Pacifier Patrol

I already have quite the wish list of baby inventions, but the item that tops the list is a pacifier holder.  Yesterday Vivi had one of those sleepy days where all she wanted to do was nap.  This would have been the perfect day for me to actually tackle (or at least attempt to tackle) the massive 'to do' list that haunts my fridge.  There was just one thing standing in my way-the pacifier.

This used to not be the case.  Up to just a few weeks ago she would only suck on our fingers.  This trick was shown to her dad and I at her first orthopedic appointment when they were setting her arm in the splint and she wouldn't stop screaming.  This was a great trick and worked really well, however, she became used to just sucking on our fingers and refused to take a pacifier.  So that meant that whenever she started crying we would have to sprint to the sink to wash our hands and then would be stuck holding her 24/7. Don't get me wrong, I love holding my daughter, but during her nap times I wanted to be getting things done but as soon as I would pull my finger out she would wake up and start crying. The "okay we need to get her to take a pacifier" moment came after I woke up with her in the middle of the night and realized that for the past 5 hours my finger had been in her mouth.  I pulled it out and my poor little pinkie was shriveled and gasping for breath.  So we cut her off cold turkey from the finger. 

It was a rough hour.  She went through withdrawal and got pretty angry at us.  We kept reassuring her that it was for her own good and that we were helping her, not hurting her.  She said some pretty mean things, but we knew that it was the finger addiction talking, not her. Eventually she fell asleep and grudgingly took the pacifier.  And that was that.  She will at times grab onto your finger and try to pull it in, but we have always managed to overpower her and prevent a relapse.


Now that we are all caught up on Vivi's history with the pacifier, let me continue.  So yesterday would have been an ideal day to get things done but instead I spent it running back and forth to the room to pop back in the plug, I mean pacifier. I was on constant Pacifier Patrol.  Great for getting some exercise in, but I have never been a fan of sprinting.  She will sometimes find her thumb or suck on her fingers but never gets the full satisfaction that she is looking for and will wake up very frustrated. Or she will try to hold it in herself but that never works for long.  I have tried placing her winnie the pooh bear/blanket so that the nose of the bear holds the pacifier in but she usually flings it away within minutes.  So this is when I pull out my baby wish list and add "pacifier holder" right on top.  I know that it wouldn't work to have a string holding it in because that could become a hazard, but what about something that hooks around the ears?  Like a pair of glasses but going up from the mouth instead of the eyes...I'm not saying that I have the answer, but I do know that if I had money I would invest in some research and development of such a product.  Until that happens I will just continue to work on my sprinting.