Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Last Count...

At last count there were 10, yes I did mean to put a zero after the one, binkies in Jack's bed. He's not holding onto all of them mind you, he's got 4 in each hand (really he does) and one in his mouth. The last one is just in the bed somewhere. I just smile and shake my head. He will go to bed with less than 10 but that's how many just happen to be there right now.
It's kind of funny because it sure makes it sound like he's super attached but he doesn't use the binky during the day (unless he's sick). He is only allowed to go to bed with it. In my research I've found that binky use only has an effect on the development of teeth when it's used after age 4. When he turned one he slowed way down on using it and mostly would just play with it rather than suck on it. That's when we decided that we'd only have him use it at bedtime. I don't have a problem with kids having pacifiers during the day but I didn't want to try to figure out what he was saying behind the binky when it really wasn't something he had to have for comfort during daytime hours. Incidentally, he's going to be going into daycare soon and I'm going to have to find out what their policy is regarding pacifiers and naptime. I know that when I worked in a daycare 10+ years ago the toddler room teacher had a no binky policy (her son didn't ever use one so no child needed one) and the minute a child walked into that room from the infant room the binky was taken away. I did not agree with that policy at all. That is a huge transition for a child and that is when they need their comfort more than ever. And I don't buy the reasoning that other kids might get a hold of it and put it in their mouths either because toddlers that young put EVERYTHING in their mouths so they're going to pick up cooties from everything in the room not just the pacifier.
I remember a time that we had a little girl come in and she was about 18 months old. Her father was extremely abusive and her mom (who was probably 22) was in hiding with the kids and had a protection order against the father. This was the first time that little girl had ever been away from her mom and her baby brother (who was in a different room) and the toddler room teacher still insisted on taking away her pacifier. I sat on the floor and held her as much as I could to help comfort her and I would have given her the pacifier but I was only an aide and had no say. Poor thing. She's probably 12 now, I hope she's doing well. I can't even remember her name-not that I would mention it on here.
Anyway, that's that. I think I'll go take a nap. We walked around the lake today and I ended up carrying Jack most of the way which is only a mile but he's heavy.

3 comments:

Michelle said...

That poor little girl, she was lucky to have you to hold her :)
I agree with what you've mentioned here.
Funny, when "A" was a baby, she never stopped crying for 7 months...colic and a twisted bowel. We tried her with one but she just kept spitting it out! So it turned out she never ever had one....she much preferred soft toys :)

Cassie said...

Awww poor baby. That sounds awful. Poor Michelle! Jack liked the binky but kept losing it. We had to train him to use it and I was all for doing that. I was sooooo sick. I remember laying in bed with my arm over the side of his cradle, gently holding the binky in his mouth.

Steve said...

Jack's eldest cousin was a big fan of the paci, but the other two would have none of it. Both like their thumbs, much to my chagrin.