As the New Year starts, I see lots of moms setting great goals. Goals to exercise, goals to eat better, goals to love more, and goals to hug their little ones more. I’ve pondered on my own, and the biggest one that sticks out to me is, not being so closed-minded. Let me rewind a bit.
I felt like I had tried everything with my teething son. He would wake up every thirty minutes screaming. After my husband took the first shift, from 12am-4am, I then took the 4am – 8am shift. We tried Tylenol, ibuprofen, chewable teething tablets; you name it. I felt like I was losing my mind with the lack of sleep we had been getting. Not to mention, my mom heart was in sheer pain hearing him scream all night long while I tried to cuddle him, feeling helpless that there was nothing more I could do.
I remember my mind racing, and the thought came to me, “try one of the wubba nub pacifiers.” I can’t believe I just said that. My husband and I agreed that we would NEVER try one of those. Only for the sole purpose that we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of weaning a child from a pacifier.
I broke my own rule. Without telling my husband.
The next morning, I ran to Target, and found a “Dr. Browns” brand, which I thought, would be perfect for my son, as he uses Dr. Brown’s bottles. It was cute. It had a little fox, and I was hopeful he would love it.
I bought the pacifier, strapped my son in his car seat, opened the package and he took it instantly! I don’t know if he loved having a little pal sit on his chest, or if the nipple was identical to his bottle, but he liked it!
I was anxiously waiting the night time. Hoping we would be able to just stick the dang pacifier in his mouth and it would help his screaming. Luckily, he loved it, and it worked. I thought it was so cute; he instantly put his hand on the fox, almost like he missed him. He missed his little fox pal.
Now fast forward a couple months. Does he have the pacifier in his mouth 24/7? No. Does he sleep with it most nights? No. But, when he is having a hard day, a hard nap, and hard night sleeping, I gently push that little fox pacifier into his mouth, and it soothes him right to sleep.
Now, what if I remained so closed minded to that pacifier? What if I remain closed minded to a lot of things?
My goal to the New Year is just to try new things! Thanks to that $9.99 pacifier, my husband and I have gotten a couple more hours of sleep than normal, and to us, you can’t put a price on that. Instead of saying, “no” right away, I want to just try it! And if it doesn’t work, then at least I can say I’ve tried. I hope all you parents out there are able to achieve your new year’s resolutions. I know if we take it one day at a time, 2019 will be a great year to remember.