to pacify...or not

In the first week of Rohan's life he would sometimes look to feed every hour. While we know he was adjusting to life outside the womb, it became a physical challenge for mom to keep him fed. So we talked to his pediatrician who recommended a pacifier. As part of his adjustment to life on the outside, the "suckling" was more of a coping mechanism than anything else. So rather than let him use mom as a pacifier, we gave him a plastic one.

But which one to give him. Actually we received a great one from the hospital -- but left it there as not to tempt us in the future. Both L and I beleived a pacifier to be little more than a crutch that could take weeks or months to wean Rohan off of. Scared that we might end up with Maggie (a la the Simpson's), we elected to leave the free pacifier behind. But when given the green light by the pediatrician, we went and sought out the one they gave us. Why this pacifier ? It's made of more secure material and less likely to encourage feeding problems in the future. The Soothie, is available at Babies R Us.

Anyways...we sort of overdid it that first weekend and Rohan started acting all weird while feeding. So back in the closet the Pacifier went. Till lately....

As Seshu mentioned in his comment, what worked one day might not work the next. As such, when i've been trying to soothe Rohan to sleep of late, most of my tricks ceased working and i reluctantly reached back into the closet for the pacifier. And it has worked great....without the feeding problems of the past.

Thus far the trick has been to take it out of his mouth within 10 min or so...just a min or two after he's crashed out. With luck this phase won't last too long....