Should I take the pacifier?

JulyMomma2U2

DS has only recently started liking a pacifier.. About 2 months.. A first, it was no big deal at night.. He'd take it to help him fall asleep, then spit it out.  For about 2 weeks now, whenever it comes out, he freaks out.  Now, he can PT it back in himself if I've clipped it to his jammies, but then his hand gets stuck on the strap and he ends up pulling it back out.. He will do this over and over again.. Sometimes 6 times a night!  I'm contemplating just taking it all together during sleep times.. Is that mean? He used to be such a great sleeper, and lately it's all gone to crap.. Granted, he's been sick (finally feeling better!!), but this pacifier is a huge culprit.. What do you think?

luvmyducks

I would just take the strap off and put a bunch in the crib. If he finds one, great. If he doesn't then he will learn how to be without. That is what we did with DD.

JulyMomma2U2

luvmyducks:

I would just take the strap off and put a bunch in the crib. If he finds one, great. If he doesn't then he will learn how to be without. That is what we did with DD.

I tried taking the strap off.. and then he'd still wake up 5 or 6 times screaming.. the only way to soothe him was to put a pacifier in, and he'd instantly go back to sleep.. I just feel like.. it's an awful habit!

NY-allie

luvmyducks:

I would just take the strap off and put a bunch in the crib. If he finds one, great. If he doesn't then he will learn how to be without. That is what we did with DD.

Ditto this - we had 6 in the crib with DS that way he could always find one.

JulyMomma2U2

esd:

I think of you are going to take it, it should be all or nothing. I wouldn't offer it during the day and then not at night. But I like the ideas of pp, just put several in there so he can find one. Even thought the paci can be a bad habit, at his age I wouldn't consider taking it. It would be different if he were older like over 1 and still paci dependent. I know it works for a lot of people but I can't do any type of sleep training on my LOs. And I would imagine if you just take the paci you're going to have to do some type of CIO until he learns to self soothe.

I took it last night at like 10p when he'd gotten up 3 times for it since 730.. He cried for a bit before falling back to sleep, but DH and Ijust soothed him and then he slept the whole night.. Did fine earlier without it for naps.. We don't usually give it to him that much during the day.. And tonight, I put him down without it and put a soft rattle in his crib for him to play with before falling asleep and I put 2 pacis next to him.. He went to sleep on his own and so far hasn't gotten up!! I did a lot of reading earlier and found a lot of people take it by 6 months.. Anyway, we shall see how this goes!! 

JulyMomma2U2

BandEddie:

We had to nix the binkies for the girls at 2 mos. They were doing the same thing. Two nights of hell followed by babies that sleep 5-9 hours a stretch. Worth it! They honestly don't miss it much, and they still get them during the day for comfort with no ill effects. Just replace the binky with something nice - like shushing and a belly rub. Worked wonders for the girls. Good luck!

That is SO good to know.. sometimes, especially in the evening hour leading up to bed, DS used to take a paci to keep him content (like from 6:30-7:30), but since I've stopped with them at night, I've taken them during the day, too.. he's fine any other time, just tough during that one hour stretch leading to bed.. I wanted to give it to him, but was afraid it would confuse him!  Good to know that may not be the case!

In the 3 nights with no paci now, he's slept 11 hours straight without waking!  Coincidence or not, I'm glad we took it