Baby Loves Dadsi, Momsi, and Pacifier

My wife and I used to envy parents who were blessed with babies who easily find comfort in a well-ventilated and soft-padded crib while suckling a warm bottle of milk. With less pain in the back, parents can then rest easy on morning weekends, have breakfast together, and take pleasure in watching their baby sleep.

Not our baby, she’s the type that would cause hair-pulling trauma to first time parents. Even though we had a couple of baby books, none can seem to explain why she cries a lot – and I mean A LOT! If the crying was not addressed the first few minutes, it usually extends to a concert-length of an hour or more. Her uncontrollably crying makes us panic we couldn’t sleep.

So whenever our baby starts to cry, we cycle through our compiled list of baby-soothing remedies - from giving milk to checking the diapers, and out-of-tune singing to lulling her to sleep. If none of those work, we call her lola (ehehehe). Grannies have a very high tolerance in handling hysterical toddlers.

My wife, who is fond of shopping items for our baby, decided to include a pacifier. We’ve been avoiding pacifiers in stores as books generally do not approve of it as well as most parents we know of. They say it has an awkward effect on the teeth’s growth. And since back then our baby only has gums, we figured it’s safe to try.

We immediately had the pacifier sterilized upon arriving home. Baby began crying and we were again cycling through our “parents stop baby from crying” TO DO list. On the bottommost part of the list was to carry and hush her to sleep. But instead of doing that, we gave her the pacifier.

She started suckling and it was funny for us. She doesn’t seem to mind that there’s no milk coming out. Probably because it was just minutes since she last finished her milk. Slowly she started to relax and closed her eyes.

And before we knew she was asleep, still sucking though. We waited a few more minutes and then gently pulled the pacifier out.

Pacifier use help toddlers become comfortable and give them a means for self-relaxation. Parents shouldn’t be exceedingly upset over their babies wanting to use a pacifier.

For utmost baby’s comfort and security, choose a pacifier from a trusted brand. Others break easily and would pose choking risks. They also come in different shapes and sizes so choose one that’s right for her age.

(Photo courtesy of www.microsoft.com)