a blessing, a curse, and then another blessing

At first I was hesitant to use it. Would it interfere with breastfeeding? Would she be one of those kids walking around at 4 years old with it hanging out of her mouth? Did she really need it? Could I soothe her without it?

My hesitation only lasted a few short days. It was our last night in the hospital and we had dropped Claire off at the nursery in hopes of getting a few hours of sleep before we went home the next day. One of the nurses promptly brought her back to our room about 30 minutes after we dropped her off, indicating that they couldn't get her to stop crying. Art & I looked at eachother - are you kidding us? You think we are going to be able to get her to stop?!?! So, we bounced her, we shushed her, we fed her, we swayed her...nothing worked. She was still screaming. We were desperate. I remembered then that I had packed a few pacifiers in one of our bags. We pulled one of them out, inserted it in her screaming mouth, and she stopped. It was like magic. Why didn't we think of it sooner?!?!

I don't think that we would have survived those first 6 weeks without it. Often times it was the only thing that would soothe her enough to fall asleep. But like many good things, it didn't last. During the middle of the night, Claire started to wake up and was unable to put herself back to sleep without it in her mouth. It got to the point where we were getting up 5-6 times/night just to put the pacifier back in her mouth. It was ridiculous and we were exhausted. This was not going to be sustainable long-term.

Fortunately for us, Claire then discovered her fingers...a new soothing device!! Therefore, we eliminated the pacifier for naps and bedtime about a week ago. We now leave one of her hands peeking out of her swaddle, so she can use her fingers as a soothing device. The difference this has made as been AMAZING. Most nights she is able to self-soothe and we only have to get up once to feed her.

Now we just have to worry about her sucking her fingers when she walks off to kindergarten some day! Oh well, if it means more sleep now, that is the risk we are willing to take.