It has been a rough few nights. I don’t think rough even sums it up. I have consumed more coffee in the past 4 days then I have in quite a while. No, not the toddler who shockingly has had 4 nights of great sleep without interruption or coming into mom and dads bed. No, not my overactive mind keeping me up thinking about, oh, everything. It’s the dreaded pacifier that my 4.5 month old can’t live without.
I don’t get it. There are nights where you hear not a peep out of the baby all night (yes, sorry moms, my 4.5 month old sleeps through the entire night). But there are others, like the past 4 nights where he wakes up literally every 30 minutes to an hour, crying out as if saying “help me”. And all it takes is placing the pacifier back in his mouth and he’s out. Until of course the next time.
I’ve wondered about teething and have even tried Tempra and Tylenol. Nope, not even drugging the kid helped. Nothing helped.
T is still swaddled so he can’t find the pacifier himself, besides, he’s still too young to be able to find it, pick it up and put it in his mouth. I remember when Z was just a bit older than T is now and we had at least 5 paci’s in his crib at all times so he could get it himself. Worked for him, and hoping that soon it will work for T. Granted, he can’t sleep unswaddled so the jokes on me.
Regardless, that pacifier has become the bain of my sleep. I started my kids on the pacifiers because the second they were out of the womb all they wanted to do was suck. I spent the entire night of Z’s first day of life with my finger in his mouth just to keep him quiet. I couldn’t do that with T. I gave in; both my boys had pacifiers from their second day of life. Was that where I went wrong?
I don’t know what is worse; having a pacifier or sucking your thumb/fingers. I can speak from experience when I say I honestly think that the thumb is worse. I sucked my fingers, yes fingers, 3 of them to be exact for many years. More than I’d care to admit. I think it’s harder to quit that habit than to get rid of the paci. I mean you can’t throw out your thumb. Z gave up his pacifier when he was just 3 years old. There are many other pros of the pacifier too:
- soothes the baby to sleep and when fussy
- keeps them quiet when you just need that quiet time
- it doesn’t ruin your teeth like fingers will (trust me on that one; I had braces…twice)
- did I mention it keeps them quiet?
- wow, there are only 3??
Its official. I have become a slave to the pacifier. We need to pick our battles and I’m hoping that soon I’ll be coming out the victor in this one.
