Bye Bye Binky

One of my biggest pet peeves is kids that are old enough to be talking, and a binky is flapping up and down in their mouth as they speak. If it works for those parents that's cool, but it makes me a little crazy and I don't want Beckett speaking lispy full sentences with a binky in his mouth. Today as he was impatiently waiting for me to get his breakfast, he began asking for yogurt while his binky was still in. "Go? Go?" It was then that I realized I need to start thinking about getting rid of the thing sooner than later. For a while he only had it in his crib or the car. After a rough few weeks while one of his molars coming in, I caved and let him have it during the day. I don't regret it though, it was a life saver. He was really good about throwing his binky in the crib when I picked him up after his nap. He would wave goodbye to the bink and that was that. It's not so easy anymore. He will leave it in the crib maybe if he knows it's breakfast or lunch time. 

Some people say it's best to get rid of it before a year because it's easier to take it away then. That may be true, but I would rather have something to pacify him all those months in the car, during church, and when he is cranky. Then I can deal with a few hard days while we're getting rid of it. That sounds better to me than easily weaning from the binky, but then having several months when there is nothing like that to use when you need it. 

I definitely want to be in the process of getting rid of it by 18 months, and done with it long before he turns two. I have heard of several methods: cold turkey, cutting it down slowly over a few weeks, poking a hole in it to lose suction, sending it off tied to a balloon, and dipping it in hot sauce. The balloon idea sounds like a lot of fun, but that's essentially a cuter version of the cold turkey method. I think I'm going to try cutting it down a little bit every few days and hope that he just loses interest. If that doesn't work, we can try something else (but not the hot sauce). I think I'll wait until after the holidays. He will be 17 months mid-January which seems like great timing. Until then, I am willing to take suggestions if you have any!