So I mentioned to you guys on Friday that we decided we were going to tackle operation “lose the paci” this weekend. I went back and forth with my decision to do it this weekend but, really, I was always going to find an excuse. We just needed to buckle down and do it.
*Edited to add: Currently, I am regretting this decision. I’ll have some edits to add in here and there in the post…
The only times Lucas used his paci were for naps and bedtime. Which, at first, I was like heyyy, no biggie! But then I realized that he still (usually) sleeps more than he’s awake, so that’s a fairly good chunk of his day. I also recently noticed that it seemed to have started to effect his teeth a bit, so I figured it was worth a shot. And THEN we noticed that lately, he’d been getting much more attached to it…to the point where it was causing tantrums. We knew it was time.
So Friday night, we snipped a slit into the paci before going to bed, and as soon as I gave it to him, he knew it wasn’t right. We went on to say “oh no, it looks like paci broke!” and he agreed. We asked him if he wanted to put it in the garbage himself and he said yes. Ok, we thought…not bad?!
However, once it got time to put him down in the crib, he wanted nothing to do with it. He cried for about an hour, and I’d go in every 15 minutes or so to soothe him. Once he fell asleep, he slept all night and woke up about 8am the next morning.
The next day, I went to put him down for his afternoon nap. He cried for about 10 minutes, and then just sort of hung out in his crib. He does this occasionally, and he wasn’t upset, so when this happens, we just tend to let him chill up there and have some “quiet time.” Well about 2 hours later, as I was downstairs in the kitchen, I suddenly hear “Mommyyyy! Hiiiii!”
Realizing that this noise wasn’t coming from his monitor, I ran to the hallway and looked up to see him standing at the top of the stairs. The little stinker climbed right out of his crib and out into the hallway.
Welll, shit. I certainly was NOT prepared for that!
Not knowing if it was going to be a one time thing or not, we wound up putting him to bed that night like we typically do, only putting a gate in front of his door in case he were to get up and open it. He only cried for about 15 minutes or so, and then was off to sleep. I slept like crap all night, waking up, rolling over to check the monitor (yeah so much for that extra hour!) but he slept all night.
Then, sure enough, around 7:30 the next morning, we hear “Mommyyyyyy! Hiiiiii!!”
Strike two…we knew we were in trouble.
Jay took a look at his crib and noticed that he could drill a couple new holes to make it about 4 inches lower. So he did just that and we put him at nap time on Sunday to see how it’d work. Less than a minute and he was out…
Then we said okay, there’s no WAY he can climb out if we put the mattress on the floor AND take out the pillow?! Then…you guessed it…
He was out again. So currently we’re on 3 days of no naps…
Edited to add: No, it’s now 4 days. He decided to climb out of his pack n play at daycare, too.
Luckily, his mood has been great pretty good, despite the lack of naps. He had fun helping daddy work on the kitchen table Sunday.
Then we had fun making tunnels and crawling under them.
And while he was good while we visited his Papa T at the hospital, we did need to break out the iPad to keep him from roaming the hospital floor.
After we left the hospital Sunday evening, we stopped at Target and picked up a toddler bed rail for his crib, just in case we found ourselves in the same predicament at bed time.
(We kicked ourselves for not buying the toddler bed conversion kit for his convertible crib…we only bought the conversion crib that converts it into a full sized bed. Ahh well, live and learn!)
I’m not sure if it was just because he was so tired or what, but when I put him to bed on Sunday evening, I got ZERO resistance/crying about the paci, and he even let me lay him down in the crib without trying to stand up. We still have the gate up at the front of his door for safety, but we’re both realizing that the crib probably isn’t going to last much longer and we’ll likely need to use that bed rail and put him in a “big boy bed.”
Edited to add…
We definitely just got lucky on Sunday night. Monday evening, he crawled out of the crib 4 times in a row before we called it quits, took the front rail down, and converted it into a toddler bed with the rail we purchased.
As you can see, this worked out REAL well…
But, at least we had some fun with it. ;)
And we brought the party upstairs with us.
And hey, eventually he even fell asleep!
We still have yet to move him as of the time I edited this post at 9:33pm…I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he’s in a SUPER deep sleep so I can move him back to his bed because I can totally foresee him rolling right out of that chair.
So yeah, we got a little more than we bargained for this weekend with taking the paci away…we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t lose our excellent sleeper, but I’m not keeping my hopes up. If you want my opinion, don’t take the paci away. ;)
Anyone else have experience with ditching the paci, dealing with a crib climber, or transitioning to a toddler bed?
Lauren says
Oh my gosh, this is going to be my life in a matter of months!!! LOL – I know you’ll laugh at this someday. :)
lee says
You should have posted a warning not to read this while drinking anything. I nearly spit my coffee out 3 or 4 times! The picture of him chilling in the chair is going to make me smile all day. Good luck!!
Katrina says
oh my … This and Julie’s blog is beautifully outlining the joys of parenting!! :D I have a lot to look forward to when (if) I ever take the plunge into motherhood! This was an entertaining read :D
Bri says
Holy moly what a crazy couple of days!! I’m sure he will get the hang of his new bedtime situation soon and give you two a (much needed) break!
Julie says
Ugh! Sending you positive vibes that things work out soon!
My husband and I will be dealing with the toddler bed situation in the next few weeks with our 2 1/2year old twins. I’ve been dreading this for months! One is a great napper and the other one usually doesn’t nap. I know my daughter will be trying to wake up my son during his napping! Not looking forward to this at all!!
Suzanne @Lifeisamix says
Paci or not, the toddler bed transition is always lots of fun, lol! My kids always ended up sleeping on the floor instead of in their beds but hey if it worked for them, it worked for me! Give it a week or so and it should get better and trust me, you will be SO glad the pack is gone. This coming from a momma whose boy slept with one in his mouth and two in his hands!!
Colleen @ The Lunchbox Diaries says
Oh my God, I legit laughed out loud when I saw the close up of the montior screen with Lucas in the chair. That is hysterical! (To me, but you.) I hope it gets easier soon! It’s so hard to believe you have a “big boy” already!!
Bretta says
Ahhhh I am not looking forward to losing the paci. I think it might be affecting my sons teeth too, so crooked! at least they are baby teeth? But who knows maybe they would be like that anyways. Also new baby is coming and I know he would just want a paci if he saw a baby with it (excuses).
When I worked with a sleep consultant with helping my son learn to sleep she she said that naptime sleep and night sleep are completely different and controlled by different parts of the brain. She said naptimes are much harder and take longer than nighttime sleep. Sounds like that’s what may have happened when losing the paci! It seems like he may have it down now though! He’s too cute. Looking forward to more updates. Our 2 year olds mattress is on the floor of his crib too, hasn’t figured out how to get out yet. Fingers crossed!!
Hayley@HealthyRegardsHayley says
Ok I am totally laughing at him in his chair and climbing out of his crib. I think you may have a trouble maker on your hands ?
Sara @ LovingOnTheRun says
I’m sure it is not all funny to you, but that picture of him sitting in the chair is PRICELESS! :) You’ve got this mama!
Rachel Schlosser says
So when we lived in Kansas and my kids where in daycare at the age of 2 they have to go on a cot instead of a crib for naps. So for nap time both of my kids got used to not being in their cribs, and then shortly after that happened we transitioned them to their toddler beds. My son didn’t ever like the pacifier so we didn’t have to deal with taking it away from him. My daughter was attached to hers and we thought we had successfully gotten rid of them to find out months after they were gone from the house that she was still getting hers at daycare.
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More says
At the end of the day, you have a GREAT story and probably a future comedian on your hands. He’s all like “think you’re tricking me Mom & Dad? Nope, I got YOU!” ;)
Alyssa says
Been through this! The only thing that has worked to keep my 2.5 year old in his bed is using the Ok to Wake Clock (Amazon). You set the clock for the time you want, and it turns green when he can get out of his bed. If your son is anything like mine is, though, you’ll have to bribe him with a cookie to wait until it turns green. Oh well. Whatever works! Good luck!
Madeline @ FoodFitandFam says
Bahahahaha … if you want to feel better check out my post from yesterday about what Bryn did during “nap time”. It’s pretty epic. No advice … we are currently going through the same thing. We decided to not even do the toddler bed and instead add a rail to a twin. It’s actually working great and did for Emmie too. They get out of the big bed a little less.
Courtney says
OMG!!! That had me laughing out loud…looks like we’ve both got our work cut out for us! ;)
Kandace says
I think almost all parents have gone through this. Wait till they climb the baby gate. We ended up putting a door knob gadget (can’t remember what there called) on her bedroom door so she couldn’t sneak out. As long as she fell asleep some where in her room we knew she was fine. Although one day she climbed on to her dresser and fell asleep, we then moved her dresser into her closet so she wouldn’t fall off of it.
Marielle says
Oh man, I have a paci dependent 8 month old and I’m dreading the day we try to ditch the paci!
Sarah @ Seriously Lovely says
Yikes, I’m suddenly very glad my little guy is still safely in my belly lol. Those pictures really are priceless, although I can only imagine how stressful of a weekend it must have been for you!
Christen says
Stay strong mama! You can do it! This is one the hardest things to do as they get older, but once he’s used to the older bed, you’ll be happy you did it!
Jessie says
I have to start by saying that picture cracked me up last night when I saw it on Instagram. I have a 2.5 year old and the struggle is real, I totally get it. We haven’t had to deal with the pacifier issue, ours is worse in that my son sucks his thumb. You can’t take that away! He also is a climber and has been climbing out of his crib now for weeks. We have been reluctant to switch to the toddler bed though because we fear it’s going to encourage him to get up more. So for now we just deal with the climbing by putting him back in! He doesn’t come out every night, nap times seem to be the worse. It just depends on how tired he is, or sometimes overtired. Unfortunately I have no good advice except stick with it! It will become a new routine and I’m sure he will soon be going to bed just as easily as before.
Katy says
WOW you had QUITE the weekend! We bought Henry a toddler bed, and the transition was not as bad as I anticipated. He would get up and come to the door and we would just go in and put him back to bed. We kept doing that and eventually he got it. He’s fallen of the bed a few times and fallen asleep on the floor, but they eventually figure it out. That pic of Lucas in the chair is hilarious haha.
Torry @ A World Without Wheat says
Wow! What a weekend (and now beginning of the week) you are having! The little boy I nanny is just starting to give up afternoon naps….he hasn’t figured out how to climb out of the crib…yet!
Kelsey says
This post made me laugh!… not at your misery, but nervous laughter because I anticipate going through this (with the toddler bed) in the next few weeks. We just ordered one for our son and now I’m starting to wonder if we’re making the right decision! The paci for us went well, but I just know my son will not stay in his new bed if given the chance to do something else. Those pictures of Lucas in the chair are priceless! Good luck moving forward with this! Please keep us updated!
Stephanie says
I’m glad to hear that Operation Lose-the-Paci was a relative success (we will be taking that on sometime soon ourselves), but this crib climbing is definitely a new challenge. I can’t remember, did you guys use a sleep sack? We still put our 21-month-old in one and he’s never tried to climb out. Whether that’s because he doesn’t want to or he isn’t physically capable of doing so, I don’t know. But I will keep him in that sleep sack til it’s too short in order to keep him contained. With the weather being cooler, and maybe therefore your house, maybe Lucas wouldn’t mind the extra layer at night and it might buy you some time and peace of mind.
Amy says
I was also going to say sleep sack- or turn the crib around so the highest part is in front? Good luck!! Taking the paci away definitely affected my son’s sleep for a while but it got better after a couple weeks (still not as easy as it was with the paci though). I feel for you so much!
Courtney says
Haha, I thought about those, except he climbs out the sides…as for the sleep sack, I’m still debating. Although I have a feeling it would wind up making more of an issue than we already have(!). Happy to hear that things got better…eventually :)
Amy says
That’s true- every time you add something it can create some other issue! Good luck- I am sure it will get easier!
Amanda says
When we took the pacifier away a few months ago, it was clear that my 2YO needs something else that she associated with sleep so I had her pick a special blanket that we only use for nap and bedtim… a sleeping blanket. It did help but bedtime still isn’t easy. We’ve also had a lot of change in the house lately so I’m chalking it up to that.
Our daughter has been in a full bed since March or April (turned 2 in August). The first few nights were hard but overall, it went better than I expected.
Julie says
Love this post! Just hilarious! He’s an adorable lil stinker. <3
Trisha says
Oh, goodness. That pic of him sideways with his legs up on the chair is classic. Looks like a teenager! I’m grateful our boys aren’t attached to their pacifiers, even thought it would be nice for them to take it to calm down every once in a while. We’re currently trying to transition out of swaddles, one arm at a time. ;)
Allison says
Our pediatrician was very hardcore and had us take away my daughter’s pacifier at 9 months. It was rough for a couple of days, but clearly there was no climbing involved. He might have started that climbing regardless. At least he is sleeping through the night. Good Luck!!
Skigirl0891 says
Oh man, the paci!! No help now but…in case you have another babe, snatch it up at 6 months! No object permanance yet and it helps them learn to self soothe and then in turn sleep through the night! I have twin 7 months old and they are paci free & it’s all good :) life changing!
Shel@PeachyPalate says
He’s really asserting his power sitting in that chair!!!
Nicole says
The pictures in the chair are so funny! We haven’t gotten rid of our two year olds’s pack yet but it needs to happen soon. He also just started to skip nap time…
B says
Ha! I was laughing out loud on a break at work. This is hysterical (to me who has yet to live through it). Luckily neither of my girls are attached to the paci. The oldest is attached to me – so at 3.5 years old she is still sleeping in my room next to me. Its not fun now that she is old enough to scale her baby gate, climb out of her bed, climb into our bed and kick me awake multiple times at night. She’ll sleep on her own eventually – right?!?!
Erin says
Holy CRAP!!! I have a 2 year old little guy too who only uses paci for naps and bedtime. I was wondering if we should take it away soon, but after reading this, hells no. You can have your paci, bubbs! Oh man, good luck! And wish me luck down the road.
Shawna says
This was so funny to me! My daughter is 8 months, and although no where near the climbing out stage, has discovered standing up in her crib. Usually no biggie, but she won’t fall asleep like she used to. For some reason, seeing you and Jay with your upstairs party was both hilarious and reassuring, if not slightly scary since I’m sure we’ll be enjoying that soon too. Best of luck, and I look forward to reading the progress!
Kristin says
One of the best posts I’ve read! Thank you for sharing! I don’t have any tips, so I’m sorry, but I’ll be in your shoes soon enough. My son is 1 1/2, and I’m just waiting for something like the crib-climbing. I hope you find something that works for both the paci and climbing situations.
Truly a hilarious story, (though I can say that because it’s not my kid! :)
Lauren Brennan says
Oh, I feel you. I went through almost the same exact thing one year ago. For us, it was the beginning of 6 months of hell and ended with hiring a sleep consultant. Email me if you need some advice or the sleep consultant’s contact info. :)
Good luck!
Courtney says
This comment makes me incredibly nervous, LOL! Was it because of climbing out of the crib or ditching the paci?? Gahhh!!
Lauren Brennan says
Oh I’m so sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you, I’m just keeping it real. :). It started just like you… Ditching the paci which led to jumping out of the crib…which led to a toddler bed and 6 months of him getting up several times a night and coming in our room. Long story short: he’s now 3 years old and back in his crib with a crib tent (ordered from Australia)! He’s not getting out til he’s 18! Haha! The sleep consultant was right when she said that he wasn’t emotionally ready to have the freedom of a toddler bed. But every kid is different!
April V says
I laughed the whole way through this post! LOL
He is such a little ham! :)
Courtney says
Hahaha, he’s definitely had us laughing a little extra too. Gotta find the humor in it somehow, right? ;)
Annette Perkins says
Oh man, I totally just laughed out loud!! That pic of him in the chair, dying laughing!!
And I’m so not looking forward to taking the paci away from our toddler….I’m thinking after the holidays we’ll try that & maybe potty training. MAYBE, haha.
Courtney says
Oh geez, I can’t even think about potty training right now, haha!! Ahhh, the toddler years ;)