Ironically, S would not take a paci as an infant. It was only after she began to get teeth and I stopped breastfeeding that she took to a paci. And, man, did she make up for lost time. When T was a baby there was one paci that he would take. It was one the hospital gave us and somehow we managed not to lose it for an entire year.
Before you are impressed with us for only using one paci for an entire year, I feel the need to confess that we did manage to leave it the car of our friends as we left for Germany. Since they dropped us off at the airport, it wasn't like we could run to the car and get it back. Somehow, we made it through the flight, although credit for that has to go to T, who was exceptionally good and didn't cry much, even though we didn't have his paci. At that point, we had only been giving it to him at nap or bedtime anyway. More often that not, it would drop out of his mouth immediately after he fell asleep. For some reason, he would rarely find it and put it back in himself, which is why I think it was easier to break him of the habit. Since everything was in upheaval with the move, it turned out to be no big deal that we didn't have his paci and by the time Felicia sent it to us, T was over it. Such an easy baby!
Back to S, she was about six months old before she would take one and when she took it, it became her best friend. She is exceptionally strong willed and was finding and replacing her paci herself from day one. Priorities, I guess. At her one year checkup, the doctor expressed concern that her front teeth were a little forward. I was already trying to wean her off the bottle, which she actually adapted to really easily. But she wasn't about to give up the paci. Fast forward to several months later, and it's time to get rid of the paci. S will have that thing in mouth all day and night if allowed. Luckily, we were able to get extras, because we lost a LOT of them.
R and I started to talk about when and how to remove the paci from existence, and it just never worked out like we expected. Then she got a cold in October, and had to breathe through her mouth. One night we couldn't find a paci, so she had to do without. From that point on, she didn't ask for it again. HUH! Who knew?!? So I have to give credit to R and S, because I don't know that left up to me, she'd be without one at this point. Another interesting thing to note is that her teeth have moved back somewhat already, which I did not expect. If only the teenage years will go this easily. (Yes, I know that's not going to happen, but I can dream!)
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