Thumbs and Pacifiers

Ladies and gentleman, she found her thumb. Well, she has always known where it was, but could never get her hand turned the right way and would suck her thumb in random ways. Ever since day one, she has always liked sucking on her fingers. While we were still in the hospital, the first night was pretty rough as far as her waking up. She would wake up every 10-15 minutes. If I had known that breastfed babies should not have a pacifier for at least the first three weeks, I would not have given her one and just shown her where her fingers were since it came so naturally to her. I did not know and we ended up giving in to the cries and gave her the pacifier. Now, she is addicted to the pacifier! I have been reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and I love the book. It has been so helpful. I am now reading the sweet dreams chapter and it states that one should try weaning baby from the pacifier because otherwise, it can pop out of their mouths at any time of the night. So, we are in the midst of that. Other than that, so long as she can keep that in her mouth, she has been sleeping from 11pm - 5am?! I have been thrilled to get 6 hours of straight sleep for the past couple of nights. If anyone has any suggestions on weaning a 7 week old off the pacifier, please share! Since she found the way to really suck her thumb and although this is not a great alternative, it is attached to her body and she should be able to get to it at night. Her pacifier is truly like her best friend and I hate to take that from her, but since I have to go back to work in 5 weeks, we have to find a way for her to start learning to soothe herself. Look how sweet this picture is!!


And just to be fair, I will introduce you to her best friend, the pacifier!