith Z. find that gradually limiting pacifier usage is successful: “First, we limited pacifier usage to inside the house, then only to sleep time, then only to overnight, and then we said ‘let’s try bedtime without your bink just for tonight,’ and after the first night, he only asked for it once, and then he was totally fine. We just made sure we stuck to our rules, and let him be comfortable at each level before restricting bink usage more.”
4. The Dummy Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa
Another popular pacifier weaning tactic is to have a make-believe character reward the child for giving away their pacifiers. Sarah M., mother of two girls shares: “Say that the Dummy Fairy will come and take them and give them to new babies that need them. Then you leave a special ‘big girl’ present in the basket for them when they wake up.” Other moms, including Linnea F., use characters the kids already believe in: “My kids all gave theirs to the Easter Bunny for little ones who need binkies and don’t have them. This would also work with Santa. We still had some withdrawal cries, but it didn't last.”
5. Trade for Toys
Instead of having imaginative characters bring a child a reward, some moms advocate openly trading the pacifier for a prize. “Take her to Toys“R”Us and let her pick out a toy in exchange for the pacifier,” suggested Janice D. “It worked for me two times. You may have a few days that are a bit rough, but then it will be fine.” Other moms also had their child “pay” the cashier with a pacifier for the toy—just discuss this with the cashier in advance to make sure she’s game.
6. “Lose” It
After Melissa C. misplaced her daughter’s pacifier, she realized that simply pretending to lose it would be a good pacifier weaning strategy: “Maybe if you somehow ‘lose’ yours and have him help you look for it and don’t find it, it’ll let him know that you care enough to help him, even if you can't fix it.” Dawn D. used the same weaning tactic: “I just told her ‘we lost it’ and we’d look, but then she was OK with ‘we lost it’ and in two weeks she forgot all about it.”

Best of luck to all trying to 'lose the soother' by whatever means you choose!

Garden bounty

When the day starts with mint tea, followed by a salad lunch and dinner with fresh potatos - all home grown: you can tell summer's here!

Sadly at the same time our rain barrels are dry and I am loathing watering the garden with water I have paid to drink!

I am also looking at our two new chickens who have racked up three weeks with us and no eggs! I'm beginning to revise tonight's dinner menu... but wanting to try one more thing - to seperate the old and new 'flock' to see if they just need privacy to lay.. I had thought they had settled down, but the lack of eggs suggests they may not be being allowed into the nesting boxes.. I just don't want to shut my present flock out (who lay so very well) to test the theory...

Hmmm - we had the deal that all animals must pay for their keep and if we aren't getting eggs... Well we'll see!

I'm loving the rest of my harvest so far and gardening with my son and letting him eat the fresh blackberries and watching the joy on his purple stained face is priceless.

All I need is my wedding anniversary gift of a root cellar and next yr a small green house and better rabbit defences and we will really be generating some output on our 'backyard homestead'!

I'm loving the Miserly Moms Book!

Just got it from the library a few days ago (see I am frugal - I borrow not buy books) - I get to read a little bit each evening - whilst herding our chickens! [We have 3 chickens and 2 temporary interloper chickens. They have a big hen palace and run, but love to stretch their wings and rummage through the garden and compost heap of an evening... we just don't have a fence yet, so I have to keep them on our plot! I am starting to think our neighbours now sit out each evening just waiting for this spectacle!]

Back to the book - I am naturally 'sensible' with money, but with my belly expanding it is a constant reminder that soon our family will grow, my time will shrink further and food costs will keep rising... so something needs to change... I then found this book and already have seen a number of ways already I can track better, plan better and live better... on less!

Also I have been looking at ways to increase my income streams.. as my work requires me to be attached to a laptop with a headset and to have no background noise.. so far with one baby and childshare / workshare with hubby that has worked out! Who knows when number two comes along how she will fit in, what her personality and needs will be! So I have been adding new ways to make an income that would not be affected by/ can be worked around family! I will write more on this (sometime I promise!)

The core message of the book helps families looking to live on one income whilst one parent stays home... our setup is a little different we have opted for both parents to parent, but sadly two part time incomes don't quite yet add up to one full time one - so we need this book more than most!

As for our life choices - I would not change a thing! My husband and son have a wonderful bond and our boy gets to have loud and busy play with daddy in the mornings, but also get a completely different take on life with mummy in the afternoons - play dates, swimming, gardening and much much more!

I'd love to write more - but in essence - this book is good, it has more applications for my life than I had hoped for! Go read a copy!