When is an appropriate age to try a pacifier?

Shoyd10

Hey Mamas! So I never used a pacifier with my son who is now 11 yrs old but my daughter who was just born on August 9th has a constant sucking reflex (she's feeding great, we're all good there!) so we think a pacifier might be something she'd like. Can we try this early??

dkizz82

I gave mine one the first day she was born. She's 17 days now and not a huge fan of it anymore.

Lalala2326

We gave both babies one the day after they were born and had no issues breastfeeding. My older daughter stopped taking it after 3 or 4 weeks but then got really attached to it again at around 5 months.

mrsrfwii

We gave our daughters pacifiers a day or so after birth. They never had issues latching on.

Shoyd10

Thanks!!

Shoyd10

Thank you!

Shoyd10

Great, thanks everyone!!

victoriaaa1

If you aren't breastfeeding it's fine to give right away but if you are you shouldn't because it can cause nipple confusion . *for some babies*
My baby is a week and 2 days and formula fed . I believe I gave him the pacifier when he was 5 days old ? But I try not to give it to him all the time . I don't want him to get used to it . I only give it when I can tell he wants it , he'll drink his bottle as spit it out but you can tell he wants a nipple but not the bottles . And when he's irritable with isn't too often or to calm him down if he isn't into eating at the moment .

jesselayne8

I gave my EBF babies a paci at 2 days. No nipple confusion. They also didn't take the paci for long maybe 3-4 wks.

CaliforniaDream87

When my son was BF in the beginning, he took a paci just fine with no confusion.

carleym93

I think nipple confusion is really uncommon. My baby would take one often during the first week (I was BFing) and now she is 4 weeks old and refuses to take it. But even when she had one, we never had an issue with breastfeeding. She would only take it while she was falling asleep or to soothe her during a diaper change, but now she won't even let us put it in her mouth.

bpwife&mama

Gave both mine one right away and they're doing ok. No confusion.

kelseyrayay

My son loves his passi. I gave it to him for the first time after he was born. It helps calm him down when he gets worked up.

puccagirl77

Came across this today on the Science of Mom facebook. TLDR; you can start a paci whenever you want.

https://www.chadhayesmd.com/nipple-confusion/

lethanne

My son took one at the hospital as they used it during circumcision. My doctor told me recent research shows that nipple confusion isn't as big of an issue as previously thought.

Bickey11

They gave my son one in the hospital and i breastfed just fine, but if you can avoid using one, i'd recommend it. I was able to successfully break my first at 1 because he had impetigo and i had to take it away, bit we had a helluva fight with my step daughter at 3.5, because her mom refused to break hey of it and she was very attached. It was hell. Eventually we just told her she left it at mamas....yep we're jerks

cosplaymom

For both of mine we offered a paci on the trip home from the hospital (about 36 hours old).

daniellepanda

My son was only a few days old and he loved his pacifier. He did have some BF feeding issues but I don't know if they were related. This baby we offered her one and she is not interested at all. Our pedi suggested no bottles or pacifiers until 1 month if I was wanting to ebf.

deviduke412

We gave our son a pacifier on the first day home when he was 2 days old. He also likes to suck a lot so we decided to try. He loves it and it hasn't caused any issues with BF. We only give it to him when he's fussy though.

SashaDenn25

@shoyd10 DD is doing the same thing. She has constant sucking and was comfort feeding we found and basically using me as a pacifier. I have been with LC today and since we have established a good latch already she has her pacifier on day 2ish (born 1141 Thursday night) now. Now Daddy and I dont have to leave our finger in her mouth for her to have something to actually sleep.

sushilove15

The nurses in in the nicu gave our daughter one the day she was born. She absolutely loves it! It calms her down