A glow-in-the-dark passie? You’ve got to be kidding.
Let me be clear. I hate the look of a pacifier in a child’s mouth – hated it when my kids were little, hate it now that their kids are little. I like seeing that little mouth and hate having it hidden. I also like the convenience of a thumb. Pop it in, take it out and smile without worry of dropping it on the supermarket floor.
That said, I saw the bright side of passie use during our last visit with our nine-month-old granddaughter. We were having a birthday dinner, nine of us eating after the baby was asleep, and, naturally, there were bursts of noise. During one, the baby woke up and began to cry.
Enter into the picture (literally) a video monitor. Now, monitors are another thing about which I have mixed feelings; if the baby needs me enough, I’ll hear her cry without a monitor, and if she’s silent, can I really assume she’s okay? The video monitor does solve the latter problem, since you can zoom in and see that little chest going healthily up and down.
The truth, though? For a grandparent, a video monitor is the best entertainment around. You’re literally a fly in the wall, watching the child as she wakes up, looks around, sits up, or cries.
We had a special show during that birthday dinner. There she was, standing in the dark at the end of the crib with her eyes on the door, crying for someone to come in. Her mom and dad knew from experience that she would eventually sit, then lie down and fall asleep again. They also had a secret weapon. There were four glow-in-the-dark passies, one in each corner of the crib. The baby knew that, and as we watched, went crawling for one. She put it in her mouth and sat silently for a time, then stretched out and went to sleep.
Self-soothing is a wonderous thing – and so important for a child to learn. Granted, this child is mobile enough in her crib so that she can search for hidden goodies. Still, it was the sweetest thing watching her put it in her mouth first upside down, then – bingo – perfect.
Loooove that passie!
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Love this post! I had a love/hate relationship with the “sookie” when my children were babies. I always said (before having children) that I would not use a pacifier……..it would be better for them and us when they learned to sooth themselves. My first child had a little stuffed animal that she carried everywhere and could/would not go to sleep unless it was clutched in her little hands. So, when my second child came along, I wondered how a soother was that much different than a favorite stuffed toy. My oldest child was 3 years old and carrying around that ragged stuffed animal and my second child had his “sookie” that stayed in the crib and was used for sleeping. I think I might have been further ahead with the pacifier!
My 20-month year old granddaughter uses pacifiers in bed only, or when she first gets up. I need some glow-in-the-dark ones to give her – how cool! She surrounds herself with 3 or 4. She’s in a toddler bed now since she climbed out of her crib and landed on her sister’s head about a month ago. I am really entertained by the video monitor too. I love watching both grandchildren in their room, whether sleeping or playing. Wish we had a video monitor when our daughter was little! The older one, now five, used to wake up with about 5 pacifiers in her sleeper, 2 found between her big and second toes. That was too funny!
I looooooooved the passie when my son was little. I was reading this and two things jumped to the front of my memory. We purchased a LOT of passies! It always seemed like the vanished into thin air. So when it came time to break my son of the habit, it was no surprise that he had a stash somewhere… a very large stash! Every day for almost two weeks that child would drop his “binkie” into the trash bag and say, “bye-bye” and I would cart it out the can. He finally ran out of them! Then my mother came for a visit. At the end of ten days we took her to the air port and my son noticed a baby sucking on his “binkie” across from us.. He wanted “DOWN NOW!”. At first the other child’s parents and us marveled at the two boys touching each others heads and pointing at their shoes etc. and all of the sudden my son reached up and yanked that child’s “binkie” out of his mouth and shoved it into his before any of us could grab it. LOL We were horrified but the other couple had an older child and the woman said, “You must have just broke his habit!” and took her child’s “binkie” back, handed it to her husband to go wash and reached into her diaper bag for her fresh stash! Ahh, memories! I certainly could have used glow in the dark binkies many a night! I’d give anything to have my son that little again.
aaah, I think that’s a brilliant idea!! I always wanted my daughter’s dummies (yeah we call ’em dummies over here!!) to have a ‘finder’ button, like the phone hand set. I press a remote button and the dummy beeps, letting me know where it is!! 🙂