When The Nut was born I knew I was adamant about breastfeeding. I was terrified of “nipple confusion” leading me to run screaming from bottles and pacifiers in the first days. We ultimately did opt for a few bottles a week or so in, but kept the pacifiers at bay. After a month or so I began to notice some babies of similar age sleeping or sitting calmly with pacifiers. Breastfeeding was established and I was no longer at risk for nipple replacement surgery, so I decided to go for it.
No dice.
We offered every make and model of “paci” for the next six months or so. The Nut would occasionally latch on for a few seconds, a minute at best. We were never able to reap the benefits of the ol “pop it in and shush,” or “Ooh, Baby. Don’t you want to sleep now? You can have your fooler!”
Fast forward more than a year. I go to an event and my swag bag contains lots of goodies including an infant pacifier. I added it to a pile of items to give to The Nut’s newborn cousin. The next day she noticed it asked to have it. I ignored the silly requests for a while, but finally opened the package to let her play with it.
Ummm… she popped it right into her mouth and there it stayed for the next TWO HOURS. It’s now been two weeks. She seems to be getting more and more attached, actually choosing to end her bedtime nursing in order to crawl into her crib with “my pashi.” She’s been sleeping an hour later than usual, napping almost twice as long. We’re keeping it contained to the crib, but seriously, what are we doing here???
And here I sit, bewildered and asking, can my almost two year old really be adopting this habit. NOW? And do I fret or laugh?
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Oh my!! Harlan wouldn’t take pacifiers either when she was a baby. It was a blessing in disguise. The same thing happened to us when I got a paci from an event and she put it in her mouth. As soon as I saw her enjoyment I took it from her and threw it away. There was a good 15 minute tantrum. but it was well worth it! Good luck!
Peanut didn’t take a paci as an infant, either. We did have a struggle with the bottle (which I took away around 16 months). I did it cold turkey and the first week she had a massive freak out almost every night when she would usually have it. But then she got over it. It’s funny how they can become fixated on these things later on in toddlerhood! Good luck!
She actually looks really cute with the paci. I saw a 4 YO with a pacifier once…not so cute.
I say let her keep it and don’t fret.
Oops. Eh, with parenthood, when in doubt, laugh. It’s gotta be the best reaction – or at least the one that’s going to keep us the most sane, right? Gotta love how contrarian they are though, no?
I am laughing histaricaly! I think she looks so cute with the little pacifier. I say get at least a few months benefit from it especially if she is sleeping longer! But this is coming from a mom of a child who “calls” for her bink as she is walking around the house as if it were a dog and it can come when she calls it. It seems there are always surprises with kids.
wow! what a conundrum! All I read in that post was that she was NAPPING TWICE AS LONG! If you confine it just to her crib, is it really a crime? Maybe she needs a comfort item ??? Big b never took one, little bee had one ATTACHED to her (sleep time only) for 4 straight months and then spit it out, stuck her thumb in her and that’s still the deal. I think with all the new milestones (potty, words) if it doesn’t bother you, then go with it because she clearly has found a new love. (side note: and if she doesn’t have the longest eyelashes, whoa! what a beauty!)
Two of my kids were major paci addicts. I found myself reading your post and yelling in my head, “NO! NO! Don’t do it!”.
With that said, man do they pacify a kid and give a mama a minute! Your daughter is beautiful
My DD had the pacifier until age 2. I slowly weaned her off. First kept it away during naps and eventually stopped giving it to her at night. She has a favorite rattle, so it seemed as long as she had that rattle she was fine without the pacifier. We were just afraid of her crying all night and it didn’t happen. So if you want to get her off of it, just wean her off slowly.
Enjoy the extra sleep – don’t let her be the kid in the park with it and it’s all good!
Spoken from a mom who is seriously scared of taking away the beloved paci because I was told I would have over 2 months of sleepless nights.
Trust her. She must *need* a little something in the midst of so much HUGE development. I’m still shocked that my soothie lover (from 3ish months) gave it up on his own a few months before turning three. Now he speaks of it lovingly, but it’s hard to remember those many, many days (months, YEARS!!!) with it…
Are you still nursing?! I am impressed mama! Bubba wouldn’t take a paci either and it was a big deal not to let him have one when we did sleep training so that was that. In many ways I do wish he had something to calm him down but it’s also nice that there’s one less bad habit to break. If it’s working for her and she’s sleeping better, I don’t see the problem. She’s 2 not 5.
Having just read this post, I hope it’s not too late for an intervention. My daughter did the same exact thing after spotting an old paci in a friend’s apartment. I let her enjoy it for an hour or two, which led to a week or two, and the next thing I knew she was completely hooked. I say, if the nut didn’t take it as a newborn and you didn’t get the full 2 or 3 year benefits it has to offer, why should you have to suffer through the weaning process? After just a few weeks of my husband and I trying to act cavalier about my daughter’s newfound obsession (we also limited its use to the crib, but that in turn caused her to always want to be in her crib), we realized that we had a crisis on our hands, and we had to put our foot down. It was a rough week, and I can only imagine how much rougher it would have been had we let it go on any longer. Of course, that was just our experience, and your daughter’s attachment might be different, along with her temperament, so you may have no cause for concern.
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