This is a random coincidence because last week I just happened to listen to an old episode of the JV Club podcast with Danielle Schneider and Dannah Phirman. And Danielle talked about how she was a cheerleader in high school and similar to Elizabeth, she wasn’t the most popular or cool kid but was a cheerleader because of how spirited she was. Where they differed was that while Elizabeth was on the bottom of the pyramid, Danielle was the one that would get thrown up into the air.

I haven’t listed to this episode yet but I wonder if Elizabeth and Danielle got to bond over their cheerleading past.

I am a previous Totally Mommy writer-inner regarding infertility, and I had a wonderful baby girl 6 weeks ago, so keep hope girls!
My comment is in response to the pacifier question. There is SO much conflicting “research” out there that discusses nipple confusion, etc, that stresses new moms out and is quite inaccurate. I saw a respected pediatric office that limits the scope of its practice to breastfeeding issues because my daughter clicked and had a painful latch. The doctor says that she has never seen nipple confusion be an issue in her 30+ years of treating lactation problems. There have been plenty of babies that were bottle fed for 2 months and then had no problem latching (after guidance/tongue clip/etc) because of a baby’s deeply rooted instinct. Some babies have more of a tendency to suck to soothe and some do not. This is evidenced by the fact that Elizabeth and Danielle have different babies in this department. It is less so a learned skill than a hard wired one, so if a dependence develops, it is not on the mom, but rather the child 😉 I have been encouraged to give my baby a pacifier in order to teach her proper sucking technique since she may have low cheek tone that is breaking her seal. The use of pacifiers is also encouraged in early months now because it has shown a statistically significant decrease in the risk of SIDS. And if you have a baby that is soothed by a pacifier, they will use their fingers if not given a pacifier… Which, as a dentist, I can tell you will cause a whole other set of dental growth/orthodontic problems. It is particularly hard to train kids out of those habits because you can’t take their fingers away from them. To all moms stressed about all the contradictory info on the internet, please don’t be. Read your child’s cues, do what feels right, and seek out professional help when you need it!