Bye-Bye Paci

As a speech therapist I am fully aware of a pacifiers impact on oral development and speech. My rule for clients and recommendation for other parents has always been that by age one a child should only be using the pacifier for naps or bed and around 18 months it should be gone all together. I am a little bit on the conservative side when it comes to this. Some professionals will say the pacifier is okay until 2 or 3. I am not one of those.
As you all know our little fella has become rather attached to his "paa", as he calls it. He uses it for bed and nap. We also give it to him for long car rides when we want him to fall asleep. Grayson is quickly approaching 18 months. He will be 16 months this week. Justin and I have been talking recently about when and how to cease the pacifier use especially since Grayson tries to talk with it in his mouth. That is one of my pet peeves.
Well we decided to take the paci head on tonight. Actually we were planning to attempt last night, but Grayson wasn't feeling well so as soon as he started to cry we gave it back. Tonight I knew we had to be tough and stick to our guns. Giving in would only teach him that he if screams we will give him what he wants, right?
As Grayson was getting ready for bed he saw his pacifier and put it in his mouth. We decided to let him take it out. After several "eewww, yuck", "throw that away", and "that's gross" comments, Grayson took the pacifier out of his mouth and threw it on the floor. So far, so good, right? WRONG! We put him down in his crib and he screamed for an entire hour. Justin went in once to try to calm him down, but that just got him going again. He was determined to get that "paa" back. After an hour of screaming, things have finally gotten quiet upstairs. UGH! I dread nap time tomorrow.