Pacifier - Saviour or Nightmare Part II

2 nights ago, we got Ryan to sleep on his own without having to be carried to sleep for the second time. Again with the help of a pacifier. He was his cranky self wanting to doze off. We put him on the bed, gave him his pacifier and his pillow and stayed with him. Within minutes, he was in la la land.

Last night, I had to take care of Ryan since wife will be in Singapore for the entire week. My youngest sister who stayed with us was a great help. And the pacifier again worked wonders. The babysitter told us that Ryan was extremely cranky the entire day. I was like "Oh No! Please! Not on the first night that I have to take care of him myself!'

Fearing the worst, I fetched him home. Close to 7pm, he wanted his milk. Prepared his milk and my sister helped to feed him. He was so tired while drinking. Once finished, he was about to go into his cranky sleepy mode which normally would take quite a while of carrying, patting, bouncing, walking and singing to get him to sleep. Last night, we have our secret weapon ready. We gave him the PACIFIER. He felt asleep soundly within minutes. That was even before 8pm.

He was sleeping in the living hall while we watched Amazing Race. He was supposed to have his next feed between 9:30pm to 10:00pm. So I carried him up at about 10pm, changed his diaper and was quite ready for him to wake up for his milk. He was so tired and slept soundly, that he did not make a single sound, slept through the entire process of diaper changing and continued sleeping after I put him on the bed. He only woke up at 4:30am this morning for his milk and happily went back to sleep after that.

I survived the first of the remaining 4 nights with lots of help from my youngest sister and the pacifier.

The Baby Pacifier - Saviour or Nightmare?

The baby pacifier, is it a saviour or is it going to be our nightmare later? Honestly, right now, I know that it is our saviour.

I was brought up with a pacifier and I was told by my mum that I was totally addicted to it and she has a hard time getting me off the pacifier. Therefore, from the very beginning, even before Ryan was born, we have made up our mind that we would not use a pacifier for Ryan. Well, so much for our well laid out plan.

We noticed that Ryan has an inclination lately to suck things, especially when he wants to doze off. He has been sucking his hands or his mittens or even my hand when I tried to put him to sleep. And he is totally restless and cranky if he can not suck anything. As I have posted in my previous posting, he has become increasing demanding and attached that even my babysitter is hinting that he is getting a little difficult to handle and suggested using the pacifier. We were still apprehensive because we were quite adamant that we would not want him to get addicted to the pacifier. However, after some consideration and consultation with our paediatrician, we have decided to give the pacifier a try last night. And it was a shocking revelation!!

Ryan was his usual cranky self last night, even when he was being carried. So, I took out the pacifier and put it into his mouth. He took it immediately and was sucking away. I let him enjoyed it for about 30 seconds and then slowly pulled it out, just to see his reaction. And what a reaction it was! He looked at me and gave me the sweetest smile! It is as if, he was saying `Thank you. What took you so long to realise that I needed that. Finally...' My wife and I were laughing so hard till we cried looking at his expression. I was rolling on the bed.

To continue our little experiment, we put him on the bed by himself and gave him his pacifier. He would normally be cranky within 15 seconds and be yelling within 30 seconds. Guess what? No indication of dissatisfaction. No yelling. Not even a whimper. He was happily sucking away and watching us. And it goes on a full 40 minutes before he dozed off on his own. It's a MIRACLE!! Hallelujah!

Well, our paediatrician advise us to get him off the pacifier when he turns one. Honestly, I have no idea how to do that or what nightmare we are going to go through then. So, if you have any advise for us, we would be glad to hear them out. Till then, the pacifier will continue to be our secret weapon!!!