"Mee Mee" Problems!?

So we are finally weaning our child from his beloved pacifier!? We have tried everything from cutting them up one by one to having him throw them away! But because of our circumstances,(Ben's health problems) he has used the pacifier as a comfort for when we(Dane and I) are not able to accompany him into medical testing. He also has used it to help console him when he has been very ill. To start off with we never wanted him to have it in the first place. But the first night we gave it to him he nearly slept through the night by himself! WHY NOT!!!? When he was a month old he ended up having surgery because of his stomach problems. The Dr's told us because he had a pacifier it saved his life. We were very grateful for that at the time.

Since than we have had several attempts to wean him off of it. At 6 months we decided that it was no longer necessary for him to have it. Now here we are a year and a month later and we are still unsuccessful because everytime we tired to take it away sometime terrible happened! At 7 months he had an allergic reaction to a flu shot and had the flu really bad for about 10 days. He became dehydrated and had to have IV's. Than when he was starting to get better we moved across states to another time zone and were trying help him adjust. When we had been there for 4 weeks Ben broke his arm and because he was immoble was only comforted by the pacifier! We were starting to break through with him when he was a year old and we moved again to a new school, house, and town. So he was seeking comfort once again. A few month's after we got here in Logan and Dane started school Ben started to become very sick. He stopped eating and drinking, the only thing he would take was a bottle twice a day. He was loosing weight and stopped growing!? He found once agian his pacifier to be the most comfort. We now have his weight under control and he is on medication that is doing wonders for him! Nevertheless he is still attached to his pacifier.

About a month ago we cut up 2 of his 4 pacifiers and handed them back to him. I have never seen a child MOURN!! He sat down in a corner and bawled,"MEE MEE!! ALL GONE!!" over and over again! He cuddled his pacifier. He patted it. He held it close and tried to rock it! He was so devistated. So we were down to 2 and we cut part of the tip off of one. When it's time for Ben to go to sleep he always has to hold a "Mee Mee". This was working! He knew that they were going away! Well the last 2 weeks haven't been quite as successfull. Ben got the flu and again was stuck to his "Mee Mee", than this last week he was starting to do better and got a terrible cold! Once again, "MEE MEE!!!". So tonight I brought the pacifier's to the table and told him that they were going bye bye! I cut the end off of the last one and he laughed! That was until he went to bed and it dawned on him that it was gone. I put him to bed at 8:00 p.m. and he didn't stop crying until 9:15 p.m. I went to him once to wipe his nose, teary eyes, and tell him that he was ok, I still loved him and if he needed me to call me and I would come. I left hearing these words, "MEE MEE!". Nope that's not me.


After the hour and 15 minutes of crying he stopped. I was worried and wanted to make sure that he really had gone to sleep. I went into his room and found that he had been standing up before he fell asleep. I found him crumpled up in the corner of his bed. His head was squished in the corner, a foot was hanging through the rails, a hand(holding a "Mee Mee") was also dangling out of the bed, and he was snoring. I figured that he wasn't going to be very comfortable in that position and so I gently lifted him up and laid him back down on his pillow. He woke up and started softly crying,"Mee Mee". I gave him a kiss and told him good night and covered him up with his blanket. He hasn't moved since. But he is still breathing!

I can only hope and pray that this is the end of our "Mee Mee" problems!