Bye Bye For Good
Friday, October 31st, 2014From Friday Mom – Erin:
The return of cooler weather and cold season means we have returned to our routine of taking Rory to the pediatrician with unfortunate frequency for ear infections. Sadly, he’s just finishing up his second round of antibiotics for the same infection. Depending on how things go over the next weeks and months, his pediatrician may recommend surgical solutions. For now, however, we’re ticking off a few remaining suggestions for restoring our little man to his full stregth.
The primary to-do list item: Bye Bye Paci. For good. His doctor’s hope is that by eliminating the added pressure in his ears, especially when sleeping or napping, we’ll help his ears drain more efficiently.
This has been an interesting switch. We opted for the cold-turkey method, which has involved us telling Rory that we “can’t find” Paci and that Paci “must have gone somewhere else.” Out of sight has been out of mind for the most part. We’ve hidden the once-prominently featured devices and are coming up with new soothing techniques, in addition to talking about the change with him and reminding him that it’s to help him get “all better.”
We started this approach at home last Friday and he did a great job most of the weekend. We’ve had some serious struggles on the changing table, but he’s getting used to it, slowly but surely.
Our biggest concern, by far, was how he would handle not having it at daycare. He was used to using it at naptime, and we were worried that not having it would mean that he’d come home poorly rested and cranky. In an effort to stave that off, we sent him to school with his “lamby,” a wind-up stuffed lamb that he sleeps with at home. We had a back-up lamby with a broken music box, so we excitedly told him on Monday that lamby was going to school with him to keep him company at nap time. Luckily, that approach seems to be working, for the most part, at school.
Though the short-term change has been challenging at times, I’ve been tremendously impressed by Rory’s resillience and adaptability. We’re hoping this helps knock out the ear infections, but, even if it doesn’t, it’s nice to know that he’ll be pacifier-free before his sister arrives early next year. After all, as we’re fond of telling him, big boys don’t use pacis.
