Opinions on pacifiers?

ninji15

Will you be using a pacifier for your baby or babies? Why or why not? 

I am torn on adding them to my registry, I feel like it will just be a habit I have to break later. Do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages? 

MamaBish

If it works to comfort the baby, yes. 
There will be a lot of habits that need to be broken at some point, it may be a challenge, but it may not be, we'll see!

DominiqueU

I have no advice, but I think this is a great question and would love to hear opinions from STMs. My instinct is to say no, mostly because of the daunting prospect of having to break the habit. It bothers me tremendously when kids are old enough to be talking and are mumbling things with the pacifier still in their mouths. If I do go with pacifiers, I'd definitely try to break the habit before that happens.

But I'm a FTM, so I realize that I essentially know nothing. Lol.

ButterMyBiscuit

We received a ton of them but my son never wanted one. Babies are very picky so it's hard to know if a). They'll take one and b). What brand they'll like.

It might be a good idea to put a couple of brands on your registry and see what happens after baby gets here. As for breaking the habit, do it slowly and sooner than later.

Deepoet

with my DS I didnt have a choice, he was 6 weeks premature and the NICU didnt ask my permission. That being said, I had it easy with him, when he was done he was done. He actually spit out his binky in the holy water at his baptism and did not take it again after that! He was 4 months old. 
I believe that if you use it as a crutch they become dependent on it. You have to make your own choice. 
I will tell you that when I see a 3, 4, 5 year old with a binky I totally judge the parents!!!!!

aimz2377

Obviously, there is no right or wrong answer. Whatever works for some, does not for others. With DD, she used one and we had to break the habit around 18 months. DS never liked them. I'm of the mindset that if baby wants something to suck on, they will find their thumb or fingers if there is no pacifier. Breaking a finger/thumb sucking habit is more difficult than a pacifier.

Eta: hit reply before I was done

dani1124

DD used one since the day she was born. Never had any issues breastfeeding and they were a lifesaver when she needed soothing. I will have some with me everywhere I go!

anskip

We did not use one with DD. The nurses kept trying to give her one in the hospital claiming she was 'fussy' all while she was laying there peacefully asleep. After we left she was still a pretty calm baby, only crying to be changed and fed, so I didn't give it to her. When she hit her first big growth, I tried out of desperation to give her one. Tried all the different kinds we had with no luck babe never took one. All in all it was a good decision for us and I'll do the same with this one.

PugsandKisses

I will say that using paci's decrease thr risk of SIDS and the AAP suggest their use.

However, LLL are against them for potentially interfering with breast feeding.

carrieandr

I wasn't given a pacifier as a baby and I sucked my thumb instead. It changed the shape of my mouth and I ended up needing a very painful palate expander installed in my mouth when I was 8. I'll be getting orthodontic pacifiers for my baby--and if she doesn't want them, that's fine with me. I just really want to discourage thumb-sucking. That's also a harder harder habit to break, because you can't take a child's thumb away.

Singingmama10

The nicu gave my DS a paci.  I really didn't want to use one initially (nipple confusion), but he loved it.  Also as pp have said breaking a thumb sucking habit is WAY harder than a paci.  I talked to my pedi (who I'm not all that fond of, so take this with a grain of salt, but this one thing I agree with her on) and she said to definitely keep the paci (he was only a month old) because she would MUCH rather the paci instead of the thumb.  

All that being said though.  I got a ton of pacifers for my shower and he hated all of them.  He only likes "Mam" brand and of course I didn't register for any of those. If I were to go back I probably would not put them on my registry and just buy the ones they had the hospital, because that is likely the one that lo will take.  

brielle330

Wanted to chime in as a Speech-Pathologist: pacifiers can be GREAT for kids with reflux, as you can pop one in after they eat and it helps to keep peristalsis running which can help to keep the discomfort low. Also, as long as you break it early enough, there aren't many long term effects on articulation/dentition-- but you really need to break it before they start gaining flexible language! I'll be using a pacifier

fantasticmrsfox

DS was given one at the hospital nursery, but never really attached to it. He couldn't keep it in his mouth well. We had no problems with nipple confusion. I'd say have a few on hand, you can always get more if LO likes them!

samantha1206

With DS we used one for about 4-5 months. After that he decided he didn't want them anymore and we rolled with it. We will use one this go around too

LaurenAsh23

I wouldn't decide on this until you have the baby home with you. My nurses kept urging me not to use them because of nipple confusion since I was nursing. Dh then was on the anti-paci train. By the time dd was 2 weeks old, I looked at dh and told him to either go get the pacifier or I was going to go crazy. I was her pacifier for those first 2 weeks and it was exhausting. For some people that works, for me it was draining. Dd never had an issue with nipple confusion. She still loves her paci, but we mainly only use it at night and have only used it at night for a year or so (dd is alms or 2).

nopegoat

None of my boys used them regularly. I kept one on me for the first few months just in case I couldn't pop a boob out immediately though. There were times when I wished they took one since they decided to use me as a pacifier but in the end I am glad I didn't have to worry about breaking the habit later.

I say do whatever works for you and your LO. There is no right or wrong answer. If you have to break the habit later than so be it. There are worse things that could happen.

ETA I will say that from watching and hearing from others breaking the pacifier habit is much easier than breaking the sucking the thumb/finger habit.

mswings1

My son was born 4 1/2 weeks early and they gave him a pacifier in the hospital. Whenever my family or friends saw him with it they said "you just need to find your thumb then you won't need that thing!" Which never made sense to me because to me I would rather break a pacifier habit than a thumb sucking habit, you can't take their thumb away! He ended up giving it up on his own at about 6 months old so it was never a struggle for me anyways. I'm open to this one using one as well if they like it

carcrashheart

Whatever comforts. But both of my kids took a paci for a very short period of time so we didn't have habits to break. I agree with above that there will be habits to break regardless. i didn't register for them. A friend bought us a crap ton with my first and he refused all of them. He only wanted the gumdrop brand. That's all the second took as well. It's one of those things that I probably wouldn't put a ton of thought in to.

holly142

For DD I registered for 3 different brands. I didn't try using them for the 1st 4 weeks so there would be no nipple confusion. She never took to them. Her dentist was happy that she didn't use them at her 1 year check up since she already had 12 teeth and pacifiers aren't good on teeth! (She never sucked her thumb so that wasn't an issue.)

I am going to try pacifiers with my next baby solely for the fact that it is supposed to reduce the risks of SIDS. One of the biggest arguments against pacifiers is that parents stick a pacifier in before trying other methods of comforting. I will try burping, feeding, changing the diaper or hugging/pats before reinserting the pacifier.

Taymiller

Decreased risk of SIDS, yes please! We used the wubbanub and it was great. He got one for sleep and in the car, no other times. At a year old he bit the tip off (choking hazard) so we took it away. One day of adjusting to it being gone and it was no big deal.

Taymiller

Also I think nipple confusion is BS

kim1989

DD wasn't interested until she started teething then we gave her one.
DS I gave one right from the start because he loved sucking my fingers so unless I wanted to sit all day with my fingers in his mouth I had to.

Both kids were a little over 2 when we stopped using them, not really much work they were just ready. I breastfed too and didn't have any problems between paci and feeding

mrsmommya

Took a nuk with us to the hospital and DD loved it. We nursed for 5 months exclusively witj absolutely no trouble. We broke her around 18 months starting at night then naps. she was an early talker and I had two weeks off for Christmas so thats why we chose that time. We had, again, absolutely no trouble. Believe me....get a pacifier...and my daughter was an amazing baby.

PhoebeJune1984

We used one. Once she hit 18mo, it was something that she only got during nap times and bedtime, and she would leave it in her crib when she got out. We slowly cut the nipple off and she was done with it before age two.  

I always find it weird when people are so anti-binky because they are worried about breaking the habit, but between my kid, and my nanny kids, they were all weaned off of them and it wasn't that big of a deal. Meanwhile, my current nanny kid was a sucking self soother, and my boss was anti-binky because she "wasnt going to deal with breaking THAT habit." But when he was almost a year old, he started sucking his thumb, and now at age three, you cannot get his dang thumb out of his mouth. It is in his mouth all.day.long. He even chooses to suck his thumb, over playing with toys and other kids. And when it isn't in his mouth, he is touching everything under the sun with his slobbery thumb. There is nothing more disgusting than the stinky slobber touching you, your clothes, and everything else. Have fun breaking THAT habit, lady......

Team binky all the way. 

jlgriff11

I'm a FTM so I don't know, but I will say that I think it's great for little infants and once they get older it's great for naptimes and sleep, but my nephew has one stuck in his mouth to "shut him up" if he cries or throws a tantrum. They always have it in his mouth, all the time. I think this is terrible, because when he comes to my house, the binky goes away and all of a sudden he just talks and talks. And they are wondering why he doesn't say more. Well, duh, it's because he's always got a binky in his mouth.  So I'm all for them at the appropriate times, but not just to be used for parental or adult convenience.

PinkLady2015

Im all in on paci's, atleast that's the plan

stillcozy

I'm a FTM so this is all good info I do have a couple orthodontic ones and I figured the babes will which choose if they want one or not but I'll try a couple brands to see if we can get one they like.

m8881

Love pacis

whataboutscience

I didn't use for DD because I was concerned about it interfering with BFing and it also significantly increases the risks of ear infections which my family has history of pretty serious problems with. She's 16 months and a die hard thumb sucker, which bugs me. One benefit is that she doesn't lose her thumb and could self soothe, but it's also a downside because we she always has it...

laurathemrs

All 3 kiddos liked Nuk pacifiers and they seemed "meh" regarding pacis around maybe 6 months? They made it easy to get rid of them. No nipple confusion for my last EBF baby either.

halesnwhales

We will be using pacifiers for bed time up until 6 months due to the decreased chance of SIDS.

stillcozy

I had no idea they decreased the risk of sids I'm not very science so I'll probably look it up but if someone has a quick explanation I would appreciate that as well

PhoebeJune1984

Lindsayleigh1989 said:

I had no idea they decreased the risk of sids I'm not very science so I'll probably look it up but if someone has a quick explanation I would appreciate that as well

I didn't hear about that until around the time DD was born, so I thought it was interesting.

The one I had never heard of (until reading this post) is that they can increase ear infections?! My DD used one and she didn't get her first ear infection until she was 2.5 and in the hospital for pneumonia. She had already gotten rid of her binky several months before....

MotherOfDucks

They used them on my older two in the NICU. So I tried to teach my kids to keep using them when they came home. But just in the car and for napping. However, that was surprisingly short lived. None of my kids wanted the binky. I don't know if it just wasn't similar enough to breastfeeding or what, but it wasn't for them. They certainly offer their convenience if you can get them to use them sparingly, though, so I keep trying.

Taymiller

whataboutscience said:

I didn't use for DD because I was concerned about it interfering with BFing and it also significantly increases the risks of ear infections which my family has history of pretty serious problems with. She's 16 months and a die hard thumb sucker, which bugs me. One benefit is that she doesn't lose her thumb and could self soothe, but it's also a downside because we she always has it...

I have never heard they increase risk for ear infection. DH thought they lowered the risk.

ninji15

Well I am loving all this info. I am debating on trying them now, I had no clue about the SIDs thing. I just am so worried about breaking habits. If the kid is anything like me and my habit with junk food, wellll. I am in for it. Haha

DobbysSock

We used pacifiers with DD. She didn't really take to it. It occasionally worked to comfort her but she could kind of take it or leave it, so at a certain point I just quit using it and figured it was a blessing that we wouldn't have to break that particular habit later. That said, if it had worked well with her I totally would have used it. I don't personally think it's a big deal either way. 

There are tons of things that will form habits that you'll have to break later - to be honest if you don't use any tricks or tools that might cause a habit I feel like you're setting yourself up for a lot more trouble than it's worth. Our biggest habit we had to break was nursing/rocking DD to sleep. It was a pain to deal with at the time but the months and months of success putting her to sleep that way were worth the several days it took to break the habit. That's how I feel about a pacifier - if it makes your life easier for months at a time, it'll likely be worth the week or so of annoyance breaking the habit.

Taymiller

Seriously breaking the habit isn't bad at all. In my other bmb the hardest part has been just ripping off the bandaid and doing it. The fear of breaking the habit is way worse than actually breaking the habit. The sanity one gets from the pacifier far out weighs the difficulty of breaking the habit.

Edit because I can't spell

DobbysSock

aimz2377 said:

Obviously, there is no right or wrong answer. Whatever works for some, does not for others. With DD, she used one and we had to break the habit around 18 months. DS never liked them. I'm of the mindset that if baby wants something to suck on, they will find their thumb or fingers if there is no pacifier. Breaking a finger/thumb sucking habit is more difficult than a pacifier. Eta: hit reply before I was done

This is a good point - at least you can just take a pacifier away. With a thumb it can be way more challenging. My SIL's dad is a dentist and he says that thumb sucking can cause a lot of damage to a kid's bite/teeth, so a pacifier is preferable if your child is going to suck on something for comfort.

ninji15

Taymiller said:

Seriously breaking the habit isn't bad at all. In my other bmb the hardest part has been just ripping off the bandaid and doing it. The fear of breaking the habit is way worse than actually breaking the habit. The sanity one gets from the pacifier far out weighs the diffuctily of breaking the habit.

Thats reassuring to hear, especially because I of course will be a FTM with all of this.  

ninji15

DobbysSock said:

aimz2377 said:

Obviously, there is no right or wrong answer. Whatever works for some, does not for others. With DD, she used one and we had to break the habit around 18 months. DS never liked them. I'm of the mindset that if baby wants something to suck on, they will find their thumb or fingers if there is no pacifier. Breaking a finger/thumb sucking habit is more difficult than a pacifier. Eta: hit reply before I was done

This is a good point - at least you can just take a pacifier away. With a thumb it can be way more challenging. My SIL's dad is a dentist and he says that thumb sucking can cause a lot of damage to a kid's bite/teeth, so a pacifier is preferable if your child is going to suck on something for comfort.

Just wondering now, whats to stop them from switching from the paci to their thumb once you take it away?