Every once in a while, I’ll decide that I’m going to rock Olivia asleep, like I did Ava for the first year (okay, the first two years) of her life.
Olivia will have none of it. She wants to be put down awake, with only her pacifier and tiny blanket. She rolls over, snuggles up and goes to sleep almost immediately.
Gramma, though, has the touch.
Smith Family Weblog 
Posted by Double L on June 18, 2008 at 9:07 am
Maybe I am forgetting Ava’s infancy, but I thought you specifically minimized pacifier use. (I seem to remember you sarcastically shouting, “Plug up that crying baby!” before rocking Ava to sleep.) Did something change in the parenting philosophy, or have I just seen pictures of the few times that she’s been “plugged up”.
Posted by smithfamilyweblog on June 18, 2008 at 9:16 am
Ava was never too interested in a pacifier. Olivia, on the other hand, would keep it in all day if you’d let her.
Part of the shift came from an AAP recommendation—giving an infant a pacifier while they sleep is supposed to minimize the risk of SIDS. We’re past that point, though, and I didn’t realize how much she was using it until I looked at the photos from the weekend.
I told Bryan yesterday, in fact, that at this rate, we’ll be struggling to take it away from her when she’s three. I just know it! Still, though, it’s great that she can soothe herself to sleep, something that Ava still hasn’t mastered.
If I thought a pacifier would help Ava now, I wouldn’t be above that. 😉