Aubrey Anne Finn

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Catnip and Pacifiers

Over the past 7+ weeks Keena and I have been going back and forth about the whole pacifier issue. On one hand we don’t want Aubrey to become dependant on it for comfort or to fall asleep. On the other hand this little girl is completely orally fixated and just seems to need something in her mouth during her fussy times. Then we go back to the fact that we don’t want to create a bad habit that we’re just going to have to break. But then again, when we don’t give her the pacifier she just stuffs her entire hand into her mouth and gags herself.

So it goes without saying that when I saw on the Today show Monday that the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends parents use pacifiers at nap time and before bedtime, I fired up the Tivo and frantically called Keena over. There would be no more questioning of our parental aptitude. For the first time in our short parenting careers, we had a definitive answer. And that felt oh so nice…

Honestly I used to hate these things. They look so stupid hanging out of babies mouths and they definitely rank low in the sanitation category. So up till now as reluctant as I was to use one at home, using one in public was completely out of the question. But with the new recommendation I am finally fully confident and comfortable with shouting to the world “yes my daughter sucks a passy and yours should too! It’s recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics don’t you know…”

Now that I have come to terms with and can talk openly about this little piece of rubber bliss, I feel as though this enormous weight has been lifted. I mean these things are amazing. Honestly I’m not a cat person, so I really don’t have much experience with catnip, but from what I’ve heard about the stuff this is the closest parallel I can draw. Well actually, it may be more like baby crack but that could potentially paint the wrong picture… The point is that she goes nuts for the pacifier. Headshaking, eyes watering, limbs flailing, tongue thrashing, vocal chords wailing – you get the idea. Then pop in the passy and that’s it. It’s her fix.

I may not have been a father for long, but I’ve seen enough to know that parenting isn’t all black and white. Parents torture themselves over the tiniest decisions and hope to God that in the end they call the right play. It’s not easy and it’s not my style. Traditionally I’m a pretty decisive individual. But I’m finding she’s changing me almost as often as I change her ;-)

posted by Kevin at 12:56 AM | email this post | 1 comment