Tips on how to stop your child from using pacifier

I am not supporting nor rejecting the idea of using pacifier. My motto in raising my kid is work with what you've got. :)

As for Sara, she was on pacifier as early as five days old (I think) and no, I am NOT proud of the fact.I know that kids regularly on the pacifier will tend to develop dental deformities, so we have from time to time try to avoid excessive usage.
Sara has always call her pacifier nu-nu, and she'll motion for her pacifier using her index finger to her mouth EVERY TIME she wanted to sleep. So, what we did was take out her pacifier as soon as she falls asleep.


As she grows older, and able to talk, she'll always ask for her nu-nu when she wants to sleep. BUT, when she reached towards two-years-old, she began to demand for her nu-nu every time she felt neglected by people around her.

For example, when I was watching TV instead of playing with her, she'll walk up to the kitchen, and start to ask for her nu-nu. So, I casually suggested to my mom to start depriving her of the pacifier, gradually.

Little did I know that my mom was also having the same thought, which is to stop her from using the pacifier altogether.

So, what we did was: first, we stopped giving her pacifier by her demand. When she wanted to sleep, we gave her the pacifier, but after 10 minutes of sucking, if she's still not sleeping, we'd take out the pacifier and played with her until she's really sleepy.

Secondly, we'd take out her pacifier the minute she falls asleep (as opposed to taking it out when she has dozed off completely). Sometimes she would wake up, but judging from varying degree of crying (mild meaning she can get back to sleep, screaming meaning I-want-my-nunu-back); we either give it back or just cuddle her until she falls right back to sleep.

However, the two ways doesn't really diminish her need for pacifier. They were just means to train her and decrease her need to depend on the pacifier.

One day, my mom decided to go cold-turkey. She secretly cut the tip of the pacifier and put a black thread inside the pacifier. So, it looks as if there's "worm" inside the pacifier. (Sara is really scared of worms ;p)

She took one look at her pacifier, and say "Nenek, got worm" and together, they threw the pacifier in the dustbin. Later that day, when she wanted to sleep and asked for her nu-nu, my mom reminded her that her nu-nu got worm and its in the dustbin. She must've been really sleepy because she dozed off after that.

During night time, she asked for her nu-nu again, and this time, she pulled my dad's hand to the dustbin and demanded that my dad take back her nu-nu. "Wash first, ok?" she said. Haha.

My dad took the nu-nu and brought her to the kitchen and they wash the nu-nu together. "But, the worm cannot come out-la, Yaya" my dad said. She's dissatisfied, but didn't cry. I take that as a good sign.

She came running to me and asked me to buy her new nu-nu and I said okay. I also told her that "Only baby can get nu-nu, Sara big girl already, Sara kan kakak. No more nu-nu okay?" She seemed to understand and didn't press further.

Luckily for us, starting from that moment on, she'd never scream/shout asking for her pacifier. Don't get me wrong, she did cry and we have had some sleepless nights and our patience are almost running thin. But, we persevered and the result; no more pacifier for the little girl.

Priceless moments...

Mummy, come take picture of Yaya..

Ok, Yaya pretend to watch Barney, mummy take picture okay?



Umm...Yaya pretend to laugh, Mummy take picture okay?




And then, Yaya pretend to become angry, Mummy take picture okay?



Yaya do funny face, Mummy take picture okay?




Yaya smile like cute girl, Mummy take picture okay?

And all the pictures are blurry because I was laughing sooo hard entertaining my cheeky little kid :)

Children's Playground Ethics.

First off, if your child is below 3 years, kindly assist him/her to play. I've seen a father who suddenly came into the playground area shouting "Who pushed him? Who pushed him??!!" upon seeing his son falling down and crying. Dude, seriously, no point blaming others, if you don't want your child to fall, be with him. DUH! (and yes, the child looked no more than 2 years old)

Do not let your child climb the slide from below. Ask them to go through the stairs. I don't really mind if the child is alone, I understand that children have their own imagination and sense of adventure. What makes me tick is when the parents is there, letting their child climb the slide when obviously, a queue is starting to form at the top of the slide consisting of children trying to CORRECTLY go down the slide (including my child).

I once said to a boy (indirectly to his father, who was just standing not two feet away) "Abang, bagi adik turun dulu gelongsor ni boleh?" because my child is trying to slide down (like a normal person do), instead of trying to climb up the slide (like the boy was trying to do).

Of course, he didn't understand me, and almost fall off in his attempt to climb the slide, all the while the father was watching him, and DOING NOTHING.

So, I did the next mature thing to do. I told my child gently, "Sara, don't do like abang ok. Next time you want to climb the slide, use the stairs. Don't be selfish like abang, ok?".

The father instantly looked at me. And immediately coax his son to climb through the stairs. Luckily, he did still have some ounce of shame.

From my observation, the parents are always there in the playground area, standing nearby the child at every time (which is good thing) but more often than not, the parents (especially the father) just stood there watching. I get the whole "letting your child test his ability" thing, believe me, I do. But, when your child is dangling upside down from the stairs, its really a good time to interfere, no?

The first tiny movement :)

Even though I complaint a lot (the stomach cramps, the frequent toilet visit, the nausea all day, etc)...

All of that is worthwhile when you felt the first tiny movement of the baby inside you. It was as if the baby was telling me...

"Hey mummy...I'm here...can't wait to meet you..."

And I would reply "Yeah, me too..."

Sometimes, the baby would get a little bit naughty and poked and turned inside me so hard, I feel like being tickled.

And, what surprises me most is that I can feel the movement quite early. I remembered the first time I felt the fluttering in my tummy was when I was only 13 weeks pregnant. During my first pregnancy, it was exactly 16 weeks that I felt the baby's first movement.

The first tiny movement of this baby have the ability to bring me wayyyy up in the sky and can sometimes brought tears of joy to my eyes. But, there are always things can bring me plummeting down back to earth. For example:-

This is the most recent photo of me; pregnant at 4 months. So "healthy", I know.


And, the blunt honesty of the first child. "Mummy so fat la" she told me yesterday. Grrrr...