I haven't yet used a pacifier with DS. His pedi yesterday said that I could go ahead and give him one if I wanted, so maybe he wouldn't soothe himself on the boob during the day as much (he does several short soothing/nursing sessions during the day). I wasn't really planning on doing pacifiers with him unless he really showed a want/need for them - WDYT? I'm not sure what my hangup with pacis is, I guess I just didn't ever think of them as a necessity.
TIA!
Re: Pacifier?
Thanks ladies, I think D becoming dependent on the paci all the time is what I'm worried about. I wouldn't mind if he took it now and then, but if he couldn't function without it (my siblings were like that) I'd probably have a crisis.
Those of you using them, is there a specific kind? I thought about getting some of the gumdrop ones, but didn't know if there was really a difference. I do have a cute one with his name on it I could use in a pinch!
We waited 4 weeks with DD#1, but offered this LO a paci right away. Those first 4 weeks with DD were a nightmare because she nursed ALL day long from wanting to soothe herself. Looking back I wish I has given it to her sooner. DD#2 can take it or leave it really, so I don't force the issue but sometimes I have to give it to her after she has eaten so much she is spitting up everywhere and/or I know she isn't hungry and I have something I need to do for DD#1. I don't think pacis are a big deal, sure if your LO doesn't need it then I wouldn't offer one but we had no issues weaning DD at 11 months so I don't see the problem if they are a baby that really needs one for soothing.
ETA: This LO is a thumb sucker, so that was also part of the reason I offered her one earlier. That being said, we took DD#1 paci away with no issues but when I weaned from BFing at 13 months she started sucking her pointer finger for comfort..so you never know what will happen even if you use a paci or not.
This is our daughter. I was also anti-paci until she started trying to suck on her hands and comfort nurse all day long. She loses interest in her paci pretty fast though so I'm hoping it wont be an issue when she's older and we're ready to get rid of them. Also I use the orthodontic ones, so they are more bf friendly, she doesn't like the smaller ones.
I think some kids just need the comforting of sucking more than others. DS1 was a binky master. There are a ton of pictures of him with a bink in his mouth but it was either a bink pic or a pic of him screaming. I absolutely saw that he needed it to calm himself down as he got older and I saw how comforting it was for him, especially when I went back to work. We got rid of it when he was 3 - it was sort of accidental, I had meant to get rid of it a number of times before that but just didn't have the heart to do it.
This baby likes the bink but doesn't really need it. We use them every once in a while but he will fling it out of his mouth when he doesn't want it or block it with his tounge if he just wants to scream. His binky flinging ablities are quite impressive, he can shoot it a foot at least.
I do make a point to pull it out of his mouth when he's sleeping though. I found that with DS1 as he got older if his bink fell out of his mouth while sleeping he'd always wake up crying.
We use one as a soother in the evenings when she gets super fussy and nothing else will calm her. I'm not BFing, so comfort nursing is not an option. I don't offer her one at naps/bed time because when it falls out, she goes nuts. So it's something for when we're holding and rocking her to calm a fussy fit.
It works well for us; I was a thumb sucker and it took my parents an incredible amount of time to break me of the habit. And this is after I wrecked my teeth. I'd rather do the paci, it's a lot easier to take away than her thumbs and before any real damage is done to the mouth.