Pacifiers

fishee333 · June 2016

What's everyone's experience with pacifiers? I think we have a problem with them. They were working great for a while, but now LO is a little too dependent on them for sleeping. I'm ok with using them for naps right now, but during the night, she wakes up a million times and just needs us to put her pacifier back in and then goes right back to sleep. I wish she could just go back to sleep on her own, I'm so exhausted!! I really think she would be getting better sleep if she didn't need us to put it back in all throughout the night. She isn't able to go to sleep at night without one - she just ends up crying. Any suggestions? Is there any sleep training method that works well with getting rid of the pacifier?

teachmegs817 · June 2016

My LO is like this. He can self soothe and often times that's enough. His fingers don't always do the trick though. At this point, as annoying as it is to wake up several times a night to have to put the paci. back in, I don't mind. It could be SO much worse, from what I've seen other families having to do right now, just to get their LO's back to sleep.

I am also hoping that in time, he can just grab the paci. and put it back in himself. He's getting there, but he can't quite turn it around the right way, to fit it back in.

The only methods I've seen done to eliminate the pacifier, and this has typically been with older kids who are 2-3 and still relying on it heavily is to cut the tip off. That way, when they do suck on it, it's not as soothing/enjoyable anymore. They stop wanting to use it.

cali1710 · June 2016

Mine is pretty dependant on them too but she also hasnt learned how to self soothe yet. She can grab it and put it back in but that doesnt work at night time. We don't plan to ween her off of them until over a year as its recommended they use one until at least a year. But we do only use them for naps and nighttime. Never during the day.

teachmegs817 · June 2016

@cali1710 Same for us. Griffin will not just suck on a pacifier. If he does it during the day when he's playing, it'll be out of his mouth within 5-10 minutes. Sometimes less. Even during naps and at night, it'll be out of his mouth within the hour of him going down. I am glad that he isn't that dependent on it. My nephews needed their attached to their mouths at all times. I'm also hoping to kick the habit starting at 1 year old.

Speaking of habits, totally aside from this topic, but a bottle in bed is one that I plan on never starting either. My best friends sister is kicking herself in the butt big time over this one. They started giving their son one, when he was maybe 7-8 months old every night. Now he's a year, still not sleeping through the night and they can't eliminate his bottle to bed, because he won't even go down without it now.

jrouge12 · June 2016

She needs them to fall asleep but most of the time once she's truly asleep she doesn't need it in. But she only sleeps in 2-3 hour increments. We've never had a STTN...

MissMheMhe · June 2016

Nolan's sucking instinct is strong. He latches on his thumbs, fingers, arm, whatever is near. I keep a paci attached to his lovey for when he wants to suck, but doesn't want to on his fingers, which happens frequently. Usually it's in the car or at bedtime. But once he's asleep, he doesn't need it and the lovey does not go to bed with him. When he wakes to eat in the motn, usually only once or twice, he doesn't fully awaken so going back down usually isn't a problem.
I should add that I also keep his paci clipped to his lovey so it doesn't disappear! Our youngest cat loves to hide things. Within Nolan's first month home, she snagged several pacis and two bottle nipples! All were found but only recently!

maureenmce · June 2016

Our LO hates pacifiers - she has since she was one week old. Once she figured out they weren't ever going to give her milk or formula, she had no interest, which has been a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that once she's asleep, she doesn't lose a paci and I don't have to wake up to pop it back in. The curse is she still has a very, very, very strong determination to suck and the only thing she will take at this point is a bottle. It's nearly impossible to get her down without one, but I've been working on it every day. The key for me (when it does work) is letting her suck on the bottle until she's just about to fall asleep, like 5 seconds before, then I take it away and she's fine. Then I increase it to 10 seconds before she falls asleep. Then 30 seconds, a minute, etc. This is the theory anyway. It only works if I get her when she's not overtired, because if she's cranky and can't fall asleep easily, it's bottle or she'll be up screaming for an hour.

So, maybe try the same technique with the paci - let LO have it until just before sleep, then try to make it longer and longer between paci and sleep?

Good luck!

nackie · June 2016

@maureenmce our DS also hates the pacifier, but can't fall asleep unless he's sucking on something. So frustrating.

BGoperadiva · June 2016

Ugh I could've written this post! My lo uses the paci to fall asleep, and when it falls out right away, he is ok. But then, 2 or 3 hours later, he is up every single time it falls out, which is like every 5 or 10 minutes after I put it back in. Saturday we were up for 2 1/2 hours doing this, and yesterday it was an hour and a half. Then, in order to get some sleep since we both work full time, he just comes into bed with us...which is another bad habit. I should say he will be 5months next week, and he is in the magic Merlin sleep suit and has a Snooza attached to his diaper, plus I'm a light sleeper so I'm no worried about rolling on him (and he's not rolling....yet). I really really really hope this is just the 4 month sleep regression, and that he's going to start sleeping longer in his crib. I can't take much more of this lol.

ekscopp · June 2016

@BGoperadiva and I feel like I could have written what you wrote! Down to the merlin suit and the bad desperate habit of bed sharing. The past few nights have been awful. She just wouldn't go back to sleep this morning. I tried everything, fed her twice. She was out when I put her down, but then woke up shortly there after. I gave in around 430 and she was in bed with us!

BGoperadiva · June 2016

I have decided that I can't beat myself up about this. I am doing the best I can, and if this is what I have to do for all of us (baby included) to get much needed rest, so be it. I will keep trying the crib and hopefully one day he will sleep through the night in it haha.

stephanienjer · June 2016

We are desperately trying to keep our LO ON pacifiers. She's become a little too accustomed to sucking on her thumb, and it's a lot easier later to take a paci away than a thumb. I find her thumb sucking far more disturbing at night than getting up and replacing paci, because the sucking noise are so loud, I'm awake anyway. If it gets to be too many trips up, we'll cosleep.

grkgdss00 · June 2016

We're in the same paci boat. She usually will spit it out after she falls asleep, and getting up several times per night to put it back in is killing me. Sometimes I will just let her fuss and she will fall back asleep without it. If she's unhappy though i'll go and put it back in. What also helped is giving her a lovie blanket to sleep with, she loves those darn things. I got the super-breathable ones on Amazon. She rubs it on her face and falls asleep, and now that she can flip over to her belly that has also helped. But she hasn't mastered belly-to-back yet.

BGoperadiva · June 2016

They have breathable ones??? My lo loves to rub this soft blanket I have on his face, but then he covers up his face and I'm afraid he is going to suffocate. What brand is it on Amazon?

fishee333 · June 2016

@BGoperadiva Lol my LO covers her face with it too! If she stops doing that, maybe she can have her lovie blanket to help her through the night instead of her pacifier.

We pretty consistently give up around 4 or 5 am and just put her in bed with us so we don't have to keep getting up.

@teachmegs817
I'm also hoping she can eventually aim a little better when she tries to put it back in her mouth so she can eventually just put it back herself when it falls out at night. I have a feeling that won't be for a while though.

@maureenmce
Interesting method! I might give that a try.

maureenmce · June 2016

@nackie - Have you had any success weaning your LO off of having to suck to go to sleep? I've made progress the last few days so I was feeling pretty confident, but then today she needed a bottle for every nap.

gcolon7988 · June 2016

My LO needs a paci to fall asleep as well. I'm getting up at least once an hour to put it back in at night. She's recently discovered her fingers though and now I've caught her several times sucking on her thumb. DH doesn't want her sucking on her thumb so we replace it with a paci when we catch her, but he's not the one getting up all night long to put her pack back in. I'm wondering if letting her suck on her thumb is really that bad? DH thinks it's going to make her teeth come in weird.

ctmamaoftwo · June 2016

gcolon7988 said:

My LO needs a paci to fall asleep as well. I'm getting up at least once an hour to put it back in at night. She's recently discovered her fingers though and now I've caught her several times sucking on her thumb. DH doesn't want her sucking on her thumb so we replace it with a paci when we catch her, but he's not the one getting up all night long to put her pack back in. I'm wondering if letting her suck on her thumb is really that bad? DH thinks it's going to make her teeth come in weird.

My LO is a definite thumb sucker. Once he found it is when he started sleeping through the night. During the day we always try to give him a toy to distract him when he starts sucking. I asked his pediatrician about it because I was worried as well and he said it really only effects teeth development of they are still thumb sucking when his perm teeth come in (around 5/6). Also that most loose interest by two. So was told me not to worry and enjoy the nights sleep.

mamakate1616 · June 2016

So here's a semi embarrassing story - I sucked my thumb until I was 8 or 9. My teeth came in fine.

fishee333 · June 2016

Thank you all for sharing, it's so interesting reading everyone's experiences!
So we decided to get LO off the pacifier cold turkey. It just kept her and us up way too much at night. It was surprisingly easy getting her to go to sleep without it, though it did take some CIO sleep training. She now has other ways to self soothe and I think we are all happier now.

Kelley421 · June 2016

My DD used a pacifier until about 18 months. I found out she wasn't using one at daycare so I just threw them out and we were done.
Two of my littles stopped using them at about 4 months. My boy sucks his thumb and the other sucks/gnaws on fabric- loveys, the sleeve of her sleep suit- anything nearby. They refuse pacis. My other girl takes one but never cries when it falls out.
I wAs typing to suggest CIO/no pacifiers and I see that's your update! Glad it worked out!

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