Life After Binkies

It’s been two weeks, four days, and one second birthday party since we began Operation De-Binkification and I am happy to say we have success. Lilly has only asked for “binkies” (still plural) 2 to 3 times since we completed the 7-day operation and each time I’ve been able to distract her and move on without granting her request.

Lilly still has binkies-on-the-brain. She points out every binky she sees when we’re out and about. (They’ve been banished from any visible locations at home.) She dabbles a bit in finger-sucking. During playtime every baby needs a binky.  And last night she asked Elliott to check under her crib to see if there were any more binkies left there. She is only human.

But Lilly has matured a bit through this process. Since mastering binky-free toddlerhood, she has become more open to the reasoning that “only babies use binkies” and Lilly is a “big girl.” Thus she is more apt to view herself as a big girl now, which has been helpful in preparing her for other feats like potty training and starting preschool. But, at times, she is not above a little tweaking of logic to get that one more binky fix that she craves.

Like the other day, when she was getting a bit sleepy in front of an episode of Dinosaur Train — her new favorite show. (Thank God we’re off The Wiggles!) She looked over and quietly said, “binky.” I said, “I know you miss the binky, Lil, but big girls don’t use binkies, only babies use binkies.” She hesitantly nodded in agreement, but still asked again for a binky. I thought maybe I should help her follow this logical path:

“Well, are you a baby?”

“No.”

“You’re a big girl, right?”

“No.”

“You’re not? Well, then what are you?”

“Lilly.”

I admit part of me was very proud of her for refusing to be labeled and wanted to cheer: “Yeah! Nobody puts baby – er, I mean Lilly –  in the corner!” Alas, I kept my composure and redirected her attention to the TV. Subject successfully dropped.

The downside to all this is that sleep times have become a whole new animal without the aid of binkies. Lilly dreads sleep now and her sleep times bear that out. Previously her naps ran 2.5 to 3 hours. Since debinkification naps have varied from 30 minutes to 2 hours with the occasional – gasp! – no nap days. I have to admit that this has been rough on me and at least daily I wonder if we really needed to do this now and/or whether it would be too psychologically disturbing if I suddenly started giving Lilly the binky again just so she would sleep. Obviously, in both cases the answer is yes. But there’s no harm in dreaming, right?

For better or worse, and it is mostly better, Lilly is off the binky. Moreover, I can now verify that the Mutilate and Disappoint Method does work. So for those of you with your own little Maggie Simpson at home, detailed instructions will be forthcoming.

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Next Up: Debinkification Deconstructed

The Life After Binkies by MushBrain, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at mushbrain.net.