Why Did I series – Pacifier for Babies
Mummy blogs…
I decided to start a series – Why Did I? on this blog to chronicle reasons why I made certain decisions in my parenting journey.
Nicole is now five and I am beginning to forget what was my original frame of mind when I made certain decisions. By the time Nathan and Nadine came along, it was a case of, “What did we do the last time?”.
You can be sure, I stopped consulting those Parenting Books for #2 & #3! There was simply no time! So they inherited the goodness (& badness) of what we did with #1!
I figured if I don’t document this somewhere, it would eventually just disappear. Years down the road, I’ll end up like an old nag when I tell my kids what to do with their kids, cos Mummy-used-to-do-it-although-I-don’t-know-why!!
So first on this series – the age-old debate on Pacifier Usage!
Just the other day, I saw an old picture of Nicole and the pacifier. (and at TWO years old!!!)
I remember when I was pregnant, I told myself – NO pacifier for my kids. It would affect their teeth growth, it would give them a false sense of security, it would confuse them – pacifier vs breast teats vs bottle teats …
Yet, there she was, chewing on her PIE (that’s what she called it) so nonchalantly. Clearly, we gave her the go ahead! And we found pictures of Nathan and Nadine with it too. (Justification: Nathan stopped at 6 months, Nadine stopped at 3 months) So why?
Reasons in chronological order:
1. We bought two pacifiers just in case the baby needed it.
2. Nicole kept crying. and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying.
3. It was not time for milk. Her bottom was clean. It was not a hot day. We were playing music at the background. AND we didn’t want to carry her anymore.
4. We shoved it in her mouth, and initially she spitted it out. (Who wouldn’t? Try shoving a foreign object into someone’s mouth!) Greatest deception – 1st-time parents’ natural response: “Look at that, she’s so clever! She doesn’t like the pacifier!”
5. Nicole kept crying. and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying and crying
6. We shoved and we shoved and we shoved the pacifier in. She stopped crying.
7. When #2 and #3 came along, we bought SIX pacifiers knowing that the baby needs it. 
And that’s why I gave my kids the pacifier.
September 16th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Hahaha! I admit I tried and when Jay spit his pacifier out (after 3 days of trying), I simply gave up. LOL!
September 16th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
wah ur kids are so big n lovely! so Edmund, both of you write this blog is it? Cos I was surprised when you mentioned “when I was pregnant” lol
Happy parenting!
September 16th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Haha…these days my tummy getting bigger…So now there are 2 of us!
As you probably guessed – my wife is my editor and my guest blogger as well! Especially when I got tons of assignments to do!
September 16th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Edmund ah? .. now there are 2 of us, or “2 of us”? so confusing!!! lol u mean ur fats ah?!
September 16th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Hee..Hee…
Yes…the fats are increasing….Cant hide the fact that I am getting older
September 16th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
aiyo not old la everyone also has love handles hehehe
September 17th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Haha…Thanks for being so encouraging!
September 18th, 2010 at 5:31 am
haha. I’m one of those who said, “he doesn’t want the pacifier,” when Hann pushed it out with his tongue.”
am giving away a pair of brand new Avent pacifiers for 0-3mths.
Those interested, hop over to http://jademeimei.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-give-away-pacifier.html
September 21st, 2010 at 10:28 am
Even before Benji was born, we were told by well-meaning friends to avoid the binky: crooked teeth formation, disrupts breastfeeding, dependency on the binky, etc.
But they were all rubbished when we had the baby in our arms. Benji was born premature and he didn’t suckle well AT ALL. He would take ages to nurse at the bottle and direct breastfeeding tired him out very quickly. The nurses at NICU fashioned a bottle teat, stuffed with some cotton and gave it to him periodically to encourage him to suck at the teat. After seeing that, I brought the pacifier that came with a baby pack to the hospital.
I believe it helped, somewhat. And after a couple of weeks, he was able to nurse directly from me. And of course, it helped soothe him during the colicky nights.
We never taught him how to sign for the binky (yes, for milk, nappy, etc). And when Benji was about 10 months old, I threw them out and poor boy didn’t know how to ask for them. He didn’t cry, but had a look on his face: aren’t you missing somethin’?
We never looked back and was glad that we managed to wean him off the binky as early as we could.
Every baby/mommy is different. And I can’t say that I would do the exact same if I have a another kid who will have different needs/temperament as my 1st child.
September 21st, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Thanks for sharing.
I guess no matter what they say, the pacifier has brought much peace and sanity to all the parents out there!