Our Many Colored Moments: wherefore art thou, paci love?

Youuu, mama, shall suffer my wrath if you try to shove that in my mouth.

We discovered Grayson's love of the paci when he was two weeks old. We told our pedi at his regular doc appointment of our struggles with our fussy son. Nothing will placate him, we wailed. All he wants is boob! Our pedi (who is awesome) calmly put her hand into a glove and gave G her finger to suck on. He instantly calmed. It was amazing - the heavens opened up and angels sung; that's how amazing it was. She assured us that since he had such a strong suck - "whoa" was kind of her first response - we shouldn't worry about nipple confusion.

We got him a paci that day and didn't look back. Finally, our little baby seemed much happier. And my nips were happier too. We could rock him for naps, just pop that paci in and he'd fall asleep on our chests. This all worked fantastically until he was about three and a half months old, when he just up and decided one day that he was DONE.

I mean, absolutely DONE. He spit out that paci and has refused it ever since. For the last three weeks.

Oh, and about that same time he rediscovered his love of the boob. I mean, he'd loved it before. He's the kind of baby who, once I lay him down on the Boppy, grabs my shirt and yanks himself into my boob before I can even get my shirt down. But now the boob is about all that will calm him down sometimes.

At first we thought that he was having a growth spurt and just wanted to nurse more often. But then a week turned into two weeks turned into three... a three week growth spurt? This seems unlikely. Then we thought it might be teething, but the pedi said there weren't any signs on his gums, so that's a no-go. I really think he's just realized the boob is way better than a cold, rubbery pacifier, and he knows that he can get it eventually. Of course, this has caused all sorts of problems, namely it makes it difficult for the hubby to get him to nap. It also means that when G wakes up early from a nap, he immediately starts rooting for a nipple to get back to sleep. I think eventually we might have to do a bit of sleep training just 1) other people can get him to nap, and 2) my nips don't get so sore from constantly placating a babe. Plus, he already has spit-up problems and the extra feeding isn't helping.

I decided yesterday to pull out the three kinds of pacifiers we own to see if he'd accept any. Pretty much, he haaates them. He spits them out like crazy and makes the most awful of faces. They even make him gag. I have no idea what's up with that.

First, we tried the nuk. Haha, mama, you're funny if you think I'm gonna keep that in my mouth.

What is THAT? That tastes yucky! Why are you holding in my mouth even though I'm trying to push it out with my tongue? Take it out take it out.

Gaaag. That was gross!

So then we tried this platex paci, which he used to sometimes enjoy. That wasn't any better.

I don't like this any better, mum. P-tew!

Wait, what are you getting now? Not the dreaded soothie paci? Not the paci I used to loooove and nommed on all the time? Why do you think I'd want something I use to cherish, woman?