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My son loves his pacifier. He needs it to calm his often overstimulated nervous system. As he started to talk, it began to annoy me more and more, because he often kept the pacifier in his mouth while talking.

When he was two years old, he went through a very intense growth period and I was already at my wit's end. This ‘pacifier mumbling’, complete with whining, pushed me to my limit. On impulse, I took the pacifier out of his mouth and said something like, ‘That thing has to go. No one can stand it.’ Obviously, I didn’t intend to just take the pacifier away from him, because I’m aware of the traumatic effect this can have on such a small child. Of course, he didn't know I was only talking about that moment, but my own emotional state probably contributed to the intensity of the situation.

Soon after he got his pacifier back and realised over the next few days it wasn't gone ‘forever’ and wasn't being taken away from him, the skin around his mouth started to heal after this separation conflict he'd experienced (his beloved pacifier had been suddenly and unexpectedly taken away from him). A rash developed, localised precisely where the shield of the pacifier had been in contact with his skin. This rash also lasted for a few days and then disappeared completely.

He had never had such a rash before and never had one again afterwards.