First Binky

6 weeks and 2 days old and she finally has a binky.

I've never waited until 6 weeks to introduce a pacifier before. My first daughter didn't really take one until she was in daycare and my second never liked them at all; she'd scream every time we put on in her mouth.

It became fairly apparent early on that Dash loves to suck but because of her lip and tongue ties, I wanted to make sure she knew how to suck properly for nursing before introducing a pacifier and I'm so glad I waited! I can now tell simply by her sucking pattern whether she is tired or hungry, something I may not have been able to tell had I given her a binky early on.

She loves her new toy and sucks on it hard when we give it to her. When she needs to burp, her suck pattern reverts to the "pre-lazor" pattern that bloodied me so badly. This is easy to identify now!

I read a book about newborns back when DD2 was a newborn. Although I can't remember the title or author, the book mentioned that in parts of Europe, a pacifier is known as a "dummy" and the name is fitting because it is a device parents use to hush their child without any efforts at figuring out why their child is crying in the first place. It turns the parents into dummies, but also limits the baby's ability to communicate as well.

Dash won't use a binky for long, a few months at most, because I don't want it to become a tool that desensitizes me to the specific needs of my little girl. In the meantime, it may allow me a little more time in the evenings to get my older children to bed and for my husband to have a little time when I'm tutoring, rather than constantly soothing her with a bottle.