Love bite

At the beginning, Kate relied heavily on me as a human pacifier when I was still breast-feeding her, and could only sleep with me by her side. When she was about 10-months-old and close to a year where I wanted to wean her off (at age of 1 year), the husband and I succeeded in substituting me with the pacifier. We've tried and kinda been successful in awarding her the pacifier only at sleep-times, but we notice that she's rather reliant on it (not desired).

3 nights ago, I stumbled upon an opportunity where Kate fell asleep without her pacifier. I could not locate Kate's pacifier (we had 3!) and in desperation (it was getting late and she was tired & cranky), without the pacifier, I switched off the lights and laid on the bed with her. It was exactly how her bedtime routine is daily, except that she does not have the pacifier to suckle on. When she cried, I sang songs and patted her. I allowed her to toss & turn wherever she wanted and after a while, she went to sleep. I was amazed!

This taught me that she can indeed sleep without the pacifier so again and again, the husband and I put her to sleep without it. Her reaction is funny. It's as if she suddenly remembers that she wants to suckle on something (maybe it's her teething?!) & she will chew everything in sight - me, bolster, pillow... and on that first night of this unexpected experiment, I got a souvenir from Kate!

Love bite from Kate on my arm

It happened so quickly I didn't have time to react. Besides being very 'itchy mouth", Kate also tosses and turns and drifts off to sleep when she tires.

It seems that she's growing older and we've had 3 successful nights of her going to sleep without the pacifier. I accept the souvenir with grace, it's a small price to pay for giving up a bad habit. Yay yay yay!