Do you plan to use a pacifier?

Bear14+ · January 2016

I do want to say that with most things when it comes to babies, the earlier you do it, the easier it is. Crib transition, bottles, pacifiers, well you get it. It is a million times easier to take away a pacifier at 6 or 12 months than it is at 18 or 24 months. DS loved his paci and within a day or so forgot that it completely existed at 12 months. Now, if I tried to do it at 18, we probably would have had a much difficult situation.

noelietrex · January 2016

I'm a FTM and voted 'no' because the midwife practice I go to advises against them as being harmful to the nursing relationship. After reading these comments I'd like to change my answer to 'maybe' though. Once nipple confusion is less of a concern and good BFing habits have been formed, a little self-soothing and time off for me sounds like it could be beneficial. Like everything- we'll see. Depends on me, baby, boobies, etc.

satcher08 · January 2016

I didn't really plan on using one with dd but she ended up using one off and on for maybe 4 months before totally losing interest. She never used it at bedtime or anything, only occasionally during the day. I'll just wait and see what this baby wants. I won't try to push one on him but if he seems like he needs/wants one then we will use one.

itsStackie · January 2016

GinnyJ2012 said:
DS1 didn't take one past day 2, DS2 took one until he was a few weeks old and was able to find his thumb. We never had issues with nipple confusion. Aren't there statistics that show that pacis reduce the risk of SIDS? Maybe show that information to your MIL?

This reminds me of the other reason I decided to use a pacifier. I sucked my thumb until I was about 5, and so it swayed my decision to try to have more control. But I do also know that if a baby wants it's thumb or fingers it will find them and choose them.

GinnyJ2012 · January 2016

itsStackie said:

GinnyJ2012 said:
DS1 didn't take one past day 2, DS2 took one until he was a few weeks old and was able to find his thumb. We never had issues with nipple confusion. Aren't there statistics that show that pacis reduce the risk of SIDS? Maybe show that information to your MIL?
This reminds me of the other reason I decided to use a pacifier. I sucked my thumb until I was about 5, and so it swayed my decision to try to have more control. But I do also know that if a baby wants it's thumb or fingers it will find them and choose them.

I was worried he'd suck his thumb all the time! However, he only does it to fall back to sleep during the night so we lucked out!

VikingGirl12 · January 2016

I voted yes. I swore up and down that I would never use one with DS and didn't buy any in preparation. He ended up in the NICU with issues and they gave him one. When DH went to visit and saw him, we were in such a bad place with what was happening we both said we didn't care as long as he was comfortable. We continued to give him one as it did comfort him sometimes, but it didn't last long. It wasn't the horrific experience I thought it would be.

june2016baby · January 2016

My babies loved them during the first few weeks/ months, but weaned naturally. Also, there was no nipple confusion! Two of my babies even took a bottle for one feeding daily (and did breast the rest,) and again, no nipple confusion. I'm sure nipple confusion exists, but I have had any problems with it.

hellomommas · January 2016

Pacifiers are a gateway drug. Why would you want to introduce a baby to his/her first addiction? hehehehe. OH MY GOSH WE LOVE THOSE THINGS. But seriously my kids are addicted. I just took away my 3 1/2 year olds paci a week ago and not without a couple difficult days of screaming and crying. (Though--just 3 days later, he went to bed fine without it and hasn't asked for it today at all--so I THINK we are in the clear). It was actually harder to take it away from US (the parents) than HIM! There are so many reasons we justified having it this long. The top one being: We travel a lot and it never seemed like a good time to subject ourselves to a 15 hour car-ride without it.

He always needed his pacifier and blankey to feel calm and go to sleep---we joked that it was like a cigarette and beer.

Nevertheless...holy smokes (no pun intended)---WE LOVE PACIFIERS. Lord have mercy! Sometimes you just need a break and some guaranteed peace and quiet

So yeah, we will be getting back on the pacifier train in June.

hellomommas · January 2016

@Lyette1206 Truer words were never spoken girl. Preach it.

chelthorn · January 2016

More than likely we will use one for a little while. DS only used hers until she was about 9 months old and only used it then to go to sleep. I hope this little one is the same way. Some babies absolutely will not take them. It is kinda one of those things to be prepared for both ways.

jmohio · January 2016

From what I have read on the SIDS site it helps prevent so I am for them. I agree with PP you need to ween them off of it at a good time. I agree with it goes to just sleeping time then gone.

Jason&Erin82507 · January 2016

Every child is different. My first loved her paci. To us it was a godsend!! My second wanted nothing to do with it! The only thing the irks me about them is when you see a 2 or 3 year old with them. Especially when they talk with them in their mouths! We pulled my oldests when she was 10 months. It was a rough couple of days, but well worth it overall.

tslmom87 · January 2016

Dd 1 used hers til a couple months before she turned 3. By 2.5 it was only used at bedtime though. She never had any speech issues and has perfectly normal teeth! She weaned off it just fine as well. Dd2 just turned 1 and still has hers until who knows. Dd3 will hopefully take one too.

I've noticed with babies who don't take to pacifiers they are normally extremely fussy and have miserable moms. I like my sanity and not fussy babies so we will be pushing the pacifier like crack! Lol

To each their own though.

Tawny87 · January 2016

I'm a no response and second pregnancy 3rd time mom I guess lol. The terminology is weird because first babies are twins

MynaBird · January 2016

We used one with #1, mostly just for sleeping, due to the evidence that it reduces risk of SIDS. That was my first "back the f--k off" moment with my mother. I guess hippie moms in the late '70s thought they were inhumane or something, because she couldn't believe we were using one and spoke right up about it. I suggested she look up some medical research that was less than 35 years old and perhaps open herself up to the possibility that, in the span of time during which we had evolved from party line rotary telephones and standard transmissions to pocket GPS smartphones and self-driving cars, science might have also made some advances in infant care knowledge.

ETA: Kid lost interest in pacifier on her own -- maybe around eight months? I remember it was after she started sleeping in her crib.

Rosehip15 · January 2016

Once breastfeeding was well established, I offered it, neither kid was really interested. The baby will decide. There are bigger issues.

HBamama2B · January 2016

@MynaBird that's hysterical.

bwahahaha!

little_bren · January 2016

I voted maybe because it depends on LO. We found this out with DD who refused to take a pacifier after 3 mos. She was exclusively FF and got to a point where if no food came out (formula) she didn't want it and would spit it out. It sucked at the time not having a "mute button" aka a quick way to soothe, but on the flip side, it was awesome not having to try to break her of it later. She has some little friends who are 2 and 3 and they are struggling with giving it up and sometimes are hard to understand bc they learned to talk with a binky in their mouth or are still trying to talk around it. I plan to offer this LO a pacifier and we'll see what happens.

little_bren · January 2016

itsStackie said:

GinnyJ2012 said:
DS1 didn't take one past day 2, DS2 took one until he was a few weeks old and was able to find his thumb. We never had issues with nipple confusion. Aren't there statistics that show that pacis reduce the risk of SIDS? Maybe show that information to your MIL?
This reminds me of the other reason I decided to use a pacifier. I sucked my thumb until I was about 5, and so it swayed my decision to try to have more control. But I do also know that if a baby wants it's thumb or fingers it will find them and choose them.

Also, this. You can throw away a pacifier. You can't throw away a thumb. That was my initial reasoning with DD.

ufsandra85 · January 2016

My son never really liked one, he would much rather use my boobs as a pacifier and still wants to even though we stopped breast feeding. I'm making my next kid use one! No more human pacifier

BlueJuice · January 2016

I'm voting no, initially for nipple confusion reasons, but really the main reason is that I just find chasing after lost and dropped pacifiers constantly to be incredibly annoying. Having one fewer thing to remember to pack when we go elsewhere seems great in my book. And I'm okay with some comfort-nursing too, so that angle doesn't bother me.

BLM10 · January 2016

For every story about a kid who had nipple confusion and almost went to kindergarten with a pacifier, there is a kid like mine who was not confused and gave it up at 18 months.

Do you plan to use a pacifier?

Re: Do you plan to use a pacifier?

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