Pacifier Anyone?

A pacifier (American English), dummy (United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries and Ireland), binky or soother (Canadian English), and teether (Philippine English) is a rubber, plastic, or silicone nipple given to an infant to suck upon. 

I remember when my kids were born there was always this controversy about whether to, or how long to, give your baby a pacifier. We as new parents, over 32 years ago, decided to use the pacifier. For our first baby we took it away at 9 months, and our daughter never missed a beat. She was never one of those babies that really craved the pacifier, but she was a blanket chewer instead. Not sure if that was better or worse, but it would have been easier to bring with us a pacifier, than a blanket.

Our second baby used a Playtex nurser pacifier over 30 years ago when they were huge and resembled the baby bottle nipples by Playtex. The pacifier was made of all rubber and had a large flat piece with a big hoop handle. As an infant he would get his hand into the ring and fling the pacifier across the room. We took the handle off and he would then get his tiny hands behind the large flat back and still fling it, but just not as far. This son was not that attached to the pacifier either, but would chew on the ears of a stuffed sock dog he called Doug. He was done with the pacifier at about 18 months.

These were the original Playtex bottle nipples. Sorry, this picture looks a little racy, lol.

This is what a Playtex pacifier looks like after 30 years, dark and crusty. I have no idea why I still have it. HOARDERS!

Our older two kids were too young to really give the pacifier a name, and most of the time we just called it a plug. Then there was our youngest son, the pacifier lover. This boy loved, loved, loved the pacifier. He called them a pippy, and he had at least 5 in all different colors. He even had one in pink thanks to his Grandpa. My parents were babysitting our kids and they could not locate his pippy, so my colorblind Dad went to the store and came home with a pink pacifier. That boy did not care about the color as long as it worked, lol.

This is the pacifier we found behind my younger son's dresser 20 years ago. Once again I have no idea why I still have this.

Our youngest had the pacifier for much longer than we thought he should, but it was so soothing to him, and by the time he was two he had to keep them in his bed, and they were not allowed out of the bed. If he was upset, or just needed a pippy fix, he would go up to his room, sit on his bed to suck on a pacifier, and you could see his eyes roll back into his head. As the weeks and months went on the number of pacifiers would dwindle and he would sneak them out of his bed and lose them. When he just turned three he was down to one yellow pacifier. One night he went to bed and the pacifier was not there. I asked him if he took it out of his bed, and of course he said no. He had to go to sleep without the pacifier for the first time, and he was not happy about it. Several weeks later I was talking to my neighbor and she asked if our son was missing a yellow pacifier. I said yes, and she said she found it on her front porch and thew it away. There was no turning back. A few years later we were moving to a new house and when we were moving his dresser there we found a pacifier behind the dresser. That boys eyes lit up and he looked like he found the worlds greatest treasure. If I would have let him I am sure he would have plopped that pacifier right in his mouth. I look at him and said, "Don't you even think about it!"

This is my grandson's pacifier. It was clear but glowed in the dark so he could find it at night in his bed.

My Grandson was also a pacifier user. He called his pacifiers pippy, binky and paci. He had reflux as a newborn and the pacifier was very helpful to him. He also loved the pacifier and after about 18 months he was only allowed to have it at nap time and a bedtime. I think my daughter thought it was going to be a lot harder to get him off the pacifier than it was, but he did finally get rid of it before three and I have seen him have the same look as my son had when he sees one of his old pacifiers.

This is my granddaughter's Blanket and pacifier just waiting for her to visit Meemaw and Papa.

Last we have my granddaughter! This little girl is totally addicted to the pacifier. She was a preemie and the pacifier was a great comfort to her when she was in the NICU for over 6 weeks. She has the funniest name for the pacifier. It started out as a paci and binky and the last several months she calls it bubbles, which she pronounces "bubbows". I would put her in my car and  she would start saying bubbows, and I had no idea what she was talking about. So, I asked my daughter and she told me the story of why the pacifier is now called bubbles. There was a pacifier on her kitchen counter next to a bottle of bubbles. My granddaughter would reach for the the pacifier and they thought she wanted the bubbles, so they kept telling her, "No you can't have the bubbles." This was about the time she was really starting to talk and so she just started calling it bubbles. How cute is that?

This is our sweet "Pickle", my name for her, when she was still in the NICU. You can see she still had the feeding tube in her nose and the pacifier was as big as her face.

This little 22 month old loves her bubbles. She wants it in the car, for naps, bedtime and anytime in between. She is only allowed to have them in bed, but she will try to get them all the time. The girl loves her blanket and her bubbles. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of "Pickle" with her two favorite things, her blanket and pacifier.

On Easter this sweet girl and her family came to Meemaw and Papa's house for Easter dinner. My granddaughter is just getting into playing with baby dolls. She had a small cloth doll we got her for her first Christmas, and I told her Meemaw will make her baby a Duplo bed. So, I made her the bed and she put her baby in the Lego bed. Then she looks at me and said, "Blankie!" So, we took the throw blanket off of the couch and covered the baby. I said "Night, night baby." She started patting the baby and then she looked up at me with the sweetest face and said, "BUBBOWS!" I was trying not to laugh and was not sure how I was going to get this baby a pacifier. Then I looked in the Lego basket and saw a construction cone and ta da, Bubbles! She was so excited! 

Meemaw's masterpiece the Duplo baby bed. I made the bed a headboard with cabinets for her bedtime books. My grandson decided that he would use a scoop from a bulldozer to make a bed light for her to see her books in the dark. Genius!

Pickle's baby in her new bed with her blankie and bubbows!

Guess what Meemaw is going to get my sweet granddaughter for her 2nd Birthday next week? That's right, a baby doll with a blankie and bubbows!