Which first - Pacifier or change of rooms?

Apart from various sleep/settling issues we've had lately, I'm looking at finally moving the girls cribs out of our room into miss6's room. We live in a small house, so that was always a given. Not ideal for miss 6 but unavoidable.

My question is though, should I move them and then get rid of the pacifiers of do the pacifiers first and then move them?
I'm thinking they might like the familiar comfort of the pacis in a different room to what they've ever known. But on the other hand, they still wake up a few times a night usually asking for a drink of water, and I'm thinking that this might be because they go looking for their pacifiers. Maybe if I got rid of them (or the pacifier fairy took them lol), once they were used to being without them, they'd sleep much better.........

What to do?!!!

 

Hmmm. My opinion is that when you're already shaking things up, it's sometimes easiest to just shake it all up at once. i.e., if they are already getting used to a new normal, they might as well get used to a few new normals. Do they use the pacis during the day? I would do a kind of gradual thing where they have no access to pacis during the day, and at the same time talk up about how they are moving into a big girl room in a few days, and big girls don't use pacis, etc etc etc. I would also let them help pick out new sheets or new stuffed animals to go on their beds or something, and set everything up a few days before the actual switchover, so they can see and get used to everything. And (if possible) let them see their sister going to sleep in her room, by herself, without a paci a couple of times. Then, 'tomorrow night is the night!' 'tonight is the night!'
And that night, no pacis, in the new beds. You might be surprised. Or it might be a total disaster and you can always give the pacis back and work on that at a later date.

 

I too was going to say go for the all or nothing approach. Ditch it all at once! It will be an adjustment, like anything else, but they might surprise you! Good luck!

 

I would vote to keep the pacis and do the room change first. Yes, the pacis may be a comfort to them during that change. We just upgraded to big boy beds and plan to ditch pacis (only used at naptime/nighttime) at 3 yrs because "3 year olds don't use pacis!"

Of all the changes, I dread the paci drop the most!!!!!

Good luck.

 

I would also let them keep the pacis till after the room change. If you don't have the pacis limited to sleep time only then I would do that but I wouldn't take them away completely until they are happy and settled in their new room.

Honestly I have not heard of a toddler sleeping better without a paci they are used to having. Some have a very smooth transition and carry on sleeping much the same, some have a few days of upset while they adjust, some may take weeks or months to fully get used to it.

If they ask for water in the night why not leave a (non-spill) sippy of water in their crib? That way they can just get it if they need it.

 

I don't know which way is better but we did the transition to toddler beds first and let DS keep the paci as a calming factor (he's a very active child!) We told him if it broke it was gone, so when he chewed through the plastic a few months later it was easy to get rid of it. I would also try the water sippy in their cribs. Mine have had them ever since they were a year old and it has helped so much with them not crying out for us in the middle of the night!

 

I'm thinking of the older child whose room is about to be invaded; I'd ditch the pacis first and wait til they've fully recovered before putting them in with her. Unless you have another room for her during the paci adjustment or she is a VERY sound sleeper, that would be a rough time.

 

We did it at 3 years so that may have had an impact (I think your lo's are younger). Before they turned three, we reminded them that once they were three years old, there would be no more binkies. After turning three, we waited a month. Then we told them that the "binky fairy" was coming now that they were a big boy and a big girl. They would get to sleep in new beds and the binky fairy would come during the night while they were sleeping. She would then take all their binkies and give them to the babies who needed them. They helped us find all the binkies. We put them all in a big envelope and left them in the mailbox overnight. When they awoke the next morning, they found that the binky fairy left them each a small gift as a reward for donating their binkies. DS asked for a binky twice during the next couple of days. But he feel asleep without them, once we reminded him that the binky fairy had given away all the binkies. DD never asked.

They never looked back. They never cried. They were happy to be a big boy and a big girl, sleeping in real beds (not cribs) without their binkies.

GL!

 

Hi, and thanks for all the replies and opinions!
I'm still undecided really. After the last few nights (they've been waking lots, either for their paci or water), I'm about ready to ditch the pacies! :grr: The girls are 26.5 months and have only ever had the pacis for nap/sleep times.

The theory of doing it all at once sounds good but, it seems like an age for a lot of changes potentially - change of room, pacifiers, toileting, ditching highchairs, toddler tantrums and emotions etc - and with our house being so crazy most of the time, I worry about too much change.

I figured that if I got rid of the pacis first, they'd have time to adjust before moving rooms, hopefully disturbing miss 6 less. I could be making more work for myself though, as instead of only moving a fed steps severaltimes a night, I could be potentially going into their new room several times a night and being wide awake instead! I have started talking to them about how they're big girls now and soon it will be time to give the pacis to the paci fairy for all the baby fairies. They are only 26 months though, so the whole concept of giving 'their' dummies to someone else might not flow :shok: But on the other hand, they might help the transition to miss 6's room.

When we move them to miss 6's room, they'll still be in their cribs for a month or so, then I'll use toddler beds. This is mainly for space and when their older, I'll use made-to-order bunks that are lower than normal. Also, I'm pretty keen to keep them in cribs as long as I can keep them in there!!!! :nea: :nea: :nea: :nea:

Decisions! :crazy: :crazy:

 

They have only ever had theirs during sleep times. I've read and heard of some little ones that start to sleep through the night after they give up their pacis and after the initial adjustment period. Apparently they dont go searching for or wake up looking for it and therefore sleep better. Heres hoping!

I LOVE this variation on the 'fairy' idea. I've seen ideas of hanging them in a special tree for the fairy or leaving them 'behind' while out etc but this idea of leaving them out in/next to the mailbox is great! My girls love getting the mail, and I think they would be more enthusiastic about gathering the pacis up, boxing them and leaving them out for the post. Might be easier to understand at their age?! Plus, easier to leave a present 'behind' the next day lol.

I thought you might like this.....When my 2 singletons were toddlers and giving their pacis up, we had different methods. With my ds11, we told him nanny's dog ate it. with miss 6, we cut the tip off, placed it in our front loader washing machine and called her to come look at how the washing machine broke it - therefore taking any blame off us parents!!!! Worked a treat, but can't bring myself to do that this time round.

 

UPDATE
WE bit the bullet and got rid of the pacis 2 days ago!

We talked about giving the pacis to the fairies for all the little tiny babies for afew days then on the actual day, kept saying 'no more pacis today' etc. We collected all of the pacis, got the girls to help us wash them, put them in a pretty box along with a couple of pictures thay'd colored for the fairies, then took it out to the mail box, waved goodbye and went for a walk in the pram. When we got back, the mailman (daddy) had left 2 bags with a new baby doll, a balloon, a lolly and a little trinket.
They have been upset at night when they first go to bed, one more than the other. It was heartbreaking for me and I feel like such a bad mom.

I am worried now that our bedtime routine has been interuppted and it is harder to get them to settle. :babyflips: :babyflips: I'm hoping that after a few more days this improves. In our house because they only had the pacis at sleep times, they were a signal of bedtime and they knew that meant sleep. I'm feeling like I've made things worse for myself. My head knows it had to happen, but my heart is saying 'What have I done?!!!!!' :unknw: :unknw:

 

Hang tough. Know that you did what you thought was best for them. And I promise it will get better! Keep us updated.