I will be the first to admit that using a soother, pacifier, dummy – call it what you like – makes me feel a bit insecure. I never thought I would use one with my babies.
Before having Edith I said we would never use one [those famous last words] and then I met motherhood and a fussy baby who wanted to be at the boob ALL.THE.TIME. and I secretly purchased a soother just to try so that I could get a break because the constant nursing was just mentally wearing on me. Edith however flat out rejected a soother.
With Alder I can’t remember if we even tired one with him. He was our relatively relaxed baby and he rarely cried and was easily soothed with the boob but without having to be latched 24/7.
Then there is Ingrid. She is a champ at nursing but unless she is being fed she really doesn’t have a desire [right now] to nurse purely for comfort. This left us trying to figure out other ways to comfort her and to sooth her to sleep.
At around three weeks I decided that I wanted to try a soother. I didn’t know if she would take it but I also knew that with three kids that I wasn’t always going to have the time to bounce and shush for hours and if a soother would help to calm her then so be it. I sheepishly went into our local baby store and spent far too long looking at the two 0-6 month soother options eventually asking the owner which one she would recommend. She responded that neither of her children took one so she didn’t have any personal opinion but that the Ecopiggy rounded style was the most popular among customers for the 0-6 month age range – and so that is what I went with.
So what did Ingrid think?
She likes it. We have decided to only give it to her when we have exhausted all other options (ie. boob, swaddle, shush, bounce, diaper change) and it is working well for us. Generally she nurses and is awake a bit before she starts to get fussy and wants to sleep and this is when we usually present the soother. She usually easily calms and is a sleep within minutes. We are happy that we have found something that helps comforts her and helps her calm to sleep.
…as for my insecurity…
I am still feeling a little insecure about using a soother but it’s working for us. And I should add that I really don’t care if other parents do – not one bit! We all are doing what we need to do to survive these early months of parenthood. I simply am my worst judge and critic.
So tell me did you baby take a soother?
