Pacifiers

Are they necessary? Will I regret not having them?

Re: Pacifiers

Not necessary but I couldn't have survived without them. They are wonderful to soothe a crying baby and they help prevent SIDS. My dd had colic and truthfully the pacifier was one of the only things that calmed her.

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DS never took to any pacifiers. There are times in the first couple of weeks that I wish he would take one to help soothe him back to sleep but none did. Around 8 weeks he discovered his thumb and now uses that as his "pacifier" here and there. I really do not find it a big deal if you don't use any. No regrets


I should also mention ds was breastfed. I feel like that played a big role in him not taking any of the pacifiers I tried to offer him.

Message edited 3/14/2012 12:41:16 PM.

Re: Pacifiers

I asked the nurses to give DD one b/c whenever she was in the nursery and I went to look at her she was screaming and it broke my heart.

She only used it when going to sleep and dropped the habit by 11 months old.

I plan on doing the same thing with this baby.

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Let's put it this way......if I could still stick a pacifier in my 4 year olds mouth when she starts to cry and complain, I wish I could!

I love pacifiers.....I don't care what anyone says.

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I'm a big fan of pacifiers, it kept my sanity in the early months. DS loved them and it really comforted him. I EBF him and actually used the paci instead of my boob to calm since I did not want him constantly attached to me and only able to be comforted by the boob. It helped alot- espccially when getting him to sleep longer stretches at night without needing to be fed.

He's 22 months now and only uses a paci for sleeping- which has been the case for some time now. He's not as into them recently but still calls for it at night. I'm fine with it for now, we'll see after he goes to a big boy bed about weaning him off it.

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Re: Pacifiers

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They have them in the hospital. Everyone keeps telling me to drop the habit now (DS is 11weeks today). He doesn't use it a lot but he was very colicy and it was a life saver. He is growing out of his colic so some days he doesn't want it at all.

I woudl play it by ear. You may need it for your sanity.

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DS isn't really into them. I've tried Soothies and Nuk. He likes the Soothies better, but he's constantly spitting it out and clenching his mouth when I try to get it in before bed. Lol. He sometimes takes it during a crying fit. It's comforting to me to watch him be soothed. It breaks my heart to watch him cry.

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it's a total catch 22 in my book.

i did not want to use a paci when my daughter was born. i did NOT want to have to get up in the middle of the night to put a paci back in her mouth. i also feel people stick them in babys mouth to just shut them up instead of letting them self soothe and i don't agree with that.

then i realized that she had a strong sucking reflux so i tried to introduce them to her and she refused (she was EBF for 15.5months). she found her first two fingers on her left hand and starting sucking them upside down. now part of me wishes that she did take the paci because at least i can take that away- i can't take away her fingers.

with dc#2 on the way, i still don't know what i am going to do even though i want my daughter to stop sucking her fingers. i think it's great that she found her own way to self soothe which is so important in a babys life.

i know i did not give a straight answer but i hope that maybe you have more information!

Re: Pacifiers

DS dropped it around 3 1/2 months.

Everyone was like wow, that's great. It is a catch 22 though - he needed something in the early months to soothe him which he didn't have which led to a lot of long nights.

It also took a lot longer to kick the bottle habit since that's what he ultimately used to soothe.

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I am trying them with this baby. My first two didn't use them, they found their thumb and that was that!

My first DC stopped sucking his thumb at 16 months and I was happy. It took DD 4 years to stop sucking her thumb

At least with a paci, I can take it away, however hard it is to do that. DC#3 likes the Soothie.

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In my book, necessary for the first year of the baby's life.

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My son is almost 4 months old and we refer to it as his crackifier. He's addicted.

We have the wubanubbs in girrage, monkey, and elephant. The only problem now is that my 2yr old loves them so much she has started sitting in his bouncy seat asing for Monkey Paci to suck on

I am a huge soothies paci fan so I suggest to any mom to have a 1pk of those handy.

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I let DD use it for 2-3 months. When she was less interested I threw them in the garbage. I didn't want her addicted to it.

I will do the same for this baby.

They DO have them in the hospital, so you don't need tons of them right away.

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I wasn't planning on using one right away, but DS ended up in the NICU and they give pacifiers to the babies there. He really took to it. I'll use one again if #2 wants it.

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We used 1 w DS and we will use again w this baby. But this time around when i cio at 6 months i will take it away already instead of waiting till he/she is 2yrs old and a full on addict lol!

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I am a big fan. They soothe her like nothing else. We used soothies, then avent, and now MAM - which she loves. I've only had to get up once during the night to put it back in her mouth, and that was the very first night we put her in her crib. Before/after that - if it falls out, doesn't phase her.

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Not necessary for everyone. Not all babies take to them, but a lot like them. They have a strong sucking reflux. My DD LOVES them...one particular kind actually. She needs them to sleep. It's definitely going to be hard to break this habit, but she loves it.

I read they lower their risks of SIDS if they use them during sleep.