Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Great Pacifier Experiment

Well, I broke down and gave Miss M a dose of what we thought would be sweet plastic and silicone relief. It was a huge bust. As soon as I popped the pacifier in, she played with it with her tongue for a few seconds, and then spit it out with enough force that it actually launched through the air. I tried it repeatedly, to no avail. She actually seemed to enjoy the game of having me put it in her mouth, playing with it for a bit, and then spitting it out. She never sucked it, however.

I am slowly coming around to the idea, I guess--thank you to those who commented about paci use. These were the Ave.nt Orthodon.tic pacifiers, so I will probably try another brand or two just to see if it's the shape she doesn't care for before I give up entirely. I'm also going to have T. offer it to her to see if that makes a difference (and to prove to him that yes, I really did try it, and no, she really isn't into it).

I really hadn't seriously considered the possibility that she wouldn't take the pacifier, and now I'm left wondering how well the introduction of the bottle is going to go. I bought the breast pump a week or so ago, but haven't broken it out yet. I guess I'd better get going on that, because she isn't going to have a choice about eating from a bottle once I go back to work. Which is less than six weeks away. . .I'm now more than halfway through my maternity leave. It's going so fast!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you want to introduce the paci, keep trying. A completely breastfed baby will often not know what to do with it the first time! Some children will be several months old (as late as seven months) when they start liking the pacifier - often only AFTER they got used to the bottle, the sucking mode from breast is very different, pacifier and bottle are similar.

just me, dawn said...

we introduced the paci already as we needed to sooth her while in the isolette for the jaundice treatment, and I tried the advent she HATED it....then we tried the hospital version of a paci, green and not so cute.....but she loved it. so we have a new tool. Trying to not give it all the time so she can sooth without, but it has come in handy. I say keep trying and buy lots of different ones.

Luke Richard said...

Both my kids REFUSED a paci until about 10 weeks. you have to keep trying if you want her to take it. Landon gagged and was SO dramamtic about it but eventually, he took it. and he likes it now. He did not take a bottle until my 1st day back at work. I think my DH said "its do or die now buddy" :) good luck!

Heather said...

Our daughter never liked pacis either. I think the introduction of a bottle might be easier, since it will have milk come out of it as a reward. When you introduce a bottle, you might want to have someone else do it and not be in the room. Babies seem to know when Mommy is in the room and have what they really want. My DH introduced the bottle for us. I never really gave her one before. With our twins, that was the first time I ever bottle fed a baby!