I didn't register for many pacifiers. I found a couple cute ones and put those on my registry, but I figured people would buy me them on their own, picking out all the cute designs they found. This is how I previously thought of binkies...I went by which ones were cutest. I even have a couple Ohio State binkies, just to keep up the spirit. I knew that they made different types of pacifiers -- this one is better for 0-6 months, that one is better for orthodontics, this one is better to protect against SIDS, etc. I envisioned Rachel taking any binkie I gave her, so I didn't worry much about any of that.
I didn't know that babies have binkie preferences. Rachel wouldn't take a binkie at all in the beginning. I longed for the day I would be able to pop one in her mouth, because she was using me as a giant human pacifier, and it was beginning to get tedious. I began to feel like a walking boob. Hungry or not, she used me to pacify herself, and any time I tried to shove a binkie in her mouth, she made a disgusted face and spit it out. Why would she want that when she had the real thing right in front of her?
I lamented about this issue, and mothers all around me started to ask me, "Did you try a different brand? Sometimes babies like one brand better than another."
What? Hmmm. I never thought about that. I honestly assumed she would take a binkie like it was a nipple and that would be the end of it.
So I went to the store and bought a few different brands from those I already had. One after another, I attempted to pop them into her mouth, and one after another she spit them out in disgust. I even tried coating them in breast milk or gripe water (another concoction of which I was unaware), but she wasn't fooled. I must have 7 different brands of binkies.
I just accepted my daughter would not take a binkie. I took her to my sister's house for the first day of daycare, and wouldn't you know it...she took a binkie from her! It's like she needed to not have me around as an option in order to accept the binkie.
Excited, I started trying all the different binkies again!
She spit them all out. Except one.
She found the one binkie she likes, and you better believe I pop that thing
in her mouth whenever she starts fussing!! I had to learn by trial-and-error, and I feel like that is the perfect metaphor for my experience as a mother so far. I am basically clueless, try a bunch of different things, and when Rachel is ready, one of them works. The key part being "when Rachel is ready." She's in charge, and I am along for the ride.
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