Got dd to give up paci, now i'm regretting it

[kimmypoo]

For the last month or so, we've told dd (2.5yo) that when Santa comes, she can leave her paci for him and he'll leave presents for her. So that night she went to bed without her paci and fell asleep just fine. The first few days without it she would ask about it once or twice and we reminded her that she gave it to Santa and she was like "Oh yeah." and was fine. Well, the last 3 or 4 days have been awful. She won't take a nap, even driving in the car won't help her fall asleep. Last night she went to bed and woke up 10 mins later crying/screaming for her paci. I finally let her fall asleep on the couch and moved her to her bed. Tonight, dh picked her up from the sitter, and she just cried and screamed that she didn't want to leave. I know it had to be because she was tired and didn't get a nap. We've gone this long without the paci and I really don't want to give it back, but I hate that she gets so upset because she's tired.  Any ideas/suggestions?

TIA

[YayJennie]

Why did you take the pacifier away?  Unless there was some health reason or something, I would give it back.  It sounds like she's not ready to give it up.  My 21 month old still takes his "baba" to bed and it helps him sleep.  Unless there's a really good reason to take it away, he can keep the pacifier as long as he wants!  That's just my two cents though, I know some people don't like older kids to have pacifiers.  But if it's just for aesthetic reasons you don't want her to have it, I would definitely consider giving it back.

[dakotablue]

No advice. Just hugs.

DS doesn't take a paci (wouldn't) and its a double edged sword. One hand I'm glad because I never have to take it away, other hand it sounds so nice to have sometimes.

[Llyra]

I'd take the child to the store to buy another one. Why put the both of you through this? There's no compelling need to give up the pacifier at any age, and if the child doesn't adjust easily, that's a sure sign that it isn't time yet. My almost-four-year-old just gave up hers, and I knew it was time because it happened almost effortlessly. She still has it, though, and sometimes in her worst moments she still asks to use it for a few minutes. Which I allow, gladly.

If you're worried about teeth-- don't worry about it. There's no evidence that there's any permanent change in the bite until age 4, from pacifier use. And my DD2 had some pretty serious rabbit teeth from hers-- within three weeks of limiting it to a few minutes a day, the teeth have readily moved back into their normal position.

I don't think I'd force paci weaning until the permanent teeth were coming in. Even then, I might consider extremely limited use.

[starling&diesel]

Sorry that it's been such a hard week for you.  I don't have any paci experience, but I'm wondering about the option of letting her choose a new lovie to be her sleep buddy?  A trip to the toy store, let her choose?  You must've had reasons to want to wean her off it, so I can imagine that you might not want to give it back.