Pacifiers have been around for hundreds of years with one of the first ones
reported being an actual corn cob to soothe a baby in England in the 1680s. It
then went on to be created out of all different types of materials that were
full of lead and became a symbol of poorer classes in society. These days
however, they seem to be a staple in most households. There are so many pros
and cons and parents seem to be passionately either for or against them. We
have two daughters and both of them had taken a soother early on in their life.
Especially as a new parent I found that their use was a fantastic way to
quickly stop unnecessary crying (when baby was neither hungry nor dirty) and
help teach my babies to calm themselves and fall asleep. Over the past week
however, the "soo" has had ME crying, unable to sleep and wanting to
pull out my hair.
We have spent months with countless failed attempts at eliminating what we
now refer to as our three-year old daughters "bad habit". We tried
snipping the tips off, "losing them," giving them to a newborn,
explaining that she is a big girl and asking her to throw them in the garbage.
I am always so jealous of my friends that have kids who just one day were no
longer interested, or got sick once and never asked for it again. Nothing would
work for us and our youngest always seemed to have this magical stash of
soothers throughout the house that she would dip in to when we made one
disappear. After all this, we thought it was time to try going cold turkey and
took a cue from super nanny and put in a call to the "soo fairy" and
asked her to fly by for a visit. If you're not familiar with the technique, you
explain to the child that the fairy is coming to visit and you coerce them into
voluntarily leaving the thing they need to fall asleep in a special spot and they
will wake up to a special toy in its place the next morning. While the idea is
exciting and magical to any small child, the after math (for us anyway) is
horrific. It really is like we've had to break a habit and she's detoxing,
coming down off of her sleep drug, but we're doing it! Our family has had 4
(and counting) sleepless nights soother free. I am beginning to become hopeful
that she won't be taking one to college with her.
I'd love to hear some opinions on soothers. Do you use them for your baby?
Does anyone have proven successful tips to wean their child off?
By Jen Stewart mother of three, Bremmy, Vienna
and Lincoln 10/2012 our angelwww.myhappilyeverafterstewartedition.wordpress.com
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