Pacifier...when to wean?

SaraRL07 · January 2015

When are you planning to wean you LO from their beloved pacifier? I always heard it is best to do it early. Any strategies you want to share?

Currently DD sleeps with her paci and takes it when she is fussy , tired or bored (example in her car seat). I don't want her to become to dependent on it but I am loving how easy a baby she is and I am afraid of messing with a good thing.

Knbh · January 2015

I plan on letting DS enjoy his as long as it isn't harming him.

Also, when my son doesn't have his pacifier, he sucks his fingers. Later on, I think it'll be a lot easier to take away the pacifier than to stop thumb sucking.

JustGoWithIt · January 2015

Not for a long while. My oldest had his until he was 2, but around a year we cut back so he only had it for naps/bedtime. When it was time we cut the tip of it. He said "uh oh, it's broken". I said "yup" and he went and threw it in the trash himself. He knew there were 3 Binkies in the house, so we cut one every few days. Within 2 weeks they were all cut & he willingly threw them all away himself & never looked back!

Soon2BMrsN · January 2015

I'm not the person to ask...both of my sons were 3+ before we took the pacis away. Luckily, DD doesn't seem as attached to hers so far, so maybe it won't be an issue with her.

Sparky65 · January 2015

Tonight. Tired of the LO waking up at night every time her paci falls out. We're unswaddling and taking way the paci. Wish us luck!

PregsMcSnoozalot · January 2015

May the force be with you, @sparky65!

blacktie3 · January 2015

Sparky65 said:

Tonight. Tired of the LO waking up at night every time her paci falls out. We're unswaddling and taking way the paci. Wish us luck!

Let us know how this goes!

Sparky65 · January 2015

I figured I would give a follow-up.

The first two nights were brutal. We were in and out of the room multiple times trying to calm her down. Ferber method. Going in and out in intervals. Problem is with our baby, she's stubborn, each time we went into to calm her down it just continued to fuel her crying for the next round. After a very long period of crying we pulled her out and rocked her to sleep. She kept waking up every hour or so and we would go back in and rock her to sleep. I really don't recommend this as it was two very very rough nights where nothing was getting better. We also have a regular night feeding session at 1 that we had to get up for that started the whole process over again.

Yesterday we had to take LO to the doctor as we thought she had an ear infection, super cranky and yanking on her ear constantly. She gets into the doctors office and she's happy as a clam with absolutely no sign she's cranky and her ears are perfectly fine. First partent syndrome on my part.

The doctor asked us about sleeping. We told her we're trying Ferber and she's eating at 1 every night and that just fuels the problem. She kinda smiled and told us there's no reason a 6 month old should need to get up to eat, it's just a crutch for parents to feed baby back to sleep. (I know that's going to upset some moms around here and I don't care) She recommended going through our regular sleep routine and then lay baby down for bed, close the door, and open a bottle of wine and relax and don't go back in there until morning. Of course she said keep an eye on the monitor to make sure nothing is wrong, but if she's just crying let her go.

I have to say, it was amazing. My husband and I slept better than we have in months. After 20-30 minutes of crying when we laid her down she was out cold. She kept looking at the door to see if we were coming in and when she realized we weren't, she decided to go to sleep. Same thing came at 1 at the regular feeding time. She was up crying hard and just watching the door waiting for us. After 15-20 minutes she was out cold again and slept until 6am. 6:30pm - 6am. It was AMAZING.

The doctor also said her crankiness could be coming from not giving her enough solid foods. Since we've introduced the baby food LO hasn't been interested in bottle feeding. With her size the doctor recommended 5-7 oz of baby food at each sitting. We're going to try that and see where it gets us. Right now she's 25 weeks old and she's 28 1/2 and 19.7 lbs.

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to update you!

Evil Maleficent · February 2015

After a year we'll wean to sleeping only and then bedtime only and then not at all.

IMO, a pacifier is really important for sleeping for the first year because it reduces the risk of SIDS is babies fall asleep with one in their mouth.

KarrieG52 · February 2015

Fancy seeing you here

Evil Maleficent · February 2015

KarrieG52 said:

Fancy seeing you here

Me love you long time!

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Pacifier...when to wean?

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