A new secret weapon

Just like my discovery of the secret weapon for helping Nathan settle down for his naps, I finally discovered my new secret weapon for baby #2 which turns out to be this old classic:
 

 

One of the biggest challenges I had in the early weeks with Grace was getting her to settle down for naps and bedtime. She needed a lot of help by rocking, patting, carrying and all. But the top absolutely full-proof method was simply: nursing.

 

I resorted to it as at that time everything was all mixed up with cluster feeds, growth spurts and wonder weeks. However eventually the habit got to the point that I often had to sleep next to her literally the whole night just so that she could sleep.

 

She is still too young to know how to find her own fingers and thumb to soothe herself, so we tried the pacififer on her several times. She struggled to accept it at first and really fought against it. It must have tasted so wrong compared to mummy. But then one day, like magic, she just decided that the pacifier was not so bad after all.

 

Yes, that's right. It turns out, Grace is a pacifier-baby (completely different from my first thumb-sucking baby). There are obvious downsides to the pacifier (as all parents of pacifier-babies can tell you)... the most annoying one is having to run in to put it back into baby's mouth whenever it falls out (if baby is not fully asleep yet).

 

But apart from those little downsides, it has been a tremendous sanity and sleep saver for me. Thank you to the inventor of the pacifier!