If you EBF, did you introduce a pacifier right away?

greeneyed_bride · January 2014

When I was pregnant with DS, I attended a breastfeeding class, and they told us not to introduce a pacifier until the baby was 4-6 weeks old because of the risk of nipple confusion. I had read that other places as well, so I waited to try to introduce a pacifier until DS was 6 weeks old, and he refused to ever take one. (He also was tongue tied and had a surgery around 6 weeks, so that likely played a role, too.) However, I have a large group of friends who have all breastfed multiple babies, and out of the group, there's only one other mom who waited to try to introduce a pacifier (and her son never ended up taking one, either.) Everyone else introduced a pacifier pretty much right away with all of their babies (usually before they left the hospital,) and they all breastfed for close to a year with no problems with nipple confusion, even at the beginning.

I'm pregnant with baby number two now, so I'm just wondering: Did you introduce a pacifier right away with your EBF baby? If so, do you think it had a negative effect on your BF relationship? (For the record, I know what resources like Kelly Mom recommend. I'm looking for real-mom experiences.) Feel free to explain your answer in the comments. Thanks!

CLLDLL · January 2014

SS: The nurses gave him a paci when he had his circumcision in the hospital. (without asking me). We had no ill-effects from that one time.

I offered a paci again around 3 weeks PP to curb some of his comfort sucking. It helped, but his latch suffered a bit for a few weeks. Whenever his latch got shallow, I consistently unlatched him & got him to re-latch correctly. By 6-7 weeks PP he was fine going from paci to boob with no latch issues.

KentuckyKate · January 2014

My kid LOVES it. We introduced in the hospital, and she nursed great until we got home where she would not and could not latch. Went to the hospital lactation clinic and the IBCLC said she was definitely nipple confused. We ended up holding off until she was almost 4 weeks and gave it back. At that point it was fine. She is now 7.5 months, was EBF until we started solids at 6 months, still has never had formula, and still has that paci in her mouth day and night.

[Deleted User] · January 2014

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superToots · January 2014

We waited, and he never took one. Now I'm his pacifier

(

musicalsilver · January 2014

casey78 said:

I wasn't against the paci, but I didn't want to get into it if we didn't need it. We EBF from the beginning. I've offered her here and there over the last 4 months, but LO is just not interested. Fine by me.

Pretty much what happened to us. I know our first daycare used it a couple times, but any time I've offered LO is decidedly not into it.

jess9802 · January 2014

We had latching problems from the beginning, before the pacifier was introduced. We ended up offering it within the first week. We eventually got breastfeeding figured out, and DS went between breast, bottle, and pacifier without problem. He self-weaned from the pacifier around his first birthday - would throw it out of the crib if I offered it to him, so I packed them away and we never looked back. He did not self-wean from breast or bottle, however. :P

NatesCupcake47 · January 2014

We started using one the second night in the hospital (DD is 4 months and EBF). She had been cluster feeding for 3+hours and I hadn't slept the previous two nights. When I called the nurse she offered a pacifier but highly discouraged it due to me wanting to EBF. I said screw it, give me the dang thing. DD sucked on it for 5 minutes, if that, spit it out and slept for several hours. The nurse made me feel pretty bad though, so I texted a friend that BF for a year+ and she said they used a paci in the hospital too- made me feel better.

For the first few weeks we used it just enough to get her to fall asleep if needed and now She has a good relationship with her pacifier. She loves to use it in her carseat and daddy uses it to put her to sleep when I'm not there to nurse her to sleep.

VitaLuna · January 2014

We waited because we were already having latch issues and she was using a shield. I didn't want anything else to mess it up. I'm not a huge fan of them anyway. I offered it at maybe 2mos, quite desperately, and she refused. Now, at almost 5mos, I'll give it to her if she wakes up in the MOTN (if it's not close to time to eat), and she'll take it.

MrandMrsFireFighter · January 2014

My LO was admitted to the nicu 3 days after his birth got hyperbili. He was under the lights 23 hours a day, including feedings. We intro'ed a pacifier then at the suggestion of an amazing nurse. It was really difficult to watch him cry under the lights and the pacifier helped soothe him. At 6 months we are still EBF and I have a great supply. He had latch issues due to a tongue and lip tie but once those were corrected they disappeared and I don't think the issues were at all a result of the pacifier.
Now he uses it for naps and bedtime only.

ncbelle · January 2014

I personally didn't want to use a paci so never even tried one. It is true many babies will have no issue with nipple confusion. But some babies really do (I've had friends with the problem) - babies suck differently on artificial nipples than they do at the breast so that can cause nursing problems (particularly if you already have a baby with latching difficulties like a tongue tie).

It's also important to consider that frequent time at the breast - including comfort sucking - is really key to building supply in the early weeks. Subbing a paci for comfort sucking at the breast can interfere with that process - doesn't always but has the potential to.

fusionbride · January 2014

We introduced it on day 2 when she had her tongue-tie clipped, and she spit it out in fury. We tried again every few days and she didn't ever really get into it. there were a few times around 2 or 3 months that she would take it for a few minutes when she was hungry and it would take a while to get ready to feed her, so we always had one with us, but she was never a "paci baby" despite our early attempts at introduction.

I think different kids have different needs of sucking, and mine just wasn't that into it

greeneyed_bride · January 2014

ncbelle said:

I personally didn't want to use a paci so never even tried one. It is true many babies will have no issue with nipple confusion. But some babies really do (I've had friends with the problem) - babies suck differently on artificial nipples than they do at the breast so that can cause nursing problems (particularly if you already have a baby with latching difficulties like a tongue tie).

It's also important to consider that frequent time at the breast - including comfort sucking - is really key to building supply in the early weeks. Subbing a paci for comfort sucking at the breast can interfere with that process - doesn't always but has the potential to.

Yeah, I ended up being glad that we didn't try a pacifier with DS earlier. He was nursing almost all the time (every 30 minutes for an hour at a time for six weeks. It was brutal), and everyone said that I needed to give him a pacifier or formula. But once we got his tongue tie fixed, he stopped needing to nurse so often. It turned out that he had an inefficient suck because of the tongue tie, so he needed that extra time to get enough milk. If we had tried to placate him with a pacifier, it might've caused him not to get enough milk. But this time around, if baby #2 is tongue tied, we are getting it fixed immediately. I'm still on the fence about giving a pacifier (we've had friends who had a really tough time weaning their child from it, and I'm glad we don't have to deal with that), but I kind of just want to know if it would be ok to consider it as an option when all else fails.

greeneyed_bride · January 2014

Thanks so much for your input, everyone!!!

KrisM86 · January 2014

We gave DD a paci at 4 days and it didn't have a negative effect on EBFing. I tried to give DS one at about a week but he refused and never did take one.

vvvvvfee · January 2014

i voted A, but SS addendum: we did introduce a pacifier when DS was a couple of days old, but he never took to it. so, obviously it did not affect our breastfeeding- he is now 17 months and we are still BFing.

AnotherPreggo · January 2014

I was 100% antipacifier, but when I realized (quite quickly) that our kid had problems (food allergies) and was fussier than most, you better believe I tried whatever I could.

That being said, it didn't take long for me to break down and try it. We gave her a pacifier the first night in the hospital haha! Granted, she didn't want it. She didn't like the stupid thing for the first few months. But hey... we needed to have hope for something to work.

No negative effects. Just weaned her at 14 months, and at 14.5 months weaned her off the pacifier! \:D/

Coconuthead · January 2014

I voted SS. Introduced it within the first week but he hated it.

DahliaFlower · January 2014

I tried to introduce the paci after a few weeks of EBF. He never really liked it and still doesn't use it.

this decaf life · January 2014

DD pretty much never took a pacifier until we moved, she started taking it at about 5.5 months old. She uses it at naps and bedtime, I wish she had used it earlier because she started sleeping much better once she took it.

Soon2BMrsN · January 2014

I voted SS. We tried to introduce a paci to each baby within the first week and it took each of them a few weeks (with DS1, it was more like a couple of months actually) before they would take it willingly. Ironically, they both became paci-freaks. We finally went cold turkey with DS1 when he was almost 3.5 (he'd used it for night time only since about 2) and DS2 seems to be on the same path. I nursed each of them until 16-17 months and never had issues. When they were hungry, they were clearly hungry, and no paci could replace feeding.

Unknown · January 2014

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elroda · January 2014

theresat858 said:
We introduced one in the hospital. If anything, it helped LO learn how to suck, and def. saved my nipples in the early days. LO only liked it until she was ~3mo old....until she was 18mo old. Now she's obsessed with the paci again and I want to be rid of it.

This. Late into the first night after LO sucked me dry of colostrum he would not stop crying! I delivered at 5:15am that morning and he did great with our first few nursing sessions. The nurse recommended it since I hadn't slept all day and boy did it save my sanity! He definitely learned how to suck because it was a Soothie and really hasn't had any latch issues!

YellowLily2013 · January 2014

I voted "yes and it didn't neg affect our relationship". But the reality is I wanted to wait but the hospital introduced it and it worked. I'm a little annoyed they didn't ask permission.

I've got a great supply now but I do think we had some nipple confusion in the early days. The first week was ROUGH!! But we also had to introduce a bottle...

polevaultRN · January 2014

We introduced a paci at 3 weeks because my son was very colicky and nothing else was working. He stopped using it once he turned 3 months. It did not interfere with our BFing relationship. Never had to give him formula as I was able to maintain my supply just fine. He's almost 22 months and still BFing twice a day.

MamaMuslima01 · January 2014

Same as you! Was told about nipple confusion so I introduced it at 4 weeks and DS refused! Second time around I will give LO the binki in hospital!

carrotcake06 · January 2014

All 3 were given pacis in the hospital - the first was jaundiced and under the bili lights and I was told it would help calm him. He kinda took it and we tried a bunch when he came home, but it never took. We bf for 20 mo.

The twins are preemies and paci use is important for developing the ability to suck. One gave up the paci for his fingers at 4mo and the other just takes it to sleep on occasion. We're BFing and going strong at 7mo w plans to self-wean.

AprilloMom · January 2014

From the beginning my son latched on great to the breast and our LC said since he was a "champion breastfeeder" that he would be fine. Although I believe Kellymom.com says 4 or 6 weeks. Anyway, My son never could get the hang of the paci, so it didn't make a difference either way.

elynnduckwall · January 2014

The nurses at the hospital where LO was born said that it was recommended to give a paci even for breastfed babies to help him develop his sucking. I don't really know if that is true, but we gave it and I have been breastfeeding for the last 9 months without any trouble. He mostly uses it when he falls asleep. It's nice, because he clearly likes to suck when falling asleep, so this way he can fullfill that need without me having to nurse him to sleep. I will say, my son definitely prefers only one type of paci, so if your LO doesn't like one, maybe try a different brand.

OkieMama · January 2014

CLLDLL said:
SS: The nurses gave him a paci when he had his circumcision in the hospital. (without asking me). We had no ill-effects from that one time.

This was us too. I wasn't planning on it but they gave it to him during circ. I was nervous it might be a problem but never was. He never took very well to the paci and was a champ bfer from the get go so I didn't mind giving it every now and then on a car ride or something like that.

kelslynie · January 2014

Our son is a finger sucker! I introduced a pacifier to him in the hospital, but he never would take it (unlike older sister). Instead he began sucking on his fingers after a few weeks.

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