Moving Rooms, Pacifiers and New Baby - OH MY!

I only have two kids, but I am imagining how busy your life is about to become! My "child development education" answer would be: switch rooms now, and then take away all pacifiers BEFORE baby comes. And my "tired mom just trying to get through the next year in one piece" answer is: switch rooms now and let everyone keep their pacifiers until they are well adjusted to the baby (this will take at least four months). Lay down WITH the kids and have family nap time wherever, whenever - just get some sleep! (unless the paci is actually causing speech delays or teeth malformation that can't be easily corrected - this is rarely the case)

We ditched the pacifier with my middle daughter when I was about 5 months pregnant with #3; she had just turned 2.

We moved our older two girls into the same room (same bed actually) when the baby was about 3 months. Baby still sleeps in our room, but all the 'stuff' (bibs, blankets, shoes, tubs of clothes, changing station, etc) was overwhelming our room. At first it was a little tough for the older two to understand that this was *their* room....but we redecorated (just moved some pictures around and found places for my younger daughter's things in her new room) and now they love that it's the "big girl room".

Your kids are old enough to understand that paci's are for babies and they are no longer babies. I'd go cold turkey, but be prepared for a few rough nights. Get rid of them SOON, or you might just have them stealing them right out of the baby's mouth!!

i have 4 kids.... each time i had a kid i moved their rooms before having the new baby. passies..... my oldest got rid of his after #2 and #3 were in the picture, when he was 3 (we "lost" it one day and were never able to find it and that worked for him.... we pretended to help him find it for days and days but he slowly quit asking for it. My twins got rid of theirs after i had #4, when they were 3 as well. they went for a dentist visit and the dentist gave them a lecture and in front of them looked at me and ordered me to not give them a passie then looked at them and told them not to be mad at me that i had to do what he said... they never had a passie after we left the dentist.

if i were you i would do the room now and give them a few months to adjust to the new baby before taking the passies they get rid of them... life is so much easier without them!!

I feel for you! I have 2 girls 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 and they both used pacis up till 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 also just for nap and bedtime. I handled this cold turkey with them by taking them to the dentist for their first checkup and getting the dentist to tell them they had to get rid of the pacis so it did not mess up their teeth. We had one or two rough days and then it was all good. :-)
Personally, I would deal with the paci issue first. You don't need ANY drama once the baby arrives.
Secondly, we had to take my girls playroom and turn it into a babyroom. #3 is arriving May 9th. When I first brought this up to my girls they were PISSED and did not want to even talk about it. I did things gradually, warned them ahead of time, etc and have since then involved them in EVERYTHING to do with the new baby from OB appts to setting up his room. So now they are beyond excited and not upset over the room at all.
IMO, 1. lose the pacis. 2. deal with the room before the baby comes. You'll have so much to do once you have the baby, might as well deal with it now...

Is there a reason the two younger kids can't share a room? That might work better for the middle child - rather than having to move for the baby...just a thought. We took my son to build a bear when he turned 3 (after a lot of prepping) and he put his pacis into a bear - which is now on his bed. He never even asked about having it once we did the bear thing - totally shocked that he didn't care!

Too many changes too fast. Move them in together right away. Let them adjust at night. Put your girl down for the nap first. Let her go to sleep. Later bring your son in and tell him his nap will be shorter than hers. If her brother does not want to nap have him rest on the couch in the living room. She really needs the nap.
That they will sleep in the same room will make it much easier for each of them to have a room away from you and your husband.
I took this formula for the room change from my family of origin where it went very well to have us switch together for sleeping.
After the summer you can talk to your son about being the big brother and giving up the pacifier.
I had such a hard time with my youngest that I stopped giving it back to her when she dropped it outside the house. We would clean it when we got home. Then I told her only in the house. And, finally several months after she was four she gave it up.

I only have two and never had to deal with room moving, BUT we did move houses right before DS was born. DD was very upset that she had to give up her bed (crib) for her brother, but when we moved into the new house we put her straight into a twin "big girl" bed in her "big girl" room, so I think that appeased her. Then she saw all the blue boy stuff going into her brother's room, and I think it helped to realize it wasn't her furniture anymore. She got to pick out her new bedding and decor (even at 2 she had an opinion!) and I think that allowed her to make the decision for herself (always a key component with her) and it was her choice to "gift" her brother with the nursery furniture. We let her keep the bink, mainly because she was only 2 and I didn't want to deal with it yet, but I didn't need to over worry because DS had no desire to have a bink. We went completely cold turkey (I literally threw it out the window) when DD turned 3 and we had a rough week or so of her asking for it, but she got over it. Good luck!

I think making the room change now is also the best idea. If you put sister down to sleep first, tell your son that not only will his rest be shorter, but he must be quiet so he doesn't wake her up. Maybe there can be a little reward too? (Stay up a little later at night, extra book time, etc)

For their pacifiers, what worked extremely well for us was to not take them away but to cut the tip of it off and give it back to them. If it wasn't cut enough and they still used it, we cut a little more off until they chose not to use it. It was all about them making the choice.

Congrats on new baby :-)