No More "Night Night"

When Chloe was 18 months old, she was weaned from the pacifier not even knowing what to call it. Ella has been a lot different. She has been calling the pacifier a "night, night" since at least 16 months, maybe earlier. She knows how to ask for it, especially when we put her down to bed. I know the longer you wait, the harder it is to break them from wanting the pacifier, and the fact that Ella is missing her front tooth worried me that her teeth might be more prone to move if she keeps taking the paci. When she turned a year, I decided to do just as I did with Chloe and give her the paci only when it was time to go to sleep and on long car trips when I wanted her to try to rest. That is why she started calling it a "night, night". We would tell her "night, night", put it in her mouth, then put her to bed not meaning to give it a name. When 18 months rolled around, I had full intentions of getting rid of the "night, night", but every time I would put her down in the bed, she would ask, "Night, night? Want night, night... wease? (baby talk for please)" It just broke my heart not to give it to her. Well, this past Thursday night, I decided to give bed time a try without the pacifier. Boy was she mad, but I knew that she understood me when I told her that is was "gone, gone." She had a big fit, as she does regular anyways. This one lasted about 30 minutes, whew! Nap time the next day was a much shorter fit. Bed time was a fit a little longer than nap time. And each day after has been a little better. She hasn't asked for it since Friday, but she is still throwing mild, short fits before falling asleep. When we get over these fits at bed time, we are going to have her moved to the "big girl bed." Chloe was the same age as Ella will be when we move her, and Chloe loved it! This weekend, I removed the gate from Chloe's bed and put it on the bed in Ella's room. It is ready when Ella is!