I really appreciate everyone's input and ideas on pacifiers! I think the issue I have with them is toddlers who still use them. I never thought about the thumb sucking argument. Hubby will be happy to know he won this debate in our home.
I do no pacifier until my milk had come in and we get established. Usually around two weeks old I introduce one. D Dd used for about a month. Then took again at first birthday for about three months -ear problems. Other than that she had no interest. Ds was a thumb sucket from the womb. Most of his ultrasound pictures are with him sucking his thumb. Tried breaking that immediately, but no luck. He's three and still sucks his thumb at night and nap time.
We will only be using them from 1 month to 6 months and at night only due to SIDS prevention. My step daughter used a pacifier till she was over two and it was a nightmare breaking her of it and she was hard to understand talking due to it. I think the habit breaking was harder as her mother let her still have it while were not allowing it in our house.
My 15 month old still has a paci. She took it well in the beginning and it just helped her sleep. We give it in the car, at nap and at bedtime. She recently started throwing it in the car so I think we'll stick to sleep time now. I was going to wean but I figured that she would probably regress when her sister arrives and steal hers so we'll tackle it closer to her 2nd birthday. I don't like her having it during the day but sometimes she finds one or one of the grandmas gives her one (she's sneaky and points to where we keep them and they cave).
Definitely not against them. If he takes one awesome, if he doesn't, awesome. They don't cause buck teeth like people used to think, and babies can get attached to any object so if he has a hard time separating then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm strict by personality so I'm sure we'll figure something out. But I'd rather the paci than a hand or some other object he grabs and sucks on too quickly for me to catch right away.
I did a bunch of reading on the SIDS link last night and I'm not sold. Breastfeeding is a much stronger preventative measure, as is having the baby in the same room. Mine always comfort nurse and i don't mind, sobe technically the breast is the original paci. I also found some info that the funding of two of the major studies linking pacis to decrease in sids were funded by companies that made pacifiers. Stuff like that really pisses me off.
Of course co-rooming and breastfeeding are a part of SIDS prevention, so is room temp, smoke free environment, no baby bedding, back to sleep, etc. What pacifiers can do is help prevent the deep sleep that leads to the downward spiral of the shutdown of central nervous system which is true SUIDS (the u stands for unexplained)...as opposed to suffocation, which is an identifiable reason. My hospital is a safe sleep certified hospital and pacifiers are a part of our safe sleep info. We don't give them to breastfeeding babies in the hospital, because we are baby friendly (breastfeeding certification) too, but we do discuss their benefits once breastfeeding is established. If the baby doesn't want them, it's not the end of the world, but they are not damaging to infants.
@kaza512 i get why they are recommended. But i think it's am over sold prevention, and that to me is risky for a parent who hasn't thought much further than that about it. I have no issue with using one outside of nipple confusion. But if it's being pushed as sids prevention they need to come with clear explanations and warnings of the limitation.
My friend never gave her kids paci and they both suck on their blanket or a stuffed animal (even still at ages 2 and 5). Makes me want to gag! She doesn't wash them every day either.
@twogirlsandagreen my oldest dd had a blanket she sucked on that we could not break her of. We called it stinky blankey because it always smelled so bad due to her milk at night. I washed it daily until it was magically lost. It took her a month to get over it.
Re: Pacifiers: yes, no, and why
I was going to wean but I figured that she would probably regress when her sister arrives and steal hers so we'll tackle it closer to her 2nd birthday.
I don't like her having it during the day but sometimes she finds one or one of the grandmas gives her one (she's sneaky and points to where we keep them and they cave).