I've Been Plunged!

I’ve recently learned that having a baby yourself really stirs up the never-before-told stories from your own mother about your childhood. In a discussion with my mother about Avery’s sleeping habits, my mom remarked that I started sleeping through the night as soon as she started “plunging me.” Horrified, I asked what this entailed. She described a feeding accessory, called a plunger, which was apparently all the rage in Good Housekeeping in the late 1970s. I know this because I recounted this tale to Heather and her mom, Judy, and Judy chimed right in and said that she also plunged Heather…So, if you were born around 1977, you might want to check with your mom, too, just so you know the facts.

Anyway, it worked like this. Fill the plunger with some rice cereal and milk, and then insert the plunger in your baby’s mouth. Slowly depress the plunger, dispensing the rice cereal mixture to your baby so that he/she can swallow it. Apparently, I gobbled this stuff up back in my wee days and subsequently, went into a Tryptophan like food coma and slept for 8 hours. Hey, whatever it took I guess. My mom had peace to rally for and marijuana to deny smoking, so needed a good night’s sleep!

As for Avery, whether it’s a fluke or not, she’s been sleeping 8 hours a night for the past week, so it doesn’t look like plunging will be necessary. I’ll keep it in mind though. One can never have too many tricks up their sleeve with a new baby in the house.