The Pacifier

I can remember with Anna that the decision of whether or not to give her a pacifier was a big deal. I read books, we consulted friends and in the end decided to give her one. It took a few days of "practicing" but then Anna was sucking away at the pacifier like a pro. Her pacifier of choice was the Avent newborn. These days Anna still uses the Avent pacifier during naps and nighttime but it is not allowed to leave her crib. This has become my temporary solution until we can break her from it all together (but who wants two kids crying at night?).

Now on to Maddie. Maddie first got a pacifier in the hospital - I was mortified when they asked, but they explained to me that they didn't think they could conduct her hearing test without it (basically, your child won't stop crying!). I had visions of it effecting breastfeeding, etc etc but she never actually took it. A few days after we got home, we opened a box of Avent pacifiers (the hospitals brand of choice was the Mam) and tried to give her one of those. Whenever we could get it past her tongue which insisted on pushing it out, she would gag. So I bought yet another Avent pacifier with a smaller nipple - same result. I asked my pediatrician when a baby has the "skills" to take a pacifier and he said they either like them or they don't, there is no development involved. Hmmmm. Well after nights filled with walking around the house and not being able to console Maddie very easily we decided to try one more type of pacifier. This time we bought the Soothie by The First Years. I have seen other children that come home from the hospital with this pacifier - there is no mistaking this one. The nipple on it is very similar to the bottles we are using with a circular end rather than one that is more flattened. Maddie instantly took this pacifier more easily than the previous ones. She is still not able to keep it in her mouth by herself for very long but it has now gotten us through a meal out and allowed my husband and I to actually sit on the couch together rather than pace the house at night.



So we'll see where it goes from here. On one hand I liked Anna having a pacifier so that when we were out in public she could be easily soothed with it; on the other, I'm not sure I want it to become a habit that it difficult to break later on. And yes, I know it is ironic that I'm pushing so hard for one to take the pacifier while trying to get the other to stop :).