Pacifying

I've never been a fan of pacifiers. They're one more thing to make sure you have in the diaper bag before you leave the house. And it's quite some time before a baby has enough coordination to re-insert them independently. [Don't get me started on toddlers talking with pacifiers in their mouths!]

But Ben was teething and cranky, and he found a friend. [I actually saw early signs of him being a thumb-sucker.] And then his friend The Pacifier ended up helping him sleep "through the night," a term I use loosely but a concept about which I put a great deal of hope.

We had a good week, well, actually, eight days, of this "through the night" [albeit short nights, not that I'm keeping count ...] and then the last five nights have been more up and down [literally, at least for Greg and me ...]. Ben doesn't want to eat in the middle of the night anymore, which is good, but he has been waking up every couple hours [sometimes even more frequently] wanting The Pacifier put back in his mouth, where he decided it needs to be, if he's sleeping.

You see, we already had a rule that pacifiers were made for sleep aids, not all-day distractions.

Yet continually re-inserting The Pacifier wasn't really helping anyone sleep well. And if you know anything about our parenting philosophy, then you know we are advocates of everyone sleeping well.

So we decided this morning -- after I told Greg that my eyes hurt from trying to keep them open after we each were up multiple times pacifying our son -- that The Pacifier was more trouble than it was worth. All four versions of Ben's new friend have been stored away.

Maybe he'll find his thumb. Maybe he'll just cuddle with his blankets. Either way, we have a new plan that [hopefully] will leave everyone feeling more rested, even if it takes a few days to get there.