Yesterday Matt convinced Anastasia to use a pacifier. He'd been saying for weeks that she needed one. "She just wants to suck on something," he kept saying, as she fussed and cried and I kept trying to nurse her. "She needs a pacifier."
Reluctantly, I bought a couple of Soothies last week, but I was secretly delighted when she absolutely refused them. However, on Friday I decided to get a couple of Nuks just in case. I was worrying about our upcoming car trip (to Virginia, on Memorial Day weekend); weighing my hatred of pacifiers against my dread of her crying, I decided the pacifier was worth another try. But I was still disappointed when she experimentally mouthed the Nuk for a few minutes and then settled down happily to suck on it.
I expected that Matt would be proud; it was his idea, after all. Instead, he cried.
I looked at him in amazement as he wiped his eyes. "Are you crying?"
"I feel like I'm corrupting her," he admitted, half laughing as he wiped another tear off his cheek. "She used to be so sweet and innocent. Now she's a woman of the world."
I looked at our little girl, staring at us wide-eyed with a pink pacifier attached to her mouth, and I felt myself getting a little choked up too. "But she's happy," I said, trying to convince both of us.
I think we were both relieved when she spit the pacifier out and cooed at us reassuringly. "Don't worry," she seemed to be saying. "I'm not addicted. I can quit anytime I want."
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Lisa and Matt,
Just so you know, Nuk was the pacifier of choice when Lisa and Rachel were babies and we used them too. We also used Nuk nipples for any necessary supplemental liquids when the babies were very small. Neither girl ever sucked her thumb or got addicted to anything (except fantasy and fun). I think breastfeeding is so perfect for a baby that nothing really compares in pleasure to it, so there is no danger of getting addicted to a substitute.
Regarding the trip - Lisa has already noticed that it is most likely the intown driving that drives Anastasia to cry and that highway driving is soothing to a young baby like her. We found that to be the case as well. She might not be as tolerant of the jerking motion of a train. Of course you will have to stop more often (to nurse or pee) than if you were just two adults, but it's a small price to pay to see the fam.
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