Pacifiers

Claire never took a pacifier. She was a challenge when it came to sleeping. It usually required nursing her when she was an infant.

When Natalie was born, I tried several times to get her to take a pacifier, because I hoped to get her to sleep better. It took several months, and Natalie didn't really need one until shortly before we moved in with Mom & Dad.

I didn't care. I WANTED to have to break the pacifier habit. Because, yes, Natalie was a champion sleeper once she had the pacifier.

Well, now she's 18 months old and I think that's old enough to go without it. With the advice of a couple friends, I cut the tip off one pacifier on Tuesday morning. (I kept one intact, just in case). Natalie watched me mutilate her pacifier. That evening, we sat down to read stories and rock. I handed Natalie her pacifier.

She looked at it. Oh, yeah, Mommy cut it up this morning.

She stuck it in her mouth.

It stayed there all of 0.2 microseconds.

She gave me a look of disgust and handed it back.

So we proceeded with the story reading. She fussed a bit after a few minutes, so we repeated the above procedure.

When she handed it back the second time, I tucked it completely out of sight. Then we rocked. It only took a bit longer than usual, and she didn't fuss much at all. I laid her down and she slept pretty well, except the massive tantrum she threw from 10:30-11:30 that night.

We did it again on Wednesday night, except this time I didn't offer the pacifier to her at all. She slept even better, fussing only for a couple of minutes at one point.

I haven't quite declared victory yet, but I think I'll be able to throw the pacifiers away for good by the weekend.