Parenting Our Way...

We did the opposite of what everyone told us to do, and it worked for us!

1. Took his pacifier cold turkey.

I know, y’all, I know…cold turkey seems a little harsh, but hear me out. It was an accident. We had a rule: if the pacifier gets lost, it won’t get replaced. It was lost, so we didnt replace it. At first, I panicked (on the inside), but I knew he would adjust to not having a pacifier quickly. We just had to stand strong and not give in. Initially, we weren’t going to let him have a pacifier at all. When we sent out our baby shower invites, the invite said, “No pacifiers,” lol.  However, he spent a couple of days in the NICU, and they gave him one, so we were just like, okay, we will let him keep it. So that’s how it all started. 

Honestly, his pacifier use wasn't too bad; he used it to soothe himself. When he was flustered, upset, or about to cry, he would reach for it and put it in his mouth, but he mainly used it in the car and to fall asleep. This was the biggest reason I panicked when the pacifier was lost. I thought to myself, how are we going to get any sleep tonight? Not only that, but his molars were coming in at the same time, so I felt bad, but not bad enough to get him a new pacifier. The first two nights, he woke up a few times and used the bottle to go back to sleep. The third night, we were good! 

I was relieved and proud that we stuck to our plan and went cold turkey. Despite the initial panic, it worked for us. I know some people may frown upon this method, but it was a success for us. To give you a reference, he was about to turn 1 when the pacifier was lost. 

1. Let him drink from a bottle after 12 months.

Many people may disapprove of a child using a bottle after 12 months, but it's what works for us. He enjoys drinking from cups with straws, but he doesn't like the traditional sippy cups. Drinking from a cup with a straw while lying down would be a mess! The bottle provides him comfort at night and during the night, so that’s what we've chosen. It's important to note that we plan to transition him off the bottle before he turns 18 months old, but for now, we are using cups with straws during the day and bottles at night. 

1. Let him decide when it’s time to take a nap or go to bed.

We know schedules are necessary in most instances, but this is what worked for us. We never gave him a specific nap time or bedtime because he would roll over and put himself to sleep until he was around 6-7 months old. Around the 7-month mark, he started to fight his sleep, and then he would crash when he couldn’t fight it anymore. We allowed him to sort of create his sleep schedule, and right now, he takes a nap at the same time every day and goes to bed around the same time every night. Not because of something we did but we allowed his body to tell him when it was time to sleep. I’ll end this by saying I don’t think this will work for everyone or every family. Everyone needs to do what's best for them and their family. 

1. We didn’t put shoes on him until he turned 1.

We got soooo many comments about this. People asked why doesn’t he wear shoes? When are you going to put shoes on him? He isn’t walking yet because he wasn’t wearing shoes. Let me say this…I am so glad we didnt put shoes on him until he was 1! He took his first steps after his first birthday (thanks to my godfather!) And he started trying to walk more and more about a week after his first birthday. The pediatrician told us that many kids don't walk until 15 months. We also had a lot of questions about him using a traditional walker; we opted out of that. We only allowed him to use push walkers. 

So again, I will tell you to do what’s best for you and your family, not what others tell you. Don’t get me wrong, some advice is great, and you should take it, but there are some things you know you don’t want to do.