learnwithmummy123: Bye bye pacifier

They say it takes 21 days to change a habit...and it has been 26 days since Mika had his last pacifier or more fondly known as 'Cucut'. And I'm proud to say that Mika is now Cucut free hooray!

And how did I do it?

I simply use ...

Ginger!!!

Yes it may sound too extreme but it works like a magic! And it took us less than 3 days to get Mika fully off his pacifier. It's brilliant!

Well now I say it's brilliant because I've seen the result. I was also quite hesitant at first because... well I thought the method is a little too harsh. The thought of Mika crying after tasting the spicy ginger flavoured pacifier is hard to take in, especially when I was the one who gave it to him in the first place and should be blamed for letting the pacifier last as long as it has. But I was desperate to get him off it as he's reaching 2 years old and the longer I wait the more difficult the process will be. And not forgetting to mention how unsightly it is to see a big boy still sucking his pacifier in public - and proudly too!

See what I mean - so unsightly!
The pacifier I mean coz my baby is the cutest! :p

So I have to act fast because Mika was already crazy obsessed with his pacifier. Did I mention at one point he had like 6 pacifier? And he sleeps with 2, one for his mouth and one to hold. Should one drop out of his mouth, another one is ready to be popped in! And should the second pacifier dropped out, his hand would go into auto fumbling mode in the dark looking for the nearest pacifier. And all this is done with his eyes closed. He's like this pacifier pro! And what drives me nuts is every time he sees his pacifier he would give out this creepy smile and said "My Cucut". It kind of reminded me of that gollum Smeagol in Lord of the Ring! And if given a choice between mummy and his precious pacifier, the pacifier win hands down! I'm not kidding! He needed pacifier all the time - for when he's fussing, when he's not fussing, for when he's sleeping, when he's not sleeping, sometimes he even requested for pacifier while eating!

CLEARLY it was getting out of hand and after several failed attempts to wean his pacifier, my husband and I decided to go full force into it and bring out the big gun aka GINGER!

And this is how we did it.

We choose to start on weekends where we don't have to wake up early the next day as we're anticipating sleepless night. And before we started my husband gave me a prep talk as he knew I would give in easily to Mika's wailing. Kept telling me to be strong and that we are doing this is for his own good.

On day 1 my husband prepared some ginger (he had to do it coz I was dreading the whole process ehehe). He chopped the ginger into small chunky pieces, small enough to fit into the pacifier's nipple. He then made a small cut at the plastic base just enough to slip in the flesh. He also rubbed some of the ginger juice all over the outer part of the pacifier to make sure the taste sticks. This is prep earlier so it's ready whenever Mika ask for his pacifier. Mika started asking for his cucut near to bedtime and I nonchalantly gave it to him. He smiled happy to see it of course but his face suddenly changed after the first taste. He took the pacifier out of his mouth and stared at it. He cried angrily asking for pacifier and we kept telling him (calmly) that he is holding his pacifier. He stared at it again for the longest time looking confused. My heart sank watching him like that, I wanted to run and hug him but me and hubs maintained our cool. I kept telling myself it had to be done, had to be done! He cried for another pacifier and we gave another ginger flavoured pacifier. He tasted it and started cying again, looking more confused. It was difficult to watch so I went to Mika and told him that he's a big boy and that he no longer needs his pacifier. I told him his pacifier tasted yucky. I try not to say dirty because he will ask me to wash it hehe.

We kept reinforcing the message to him saying that pacifier taste bad. We showered him with hugs and kisses and we gave him Ipad to play until he sleeps. He normally gets limited Ipad time but we figured it would help ease the discomfort and distracted him during the first night without pacifier. We didn't get rid of the pacifier immediately, we kept it on the bed next to him so if he ever needed it, it is just within reach just like before. That night he slept without pacifier. But he woke up a few times in the middle of the night looking for it and started crying again after tasting the ginger pacifier, but after some comforting he went right back to sleep.

We did the same thing on day 2, gave him ginger laced pacifier when he asked for it before bedtime. He just stared at the pacifier and gave it back to me, this time he didn't even put it in his mouth (inside I was jumping with joy and doing the happy dance). The second night he slept with pacifier still next to him within reach in case he started looking for it again. He woke up one time looking for pacifier, pops it in his mouth and then took it out and throws it away angrily. He went back to sleep.

On day 3, I asked him if he needed his 'cucut' and offered the pacifier which I put in a cup. He took the pacifier (still laced with ginger) and told me it's yucky and put it back in the cup.

Success! He hasn't slept with pacifier or asked for it since then.

There was one time when my husband took Mika to the playground about a week after he stopped using pacifier and there was this kid running around with a pacifier in his mouth. My husband told me Mika actually stopped playing for a while and kept staring at the kid. His face showed longingness for the pacifier but luckily Mika didn't fight the kid for it hehe.

Several weeks have passed now and my husband thought it would be appropriate to do a farewell ceremony to mark the end of Mika's cucut phase. So we took him to the beach to throw the pacifier into the ocean but I decided against it as it's not environmentally friendly. So we dig up a hole instead and bury the pacifier in the sand. I thought Mika would at least be sad but he turns out quite the opposite. He showed no emotions whatsoever when we show him his pacifier and he couldn't wait to throw the pacifier into the hole and bury it hehe. He was so over the pacifier whereas mummy was welled up with emotions just thinking how far Mika has come in overcoming his pacifier addiction. I'm a proud mummy *tst tsk*

Farewell Mika's "Cucut"...

Thank you for calming my Mika when he fusses.

Thank you for being Mika's sleeping buddy.

Thank you also for being his airplane buddy, helping him to regularize air pressure during take-off and landing.

And mostly thank you for helping Mika's mummy and abah stay sane when Mika was throwing tantrum because you were always there to help calm him down :p

Updated: Some pics from our farewell ceremony :)

Heading to the beach