Waking without binky

[youngmomma]

DS has been sleeping through the night the last three months. Now he has started to wake when he loses his binky. He'll cry and scream until I come in, find it, and put it in his mouth....then he goes right to sleep. This goes on 4-6 times a night. I hate to let him cry it out when it's such a simple fix...but I am starting to lose my mind!

[nakedbabytoes]

Aw mama, we have all been there. Does he get it during the day at all? You could play games with him where you take his binky & put it by him but just out of his reach so he has to get it himself. Or at night, is his room or crib dimly lit? Maybe he can't see it. Or maybe he isn't old enough to understand object permanance yet(I don't know how old you child is), so he thinks that his binky is just gone if he can't see it immediately. Again, playing hide & find with the binky can help the process along. Dimly lighting his crib area might help too. When you do go in to find it for him, try to help him find it using his hands to grab it from the mattress. That way, you are teaching him to solve the missing binky issue on his own.
He will eventually get it. Hopefully before you loose you mind! Lol!
But really, us binky mamas have all been there. It passes.

[justbishop]

Thank you youngmomma for this thread and thank you nakedbabytoes for the advice on using baby's hand to find the paci! We're just starting to have this issue (DD is 6 mo.) and I'd like to nip it before it becomes a real problem

[mommyfrog]

I attached my ds' binky to his stuffed monkey he loves. Now he can just find the monkey and easily get the binky himself. No more waking mommy to find it for him. Maybe attach the binky to a small stuffed animal.

[UnderTheStars]

Originally Posted by mommyfrog I attached my ds' binky to his stuffed monkey he loves. Now he can just find the monkey and easily get the binky himself. No more waking mommy to find it for him. Maybe attach the binky to a small stuffed animal.

We dealt with the same exact situation and I attached DD's paci to her bunny lovey, I haven't had a problem since. It's big enough that she can find it easily, even half asleep. Not to mention that it was too big to fall through the rails - THAT was a lot of fun to look for at 3am!

[Melinda29]

We've gone through this, too, and IMO that is an indication that the binky isn't really needed any more for soothing--it's more of a habit that has developed, not a reflexive sucking need anymore. I slowly minimize the presence of the binky at that point and encourage thumb-sucking (which can never get lost!) or attachment to a "lovey". He has to get rid of the binky eventually, and in my experience, sooner is MUCH easier than later! Good luck!

[avidreader]

We just threw a few clean binkys in the crib at night so he could always have one close to him- it worked great!