Gently Down

I don’t have a problem with the pacifier parents. We were for a little while, until I realized we were “plugging” Ben whenever he made any noise, but I don’t think all parents who use pacifiers do that. I’m a bit put off by the anti-thumb parents. Especially when they’re talking to me and telling me that they would NEVER let their six-old-baby suck her thumb, “because I can take away a pacifier.” With Ben on my back. With his two fingers in his mouth.

And I know, he constantly has his fingers in his mouth, but if I tell him to remove them he does. But it’s comforting to him. And what else do babies have for comfort at this point? It just seems a little cruel not to let them put their fingers in their mouths.

Anyway, I just had one of these encounters, and I couldn’t help but feel a little offended with her staring at Ben as she complained about kids sucking their thumbs. And I wanted to ask her what the problem is with it? It’s more likely he’ll stop by the time he’s in preschool, the germs he picks up may boost him immune system, I never had to get up in the middle of the night to reinsert a pacifier, and I’m not the one jamming it in to get him to shush. All I see is positives. But I’d love to hear from someone with a different point of view. What are the positives to a pacifier? Why would you be against thumb-sucking? And, if you have older kids, have you ever thought about it one way or the other after the habit stopped? It just seems like one of those things that wouldn’t matter at all in the end.