Let's Get This Party Started

Hey guys! So, before I can delay myself again let’s get this show on the road. I've told you a little about myself and why I decided to start this blog. Now let’s get to the fun!!! I want you to know I'm not going in any particular order. One day I may revert to stories from earlier in motherhood and somedays I may speak on current events. 

    Today I'm going to hit on a super controversial topic when it comes to babies & toddlers... Pacifiers!!! When going through the process of parenthood there are a lot of decisions to be made. Do you want to use disposable diapers or cloth, use pre-made baby food or make your own, breastfeed or formula, and pacifier vs no pacifier? These few topics themselves can be debated on so many levels but at the end of the day it’s a personal choice and no one should be shamed for how they choose to raise their child. At the hospital my child was given a pacifier which I was fully on board with and had every intention of giving it to her anyways. In my opinion the pacifier is a used as a comfort provider and it was important to ME personally that my daughter had that.

 Since she was born the pacifier has been a big part of life for us. I always had to make sure that I had that pacifier with us, or she’d freak out if she wanted it and I didn’t have it. Her pacifier saved me numerous times especially when we had to make the hour drive to come visit my family.   Whether is was in the daylight or nighttime she needed something to occupy her and before we had the tablet there was the pacifier and the toy.

 As Paisley came up on her first birthday, I felt pressure from others to take her pacifier but neither of us were ready. Her pediatrician started talking about it around her 9 months well visit, my family started hinting at it, and I began to get nervous because I didn’t want it to affect her teeth. But the joke was on me because at a year-old Paisley still had NO TEETH!! Although she had been teething for MONTHS nothing had broken through.  So, I had to ask myself once again why take her comfort? She used her pacifier to gnaw on as she was trying to work those teeth through her gums so yes, I let her keep it.

 At her 12-month wellness visit her doctor reminded me that the pacifier needed to go but gave me some leniency since it wasn’t affecting the teeth that she didn’t yet have. Now yall I was super worried. My baby was over a year old and had not cut her first tooth. I’m trying to schedule dentist visits because I was nervous that maybe she missed a step of her development arriving 5 weeks early, but the doctors kept assuring me it was okay. Finally, at 15 months Paisley’s first tooth broke through the gums.

 Alright so now she has teeth and she’s still got the pacifier. *shrugs* I don’t know if it’s because I couldn’t bare hearing the screams “paciiiiiiiii” from her when she wanted it, or if I just wasn’t ready myself but I let her keep it. What I did do is I removed the pacifier during the day and she only got it at nap time and at bedtime. I also made sure this was reflected at daycare as well so that she would have consistency when it came to when she got her pacifier. Eventually at daycare they stopped giving it to her for nap time because she didn’t need it. She was occupied with so many other things by the time nap time came she would be too tired to argue about her pacifier especially when the lullabies started.

 At her 18 month check up which didn't happen until 21 months for work reasons I was directed to speak with her dentist about the paci and when it would begin affecting her teeth. Dentist confirmed at the age of two I should go ahead and get rid of paci. Fast forward to current day, Paisley is now 21 months, has 12 teeth and still uses a pacifier at night. I have attempted twice on two separate instances and succeeded at getting her to go to sleep without a pacifier. The first time she screamed for over an hour “paciiiiiii” while I sat in the living room at almost cried myself. The second time was just last night. She didn’t scream. She asked for it a couple of times then just gave in because she was tired. Around 2AM she woke up again asking for her pacifier and I just had to give her her cup for a little then she went back to sleep. Thank goodness. Guess we will see how this goes tonight

  So parent’s... below give me some tips on how you got rid of your child's pacifier. Or if you're working on it like myself check out the comments to see what advice other parents have based on their own personal experiences. Follow/Subscribe/Comment

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