Pacifier

All the nursery nurses and lactation consultants we saw at the hospital all had their own little twists on breastfeeding and how to teach it. One thing they pretty much all had in common, though, was the opinion that you should avoid using bottles and pacifiers for the first several weeks if you can because of the fear of nipple confusion. Instead they say you should let the baby suck on one of your fingers, preferably the middle one, I guess because they (fingers) are a lot bigger than bottle nipples and you can put them in farther to better simulate how much nipple the baby is sucking on when breastfeeding.

Now, you can argue whether nipple confusion is real or not (some doctors don't buy it, apparently), but the couple of times we've tried giving Evan artificial nipples, either pacifiers or bottles, the reception has been lukewarm at best, but he pretty much always enjoys the chance to suck on a finger. Unless he's really hungry, of course, in which case he figures out pretty quick that the finger is not producing milk, and that makes him very angry. Fingers have another advantage over normal pacifiers... they don't get lost or fall on the floor.

Here's a picture of Evan sucking on a pacifier:

All that being said, the day Evan uses a normal pacifier for the first time will be a great day. After a few minutes of him sucking away your fingers start to hurt (I don't even want to think about what breastfeeding feels like). And when you're holding a baby in one hand, and having him suck on the other hand to keep him from crying, you're about as helpless as you can be. You can't even scratch your own nose!