Pacifier Problem

Minutes after he was born, Isaac was sucking his fingers. Some babies don't like pacifiers, but there was no question whether or not Isaac would take one. He loved to suck on his pacifiers, two at a time if he could manage it. Isaac is also very cuddly both in a good way and a not so good way. Sometimes he'll just cling to me as a 28 lb toddler and insist on being cuddled and held. Sometimes I just can't do it, so instead I'll try to distract him with a combination of his pacifier and something interesting.

My husband and I went on a trip with his family for over a week this past summer. My mom watched the boys for me at her house. She made the rule with him that the pacifier stayed in his crib and he only got it at nap times or at night. From what I understand he followed my mom around the house ( he doesn't like to be alone in a room) and whined/cried. She refused to carry him around, he's just too big to do that and he didn't have his pacifier either. I understand that by the end of the week though he was getting used to this. YEAH!

BUT old habits die hard and I tried to keep the pacifier away but I just couldn't do it for long enough. Soon I was turning to it when I just needed him to stop clinging and crying long enough for whatever task I was trying to get done. So now he's 1 1/2 and his pacifiers are becoming good friends. If he has one and finds another he'll switch them.. then he looks at the old one and switches back, and so on until he find something else to play with. If he sees one on the counter he'll find a way up there to get it. He just loves them, he doesn't really need them, except to help him go to sleep, but he really likes them. I like them too.

My husband along with my mom, who gets after me when she sees him with it, are both saying that I need to take him off it, cold turkey. I hear this and my mind says.... "But, but, but... what will I do?"

So I guess it comes down to this... the problem is more breaking my pacifier habit than breaking his. It seems a lot of parenting involves training the parents more than training the kids. I need to figure out how I can be Isaac's mommy without resorting the pacifier. Right now I don't have enough resolve to go cold turkey. I think for now I am up to limiting usage to sleeping times, I can do that much.