Mama Diaries

Friday, October 30, 2015

The Problem with Pacifiers

When my kids were babies, they never liked pacifiers. This wasn't a huge problem, because I never had to deal with weaning them from the pacifier habit. I never understood, though, why they disliked them so much.

Fifteen years later, I have my answer.

My teenaged daughter is going out trick-or-treating as a baby. She has a flannel onesie and a pacifier that she will wear on a ribbon around her neck. The other day, while I was helping her with her homework, she put the pacifier in her mouth and quickly spit it out. Obviously, she still had a strong distaste for it.

"You don't like pacifiers?" I asked.

She shook her head and made a face. "They're disgusting. They're soft and rubbery, and they taste like chemicals."

Mystery solved. My big baby used her words to inform us that pacifiers have a terrible texture and taste bad. Makes me wonder why most babies like them so much.     

32 comments:

  1. Well, it was a good thing she thought they were disgusting. Who wants to suck on chemical rubber?

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  2. My kids never really liked them either!

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  3. it still beats sucking on your thumb

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  4. I bet they would have a chemical taste to them. I can see why babies want to chew on something--like teething rings--but pacifiers are kinda icky. What's worse is when one drops on the floor and the parent sticks it in his/her mouth and gives it back to the baby. So many germs!

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  5. Hey, if they like them and they work--better than toddlers who try to pull Mom's top off--LOL! ;)

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  6. That is interesting... Neither one of my girls liked pacifiers either... they were both smart too xox

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    1. I wonder if there' s something to being smart and not liking pacifiers.

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  7. My son always spit out his pacifier. He still does (ha!). I never bothered to give a pacifier to my daughter.

    Love,
    Janie

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  8. No sense in ingesting chemical rubber, smart they were

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  9. Hi, dear Sherry! I have many pictures of myself as a baby but not a single one in which I am sucking on a pacifier. When I was in my 30s, 40s and 50s - yes - but not when I was a baby. :)

    Seems to me they'd be making pacifiers in a variety of fruit flavors by now like every other product on the market - Q-tips, bowling balls... :)

    Happy Halloween, dear friend Sherry!

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    1. Maybe that would make it a little harder to get some kids to kick the pacifier habit.

      Hope you had a great Halloween!

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  10. I have no idea if I ever liked pacifiers as a baby, but they sound disgusting, for sure!

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  11. I don't think I ever liked them either!

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  12. Interesting that she still hates them. My niece and nephews loved theirs.

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  13. I can understand not liking the chemical taste. I know lots of kids love theirs. Glad you solved the mystery after so many years. :)
    ~Jess

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  14. Now that you mention, I've never tried sucking on one. Hahaha! Happy Halloween, babe! xoxo

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  15. I can't recall using pacifiers. I don't like the idea of chewing on rubber or plastic.

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  16. I used to baby sit for three children, the eldest of whom still had a dummy aged 5. His parents tried everything to get him and his brothers (then 4 and 2 1/2) off them with no success until one Christmas they told them they were collecting the dummies for orphaned reindeer. Result.

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