3rd Trimester

Pacifiers?? suggestions for a first time mom??

I have been of the opinion that I want to stay away from pacifiers. I don't want them to interfere or confuse with breastfeeding. I also do not want baby to become dependent on the pacifiers, I feel this is just another thing to "wean" off of and want to avoid any behavior problems this might cause. I have head multiple times in recent weeks that using pacifiers can reduce risk of SIDS, now I worry that we should use them. Do any 2+ moms have any suggestions for me??

Re: Pacifiers?? suggestions for a first time mom??

  • we never used them.  Neither of my kids ever took them.  They were both actually finger suckers while they slept. That stopped before they were both a year. 

    I know 3 yr olds that still have their paci's. It's not a habit I would ever want to go on that long. 

    I don't know about the SIDS link/risk, but it's not something I plan to worry about in regards to giving them pacis...

  • i didn't want to use them either but i think they prevent overeating as well as reduce sids. i had no problems with them..
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  • I think it all depends on the child.  My DD loved to suck even after she was done eating.  It was definitely a soothing thing.  My pediatrician recommended a paci while we were in the hospital for 1) it reduces sids and 2) she would suck for hours at a time.  She never was confused between breast and paci.  As far as dependency, DD now only uses her paci to teeth which I find much more appealing than anything that is left laying around for her to grab and put in her mouth.  There are trade offs in everything.  This being said, I have a lot of friend that their baby wouldn't take a pacifier.  It's definitely a personal choice on you and the baby.

    Good Luck!  

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  • I never planned to give my daughter,my niece gave her one and she got hooked on it and its been hard for me to wean her from it. Her doc seems fine with it as long i get her off it by the time she's two. 
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  • Pacifiers are great for soothing a fussy baby and they were a lifesaver for us (watch the Happiest Baby on the Block).  It never caused any problems either.  I BF DS for 13 months.  The weaning process was a breeze too, he pretty much did it on his own.  We were mainly using it for naps and bedtime at the end and he stopped using it completely around 6 months.  I think this is one of those things where people have an opinion on it before the baby is born but they really don't know much about it.  There are a lot of misconceptions and problems can be easily avoided.
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  • With my first I didn't want a pacifier with in ten feet of my daughter...LOL but as I started learning SOME TIMES its o.k. I finally broke down and gave her a pacifier at like 2 months but she never did take to one. When my son was born he had to do a day in the NICU and as I was recovering the Nicu nurse came and talked to me and said they gave him a pacifier at first I got upset but she said ALL he wanted to do was SUCK.. and she was trying to examine him..LOL.. he also never took to one even when I tried to get him to take one..

    So the biggest things is LISTEN to you're baby and YOU!!!!

    Best of Luck!!!

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  • I agree that it depends on the kid.

    DD lived for hers until we took it away at about 16 months. A couple of rough nights, but then she forgot about it. DS like his, but was never as attached to them as DD. He weaned himself at about 9 months. We didn't start the pacifier until nursing was established pretty well (2 weeks for DD because I had the same fears that it would be a problem, 1 for DS) & I BFed DD for 6 months and DS for 13 months.

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  • We gave DS1 a paci when he was 3 days old and under the bili lights for jaundice and could not be consoled in any way.  It broke my heart.  I could only take him out for 20 minutes at a time every 2 hours - the rest of the time he screamed.  We finally gave him a paci and it helped.  He was never confused when it came to breastfeeding.  He gave it up on his own around 2 (only using it while in the bed at that point) and has no teeth issues whatsoever. 

     

    I will be using a paci with DS2 if he'll take it.  Some babies just need to suck and when it comes to weaning from a paci or from fingers/thumb, I'd much rather wean from something I can physically take away from him.  I can't exactly remove his thumb/fingers. 

  • I don't plan on using a pacifier.  I'll keep my mind open for super stressful situations where non-nutriative sucking might calm LO down, but overall I'd rather her not have one.  I feel like a lot of people (not all) give their kid a paci to shut them up because they don't want to find another way to sooth them, and like pp said, it's another thing to wean them off of. My 2 1/2 yr old neice is still running around with one, and it irritates me to no end that her parents shove one in her mouth to quiet her down when they just don't want to deal with her (which is most of the time.) My mom didn't give any of us (three kids) a paci, and we all made it. :) There are plenty of other things you can do to reduce the risk of SIDS that I'm not concerned about this one.
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  • Sophia only got a pacifier once, on a plane to pop her ears. Other than that, she does not ever get one and I do not plan to give one to baby #2 either. 
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  • DS took a pacifier after he was a week or so old and until he was 18 months old when he threw them away all on his own.  He was not a kid that sucked on it all the time, just when he was preparing to go to sleep. 

    I exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months and then continued breastfeeding with complementary foods (baby foods) until he was 23 months.  He never had problems with latch, I never had problems with supply, and it was a good thing for us.

    Also, I am a lactation counselor and I always tell my patients to make an informed decision for themselves.  Paci's certainly aren't necessary in the first day of life and parents need to offer the breast to a newborn before giving it a paci, even if it fed just 30 minutes ago.  Parents need to learn the baby's cues and be smart about the use of a paci.

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  • We gave one to DD because it helped her fall asleep at night.  She basically grew out of it on her own when she was around 5-6 months old.

    I know kids who have a hard time breaking the paci habit, but I also know kids that have trouble breaking the thumb-sucking habit (and you can't take their thumbs away). 

  • we are not going to use paci's for a host of reasons that most pp's have mentioned.  i have not heard of link between them and SIDS.  do you have a link to that info handy?

     

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  • I told myself I was going to avoid pacis when I was pg with DD. However reality quickly changed my plan. I did not give DD a paci for the first 2 wks to make sure my BFing was established. After that we used one. At our 2 month appt our pedi recommended offering a paci first at night. If DD continued to fuss I always fed her, but a lot of times she would just go back to sleep without another peep. By 10 wks she was STTN (approx 6-7 hrs stretch). We didn't use the paci much during the day and at about 5-6 months DD started spitting it out and giving me a "what they h*ll is that thing" look. After that we put them away and DD used her seahorse to self soothe at night. I will absolutely use a paci this time too.

  • We used MAM pacifiers with my son and there never seemed to be any nipple confusion with him. He actually stopped taking them around 2 months and he continued to nurse until he was almost a year old.  Our pediatrician never had any issue with him using one and we mostly used it in the car to get him to calm down.
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  • I know there are horror stories about 3 year olds with pacis, but really, weaning was a breeze for us. At 12 months we limited its use to bed, and at 18 months we poked a hole in the tip of it, so it collapsed when he tried to suck on it. It worked perfectly =)
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  • We were very anti-pacifier when DD1 was born.  After we got home from the hospital I quickly realized that she was wanting to suck much more often than she needed food.  It took me a few days to realize that I was becoming her personal paci. We gave her a paci then and it was the beat choice we made.  It helped soothe her (she never sucked her thumb) and she was sleeping through the night at five weeks old.  Once she started to be mobile she was only allowed paci at nap time and bedtime.  She was never allowed to just suck during playtime, etc. so the weaning was really easy- we took it away from naps at about 9 months and totally gone at 12.

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  • I was going to try not to use them but they gave one to DS during his circumcision with sugar water for soothing.

    After that it was clear that it truly soothed him and I had no problem allowing him to soothe himself like that. 

    We stuck with the brand that the hospital used, the green soothies, he seemed to prefer them.

    At about 9-10 months, DS developed a cold and started refusing his soothie, I think because his throat was sore.  Maybe because he was congested and needed to breathe through his mouth.  Either way, we totally took advantage of that and got rid of all the pacifiers in the house.  Once he was better, he never missed them.  So for us, weaning went really well. 

  • I suggest avoiding a paci for the first few days just because ANY sucking at that point will help to bring milk in. But once you have milk there is no harm in letting LO use a paci.

    DS was sick and needed to go to the NICU immediately after birth and I allowed a paci for comfort, he nursed 8 hrs later and on for a year no issues.

    THe week he turned two he traded his paci for a new book and never looked back. We will be using them with #2 as well.

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  • My first has always hated them.  She would suck on the soothie ones for about 5 minutes and across the room it flew.  I say, just see what your baby prefers.  Don't deny them one if it really soothes them, but don't force it upon then either.
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  • We didn't use them at all with DS and don't plan on it with DD either.  Not needed.  I have heard about the reduce risk of SIDS, but didn't really want to bother with pacifiers overall....for all the reasons that you listed.
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  • I didn't want to use them for all the reasons you listed, so I didn't buy any.  But very quickly, it became clear that our little one had a strong need to suck, so I had to put my own biases aside.  (And besides, I figured it was that or she'd find her thumb - and THAT, my friend, is a MUCH harder habit to break :)

    The good news?  She only needed it for sleep, never during the day.  And it didn't interfere with breastfeeding.  And yes, the reduction of SIDS is a huge bonus.  So I wouldn't worry about it.  See what kind of baby yours is.  If she DOES need to take a pacifier, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a horrible habit to break.  It was easy for us.
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  • Absolutely going to use them with this lo if she wants one. I would much rather her use a paci than my nipple or her thumb. Both of my boys took one and it wasn't that big of a deal to take them away. My 16 year old has had no orthodontic issues from it either.
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  • I was a BFing mama and I am pro pacifier esp in the first few months of life. My DD rejected them at about 4 months and we haven't had any issues with them. BTW, I'm a dentist and thumb sucking is a much harder habit to break with much more dental consequenses.  
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  • My mom, who's a Ped and mom of 3, likes them, but I'm not using them until my little girl is at least 2 months old. I plan on breastfeeding and I don't want nipple confusion. Plus I was a very picky baby and I hated pacifiers, so my little girl may not like them at all.
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  • My kids used pacifiers minimally, and were done with them by about 4 months.  We used them when they were newborns and crying about diaper changes, or just crabby in general and needed something soothing.  We maybe used them 30 minutes a day total.  I never used them at night, because I didn't want to spend all night getting up to put them back in their mouths.

    Frankly, the whole "nipple confusion" thing seems odd to me.  I've successfully BFed both babies, and both of my kids knew exactly where their food was coming from or wasn't coming from, and how to get it.

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  • I did not want to give DS a paci when I had him.  Then he was like 4 hours old, wouldn't stop crying and I abandoned that thought very quickly.  HA! It was the best! At one year we made the rule that the paci stays in bed and is only used for naps and night time.  No behavioral issues.  At 2 we took all his pacis to the Dr. to give to the new babies.  NO behavioral issues again.  It was nothing but a blessing in our lives.  Sometimes when you are a first time mom you don't know what you will want to do until you get there, anything that makes life easier with a baby is a good thing in my book! GL deciding!
  • imageTexas77again:

    we are not going to use paci's for a host of reasons that most pp's have mentioned.  i have not heard of link between them and SIDS.  do you have a link to that info handy?

     

    Just do a google search for AAP pacifier SIDS and you'll get tons of info.  They first recommended it in 2005 and it's been reaffirmed since then.  Here is one of the many hits: First Candle.

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  • I have read/heard from a lot of different places that they do reduce the risk of SIDS. I am planning on BF and using a pacifier shortly after because I know that both me and my husband sucked our thumbs as babies (till we were 4/5) and it led to lots of dental work. My thoughts are it is a lot easier to take away a pacifier then a thumb! I also know many people who BF and use them and don't have any problems
  • Well it seems everyone is giving opinions but not actual types they DID end up using =p save for a few.

    I also didnt want to give them but ended giving in. Ds still uses them a bit as he is a teething monster and paci's really help sooth him. I will prob see how this next baby goes if I will give hime one or not, if we do I will try to ween DS later this year as it will be hard to tell him he can't have one when he sees his brother with one.

     

    As for types my son's fav are the advent ones. I tried nuk's, he uses them but he definatly prefers the advent ones. I also have 2 mam ones that we use only for in the car/outtings as they have the cord that you can hook to their shirts so they don't drop them on the floor (which is VERY nice).
    If we are at home he'll use the Mam ones.. but def will pick up the advent ones if given the option.

     

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  • It comes down to your LO will dictate whether or not they need one...  Nothing more nothing less... 

    Very rarely is there "nipple confusion" when it comes to BF vs paci's...  With the real thing they get something to eat, and if they're hungry that is the only thing that will satisfy them, not some piece of plastic!

    DS is an "equal opportunity soother" he'll go from one method to the next, but when he's hungry, he wants nothing to do with the paci, bring on the food!

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  • imageLisamarie913:

    I think it all depends on the child.  My DD loved to suck even after she was done eating.  It was definitely a soothing thing.  My pediatrician recommended a paci while we were in the hospital for 1) it reduces sids and 2) she would suck for hours at a time.  She never was confused between breast and paci.  As far as dependency, DD now only uses her paci to teeth which I find much more appealing than anything that is left laying around for her to grab and put in her mouth.  There are trade offs in everything.  This being said, I have a lot of friend that their baby wouldn't take a pacifier.  It's definitely a personal choice on you and the baby.

    Good Luck!  

    This - exactly.  Some babies have a stronger sucking reflex.  DS would never suck his fingers or thumb and now that he's teething he'll put ANYTHING in his mouth.  He's also never taken to a "lovey" for comfort either.  I'd much rather have it his dummy in his mouth than whatever else he finds.  He generally only has it in bed for night/naps although we've given it to him a little more lately since he got 3 molars last week and was so uncomfortable.  

    I find it's the most common thing that people "swear" they won't do before they have kids and often end up using one.  I BF for 13 months and it never interfered. We plan to wean him off soon but just waiting for molar #4 to arrive first.

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  • Just our experience:

    I swore I wouldn't use pacifiers. And then DD came and had a VERY strong sucking reflex.   I was an exclusive breast feeder, so pacifiers helped a lot with my sanity. Often the baby just wants to suck and isn't really hungry.

    She was weaned from pacifiers at 8 months, and it was honestly no big deal at all. One night we lost her favorite pacifier... searched high and low and couldn't come up with it..... so we decided to just put her to bed.  She cried for about 5 minutes and then was out.   She's never looked back.

    I think, as with anything, you just have to do what you feel is best.  I had a nagging mother who swore that my baby would be addicted to the paci... and she wasn't.

    As for what kind to get: You just have to try out a few. Each baby is different and likes a different kind.

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  • I didn't want to use one either, but then it became necessity! Not once did it interfere with bf'ing. And she was done with it by 4 months, no problem. I say have one on hand in case you need it.
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  • The SIDS risk reduction was enough in itself to make it worth it to us with our first. She still takes it at naptime and at night, but our pedi and dentist both agree that it's just fine. Our pedi was actually the one who suggested using it at her 2 week old appointment because of the sids reduction.
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  • I definitely understand the concern with LO having nipple confusion with pacis. Mine never had nipple confusion and she has had multiple types of paci's (soothies in the hospital, NUKs now), supplemented with formula from the bottle, BF with a nipple shield and now EBF nipple shield free. It really will just depend on the baby and until your LO finds her fingers and fists to self-soothe, you will honestly appreciate having paci's around when it is 3am and LO is screaming to be soothed. I will worry about weaning later but she did just fine weaning from everything else. Just an opinion also from a FTM. Good luck!
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  • Your baby may not even accept a pacifier if you offer it.  Some babies want nothing to do with them.

    I heard that a pacifier actually helped with breastfeeding and it's a soother so I used them.  DS never confused his pacifier with the breast.  There was never a problem there.  I did hear that it also reduced SIDS but I wonder how much of that is true.  I was not against them from the beginning but when I heard the benefits, it just convinced me that much more.

    I took away DS pacifier at 18 months.  Prior to that we weaned to keeping the pacifier in his bed so he only had it for naps and bedtime.  It was a few days of crying himself to sleep but then he was done.  I think it was harder on me than him.

    I plan on offering DS #2 a pacifier if he wants one.  I plan on stopping the pacifier at 18 months again.

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  • We used the soothie kind from the hospital.  DS didn't have any problems with BFing and I BF him till he was 13mo old.  His pediatrician actaully was glad to hear that he had experienced breast, paci, and bottle early on as it was a good sign he would accept them all.

    DS weaned off the paci himself when he switched to his finger.  He did that till just about 2.  He weaned himself off his finger after his 2nd birthday.

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