My babies are soother babies. I held off with my eldest daughter until she was 10 days old to give her a soother because I was a young first-time mom who listened to all advice and people kept yelling “NIPPLE CONFUSION!” at me. My younger two, though, had a soother in their mouths as we left the hospital, without a hint of nipple confusion. If they were hungry, that soother flew across the room.

I didn’t wean my first baby off her soother until she was about three and my second until around her second birthday. My son still has his, seeing as he’s still a baby. (Call him a toddler and I’ll cry.)

Here’s the thing about soothers, though: they are little and they get lost easily. I use a soother string (this one from Bink Link, to be exact) when we are out, but at home my son pretty much only uses his soother in his bed. He uses it to fall asleep and then it disappears into the Neverland of soothers. I’d love to tie it to him while he’s in his bed, but I’m a paranoid sort of mama and I can’t justify it. I kind of wish there was some sort of bungee cord that would attach to the crib and to the soother, so that when he finished, it would not get lost—but that is quite the choking hazard if I’ve ever heard of one.

We keep about half a dozen soothers on hand, so you’d think we’d always be able to find one, but no. I was keeping them in a corner of his bumper-padded crib, but he went and vomited on the bumper pad and now there is nothing to keep the soothers corralled. But wait! Maybe there is.

Enter The Pacifier Place. It holds two soothers (any type) and straps to two crib bars. It saves you from having to turn the light on in the middle of the night, which would only further wake your child. The best thing is that your child can take the soother out of the holder himself. Independence! This can be a pro and a con, if you have a baby like mine whose hobby it is to empty things of their contents, but the way I see it, if you keep one Pacifier Place on the inside of the crib for your baby, and one on the outside for you, you can’t go wrong.

The Pacifier Place, US$13, is available from pacifierplace.com.

How do you keep track of all those soothers?

Jen Wilson is a married mother of three super-awesome children—two girls and a boy—who range in age from 0-10. She enjoys photography, organizing, reading, TV, and sarcasm. She drinks her coffee black and dreams of one day owning a dishwasher. You can also find her on her blog, Hey Mrs. Wilson, where she has been writing about life in Saskatchewan since 2004.