Soothers

I still remember back to the first few weeks of Carson's life and being so weird about not wanting to give him a soother. I didn't listen to my Mom when he was screaming in the car on the way to London, I was stubborn and felt that giving a soother may interfere with breastfeeding. I was wrong about that. Babies know what boobs are and they want them no matter what. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if, at that moment in time when I was on the 401 and had no place to stop in traffic, to just give him a soother to help calm him. What a silly new Mom I was!

The problem for me is/was that there is way too many different opinions and too much information on the web. It can really cloud your own natural judgments sometimes. I just thought I was right and wanted to do it my way. I didn't want to give in. To what? Allowing my baby to comfort himself without having my nipple in his mouth? I don't regret giving him a soother now at all, I only regret worrying about it so much. 

Now, we only give them to him for sleeping and if we're out and he's fussy. He's not addicted to them, they just help to comfort him. For the longest time he enjoyed sucking on his own fingers even over having a soother in his mouth. I am glad he outgrew the finger sucking...

It took me a while to find a soother that would stay in his mouth. I originally used the GUM brand and he did like them, but the MAM soothers are the best so far.

Arlo (my dog) also loves soothers. He's chewed at least ten soothers. That's expensive!

The next thing now that Carson is 7 months will be when to stop giving it to him, or weaning him from it eventually. He doesn't absolutely need one to fall asleep, but it just helps to relax him. Many times he spits it out before he even falls asleep.

A soother has also helped to be a good sleep signal. He knows that it's associated with sleep rather than being breastfed to sleep. Giving a soother has helped in changing some of his poor sleeping habits (which were caused by me.. more on that to come).