Pacifier problems

jasmineluke

My LO is 11 weeks old.
We have regretably used pacifiers since she was younger. Now we are having the problem where at night when the pacifier falls out she wakes up crying. definitely formed a negative sleep association with the pacifier.
Typically sleeps to four hour stretches but wakes frequently throughout the night when her pacifier falls out. She is not not due for a feed and there is no dirty diaper. She is not in pain, does not have a fever, and the room temperature is perfect. The pacifier is placed back in her mouth she goes back to sleep. Over the past couple of nights it's been getting much worse and she's been waking more frequently because of this. It is also getting more troublesome to get her to go back to sleep after it falls out. She has reflux and I though this is reason she finds it comforting but her reflux is better with the new medication the doctor has given her.
I know there is a train of thought that at this age babies do not make sleep associations. However this baby has definitely made a negative sleep association and could be sleeping much better.
We want to eliminate the pacifier completely and start training her to sleep without it. Ideas or tips? -

mrstps

Try taking the paci out right before she falls asleep... If it isn't there when she falls asleep then she won't miss it when she wakes up.

jasmineluke

I've tried that and she either wakes up right away noticing it has been removed or will wake up ( in between sleepy cycles) looking for it... I guess needing it to fall back asleep...

meghan5010

Thank you for posting this because I am having the same problem! My LO is 9.5 weeks and she spits it out shortly after she is asleep and wakes up 1-4 times during the nice because it has fallen out.

I have wondered what would happen if I let her cry it out because she is tired and can sleep through the night.

midge519

My LO is 8 weeks and the only night I didn't pop it out before laying him in his bed he slept horribly! I'm back to not giving it to fall asleep or popping it out once he is asleep.

Has she found her hands yet?? Maybe swaddle one hand out so she can suck on her hand to fall back asleep if she has. Otherwise my only other suggestion would be to just cut it and retrain almost.

jasmineluke

So I have been reading a lot of information about this morning. We are going to go cold turkey today and see what happens. She does not use it during the day when she's up and playing she only uses it before naptime and before bedtime. So far she has fussed a little bit before napping but has slept a solid two hour stretch without it. We'll see how the evening goes.

BryDienta

If you use the smoothie maybe try a wubbanub. They definitely help to gently hold the pacifier into place in their mouth and my son actually hugs his little frog. Helped us with the spitting out and waking problem.

jasmineluke

BryDienta said:

If you use the smoothie maybe try a wubbanub. They definitely help to gently hold the pacifier into place in their mouth and my son actually hugs his little frog. Helped us with the spitting out and waking problem.

I can definitely see how that works. I will try that if all else fails but so far she's been going down ok for naps with some minimal fussing during the day and I just put her down without pacifier for the the first stretch of night sleep (usually 4 hours) so let's see how this goes night 1.

abkenyon

We are not having issues but her paci helps me sleep better knowing she's breathing (anxiety freak) and sucking. We got two wubbanubs for Christmas so I'm interested to see how they work. She is 11 weeks and sleep 7 hours at night but wakes once usually where I have to put the paci back and she goes right back to sleep.

lindsayp916

I second the Wubbanub suggestion- My LO doesn't always go to sleep with a pacifier but I have noticed if she does, the wubbanub stays more in place if she spits it out and she can recover it. (this has really happened more in her car seat but i could see this being the case in bed too). Good luck!

meghan5010

The Wubbanub hasn't been working for me and it's probably user error. My LO turns her head so many times during the night that the Wubbanub falls away from her and she cannot retrieve it. Any help/suggestions on how to keep the Wubbanub secure?