Before anyone says anything — yes, I know. The recommendation is weaned by two. My son is two and a half. I chose convenience over the book and here we are. No shame, no lecture needed, I am fully aware I am about to pay for this decision in sleep debt and we are moving forward.
Here’s where we stand. My son has chewed the side off of essentially every binky we own. We are down to one. One survivor. And I have told my husband — no more. When this one goes, it goes. We are not buying another binky. This is the hill. This is where it ends.
Last night he woke up five times because the binky fell out of his mouth or disappeared under his pillow.
Five times.
And that was with the binky still in play. I am trying to mentally prepare for what the binky-free nights are going to look like and I genuinely cannot get there. My brain refuses to model it.
I know why they say do it before two. I know. The younger they are the less they understand what they’re losing and the faster they forget it existed. I waited too long and now I have a small person who is fully aware of the binky, fully attached to the binky, and about to have the binky taken away from him in the next two weeks whether he likes it or not.
He is not going to like it.
And the cruel irony of all of this is that he is genuinely a good sleeper. Has been almost his whole life — through baby and toddlerhood he’s slept through the night more nights than not, which I do not take for granted for even one second. That kid has been my sleeper. And I am about to voluntarily blow that up.
I am not going to sleep.
This is the current situation and I am telling you about it because misery loves company and also because if anyone has done this before — with a toddler closer to three than two, who is deeply committed to the binky as a life source — I need everything you’ve got. Cold turkey? Gradual? The binky fairy? Cutting the tip? I have read all of it and I still don’t know which one is going to work for this particular child in this particular household with this particular level of attachment.
Drop your pro tips in the comments. I will be reading them at 2am.
Binky veterans — what worked, what was a disaster, and how long until everyone slept again? I need the truth.
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