Sayonara Pacifier and Operation WAM*

*Whoop Andrew Munchy (yeah.... another weird nickname we've adopted)

I will smugly say, again, that Andrew has slept through the night since he was about 2 months. There have only been a few crazy nights since then... maybe one or two a month. At first, we avoided the pacifier pretty well, but have become lax about it in recent months, especially since his weaning from breastfeeding at 15 months. He really does love it, and sometimes wakes hysterically in the middle of the night needing it so badly..... screaming, clawing at me and frantically pointing to it on the shelf - it's like a drug to him. The moment it pops in his mouth = melted butter. Goo. Totally relaxed baby. Yes, we know this was bad, but it was just so eeeeaaassy.

Our conscience and sanity finally got the better of us so we recently got rid of all the pacifiers. Gone. No longer an option (for him OR us). His occasional yearnings for the thing of late have been placated by Elmo or a blankie. This does not work as well, yet, so we have implemented a new tactic around here - WAM: running him like crazy for the last hour or so of the night so he has no choice but to sleep all the way through it - he's just too tired to do anything but.

Of course, there are many different variations of WAM, but this is one of my favorites, as modeled here by Jon:

I highly recommend WAM. Works 99% of the time.
See?