Introducing a paci to a bf baby??

[Classical Country Mama]

Has anyone had success introducing a pacifier to a 100% breastfed baby? My baby is 11 weeks old, and if I didn't put my foot down, so to speak, the boy would nurse ALL DAY LONG. So I'm thinking a pacifier might be a happy compromise. But my attempts so far have failed--he just doesn't know what to do with it, and rolls it around in his mouth or spits it out.

 

Has anyone had success doing this? I'd love to know how!

 

Thanks so much--

[secular_mom]

I never could get them to use a paci, except for my oldest who wasn't breastfed at all. Sorry.

 

Gin (the human pacifier)

[TXMomof4]

All 4 of mine were using a paci within 2 weeks and we didn't have any problems bfing or getting rid of the paci when it was time. Ds particularly would have been nursing 24 hrs a day if given the option. In the recovery room when he was born he was sucking his thumb, then nursing until the nurse insisted he HAD to let go so I could get up to my room.

 

ETA: Try a different brand. All 4 of mine were very picky about which paci they would use. We were never able to switch them after they found the one they liked. Even from 1 mo they had definate ideas about what they liked.

Edited July 16, 2010 by TXMomof4

[Tangerine]

I have two exclusively breastfed kids. One wanted nothing to do with a paci, and one wanted a little too much to do with a paci. So, that's probably no help at all!

[milovany]

All but one of our kids has used a pacifier (the one that didn't sucks his thumb), and I have always BF exclusively. The best piece of advice I got in regards to introducing the pacifier -- when it seemed like the baby didn't know what to do with it, and would gag on it -- was "hold it in, and hold it in past the gag." Sounds awful, I know! LOL, but it worked, too. I think the baby doesn't always realize the thing is for sucking on, so if you hold it in then they sorta have to figure out what to do with it, you know? If they gag, yeah, it's a new thing in their mouth. But they CAN get past the gag and then happily begin sucking. This won't ALWAYS work, of course, and I'm NOT saying to force the issue, but it can work and has.

[Parrothead]

Dd has a paci in the hospital before we left. It was fairly easy to keep going with it. I really didn't want to, but it got to the point she tried using me as a human pacifier.

[Tenaj]

I have two exclusively breastfed kids. One wanted nothing to do with a paci, and one wanted a little too much to do with a paci. So, that's probably no help at all!

 

 

Same experience here - we're about 50-50 now with the paci vs. non-paci kids. I second the idea of trying some different shapes. My youngest loved the ones that the children's hospital gave her but my mind is blank as to the brand name - I'll look at it when she wakes from her nap and post again.

[Guest aquiverfull]

I've breastfed 4 children. They were all different on the pacifier. I didn't introduce a pacifier to my 1st bf child until 4 months when she began to suck her thumb. The 2nd Bf child began to suck her thumb a little earlier, so I gave her a pacifier at 3 months.

The 3rd bf child would not take a pacifier no matter what, she sucks her two fingers and unfortunately still does. The 4th bf baby, I'm still nursing and I gave her a pacifier around 4 months old.

[Punchie]

Neither of mine had problems taking a paci, but both girls started using them around 2-3 wks old.

[Classical Country Mama]

I've breastfed 4 children. They were all different on the pacifier. I didn't introduce a pacifier to my 1st bf child until 4 months when she began to suck her thumb. The 2nd Bf child began to suck her thumb a little earlier, so I gave her a pacifier at 3 months.

The 3rd bf child would not take a pacifier no matter what, she sucks her two fingers and unfortunately still does. The 4th bf baby, I'm still nursing and I gave her a pacifier around 4 months old.

 

That's encouraging news! How did you introduce it? How long did it take? Did you do anything special to get them to suck on it?

[Britomart]

All for of my kids took pacifiers and all four breastfed (the first two exclusively - the second two eventually exclusively - they had feeding issues related to prematurity at the beginning). I love pacifiers!

 

My first two had pacifiers within their first week. No breastfeeding problems at all. Second two, like I said, had other issues, but pacifiers were never a problem. fwiw, I leaned heavily towards the feed-on-demand model, so that might have helped us avoid any problems, but I always figured that little babies have no control over any part of their bodies but their eyes and mouth (no hand control, foot control, etc) so pacifiers were basically the only "toys" they could play with at that age! :)

[SonshineLearner]

I wouldn't hold it while they were gagging... but... you just stick it in... and keep at it... till they take it... sleepy time is good. My son liked the regular sized mam from the beginning... since yours is 11 wks... I'd get that one. Also, I had him take many kinds... so I could stop at any store and get one in an emergency.

 

:)

[Amy loves Bud]

Has anyone had success introducing a pacifier to a 100% breastfed baby? My baby is 11 weeks old, and if I didn't put my foot down, so to speak, the boy would nurse ALL DAY LONG. So I'm thinking a pacifier might be a happy compromise. But my attempts so far have failed--he just doesn't know what to do with it, and rolls it around in his mouth or spits it out.

 

Has anyone had success doing this? I'd love to know how!

 

Thanks so much--

 

All three of mine were exclusively breastfed. I was taking alittle bit of night call with the first and DH tried to give him one and he never took it. We never offered one to the second.

 

Number three however wanted to nurse night and day, day and night. Finally, when she was 8 months old and still nursing around the clock, up to 3 times at night, I bit the bullet and gave her the paci.

 

It was very hard for me because I REALLY hate them.

 

But she took it, and I slept. It was glorious.

 

However, I can tell you from Bud's attempt to get our first one to take a paci, he just never would. No interest at all. So I can't tell you what to do to convince her.

 

Also, at eleven weeks, it may just be a growth spurt and she really does need to eat. IMO, eleven weeks is awfully young not to nurse on demand.

 

Good luck. I know how hard it can be!

[Giraffe]

DD got a paci after her 9 day pedi appt - the doc ok'd it since she was nursing like a champion and doing well physically. I was going nuts being both source of food and human pacifier. We used an Avent one and she just took it right away. There was never confusion between the paci and me. I was nervous about it, but she seemed to understand. I also held her while she sucked on it for the first couple of weeks (I had a hard time putting her down, period!) so she didn't feel like I'd abandoned her to this stupid piece of plastic. It was just another way of comforting her. If I remember right I would jiggle it in her mouth, hold it, basically interacted with her with it if that makes any sense. I just don't remember there being an issue, thank goodness!

 

I do think babies have preferences when it comes to pacifiers. I know DD could tell the difference between a new Avent paci and one that she had already "broken in". She wouldn't take other brands.

 

Good luck!

[Spy Car]

Has anyone had success introducing a pacifier to a 100% breastfed baby? My baby is 11 weeks old, and if I didn't put my foot down, so to speak, the boy would nurse ALL DAY LONG. S-

 

Isn't that what they are supposed to do at 11 weeks? :confused:

 

Bill

[Lara in Colo]

Try different brands of paci's I had the best luck with MAM brand. (they have a really small one that doesn't make the newborn gag--but 11 weeks could go either size. HTH

 

Lara

[WarriorMama]

Isn't that what they are supposed to do at 11 weeks? :confused:

 

Bill

 

My thought also. On the other hand, it must be difficult if a baby wants to comfort-suck ALL THE TIME, especially if you have other children to look after. I'd be worried that there was a REASON baby wanted to nurse that much (growth spurt, trying to increase milk supply, etc) and that giving a pacifier would mess things up.

 

Probably, I would get a good sling so I could go about my business and still let a baby that little nurse on demand. But some might say I'm overly paranoid about sabotaging my breastfeeding relationships. :tongue_smilie:

 

To the OP, I have no great suggestions for getting a baby to take a pacifier, but I hope you find something that works for you! Those early months sure can be rough. :grouphug:

[hornblower]

My thought also. On the other hand, it must be difficult if a baby wants to comfort-suck ALL THE TIME, especially if you have other children to look after. I'd be worried that there was a REASON baby wanted to nurse that much (growth spurt, trying to increase milk supply, etc) and that giving a pacifier would mess things up.

 

Probably, I would get a good sling so I could go about my business and still let a baby that little nurse on demand. But some might say I'm overly paranoid about sabotaging my breastfeeding relationships. :tongue_smilie:

 

To the OP, I have no great suggestions for getting a baby to take a pacifier, but I hope you find something that works for you! Those early months sure can be rough. :grouphug:

 

:iagree:

[ChristusG]

I exclusively breastfed my girls. My first DD immediately took to a pacifier (and had it till she was 5....yes, she REALLY took to it LOL). My second DD was much more difficult. I had a bunch of Nuks stocked up since that is what DD#1 loved and also what the hospital gives. Well, DD#2 wanted nothing to do with them. I tried for weeks.

 

DD#2 threw up a lot....I finally figured out why. She wanted to nurse all the time, but only for comfort sucking. She didn't really want the milk because she was full. However, to nurse for comfort she'd, of course, get milk too. And she'd throw up all the time. I knew I had to get her to take a pacifier to stop the throwing up. I went out and bought all kinds of brands LOL. FINALLY, when she was several months old she finally tolerated the Soothie brand of pacifiers. She didn't love it, just tolerated it for comfort sucking. I took it from her at 11 months and she never even missed it.

[Tenaj]

Same experience here - we're about 50-50 now with the paci vs. non-paci kids. I second the idea of trying some different shapes. My youngest loved the ones that the children's hospital gave her but my mind is blank as to the brand name - I'll look at it when she wakes from her nap and post again.

 

If you wanted to know the brand of my dd's favorite from the hospital, it's a Soothie. There is a website where you can order the version that smells like vanilla which is what the hospital had. I think that's the reason she really liked it because I had tried other paci's and had no success. I can now just go to Walmart and buy the non-smelly versions for her and she doesn't mind but when she was really little that vanilla smell seemed to really calm her down.

[Guest aquiverfull]

That's encouraging news! How did you introduce it? How long did it take? Did you do anything special to get them to suck on it?

 

I didn't do anything special. I just gave it to them, when I noticed they were trying to suck on their thumb. The 3 just took to it right away. They took the first one I gave them, I didn't have to try different brands. Now for the one who wouldn't take it....I tried to give her one several times and tried different ones, but she would not have anything to do with it. She still sucks her fingers though, and she just turned 4. I don't know how I'm going to break that habit. It is much easier to take a pacifier away.

[Guest aquiverfull]

I also want to say that I agree with the others. I don't think it's too uncommon for an 11 week old to want suck all day. I know it may seem like a lot, but perhaps he's going through a growth spurt. My children went through stages where they seemed to nurse constantly, and then it would even out where they seemed to get in a pattern. Best of luck to you. :)

[Snowfall]

Sometimes it's helpful (in an emotional way, not so much a practical one, lol) to just think of it differently - babies do not use mothers as human pacifiers. They use pacifiers as substitute breasts. It's this backwards cultural thing that has us thinking they're "using us as pacifiers". No, they aren't. They're using pacifiers as us. In non-industrialized societies where babes and mothers stay together all the time, it's common for babies that age to be nursed every 20 minutes for several minutes. This doesn't necessarily work for our lives, so we give them pacifiers and nurse them less often, but they aren't doing anything unusual by wanting to nurse all the time.

 

At 11 weeks, I'd have no qualms about introducing/using a pacifier, but I would definitely be careful with it just for the next couple weeks. There's a growth spurt happening right about now or next week or so. My first DD also nursed all the time. She would only take a pacifier in the car, so I know how trying it is (although she was my first, so I had no other children and in that case, perhaps I don't actually know).

 

With DD2, she doesn't nurse nearly as much, but sometimes she seems to want to suck without getting milk (I make a LOT of milk and have a forceful letdown), so we give her a pacifier, but we had to try several brands before we found one she liked and she still won't take them reliably. Sometimes she will and sometimes she won't. It was hard to help her figure out how to take them at all - she did the rolling around and gagging thing, too. We just kept trying and trying, until she finally figured it out. Now she's 16.5 weeks and she'll usually figure it out within a second or two, so maybe your little one just needs to get a few weeks older, to figure it out. It's only been in the last 2 weeks that DD2 really gets it right off the bat.

[Starr]

I think 11 weeks might be late to start. The baby will either take it or not. I'm not sure you get much to say about it. lol Mine started much younger and nursed just fine.

[Giraffe]

I guess I have to agree with PPs also. As I said in my previous post, I introduced a pacifier at 9 days, but I did it only after she had drained me dry and was full in her tummy. She and I did well communicating with each other and I learned quickly what was her "hungry" cry vs. her "comfort me" cry. I have forgotten a lot from that time (sleep deprivation makes my memories a little fuzzy!), but I do remember being careful not to try to pacify her (literally) when she really wanted to nurse.

[Ginevra]

Yeah, with my first, I was paranoid about "preserving the bfing relationship" and by the time I got it through my head that a paci would be a huge help, I could not get her to take it. I did not do it that way again. The next babies were given a paci within, oh, maybe the first 2 weeks. I didn't use it as a constant thing, but it was great for working towards something like a schedule. It was a great way to keep from constantly nursing a zillion times a day.

 

My sons used the paci often and when they were about 6 months old, I chucked it and never looked back. I'm glad I did it that way. It was practically perfect.

[Tylianna]

My 2nd and 3rd were the only ones who used a paci. They preferred the Mam Ulti ones. I think that's what they were called LOL! Been a while! Anyways, my 2nd just NEEDED something in her mouth constantly. Even switching to the other side while nursing, she would have her fingers in her mouth to suck.... I mean, it only takes a few seconds, girl! Goodness! Once letdown was done, she was done with the boob and wanted the paci. I felt used :001_huh:

My 3rd used it, also, but she didn't have the NEED for it. My oldest would never use them, but she was a GOOD baby and didn't need it. (Read: *I* didn't need it for her lol)

 

I agree with a PP who said just to hold it in their mouth until they suck. When they get it, they get it.

[nova mama]

ETA: Try a different brand. All 4 of mine were very picky about which paci they would use. We were never able to switch them after they found the one they liked. Even from 1 mo they had definate ideas about what they liked.

 

I agree that a different brand might work. My newborn DS actually likes the huge inflexible one they give you at the hospital (which is, fortunately, also sold in stores). My older children preferred the ones where the shield-y part fits over the mouth

 

Best Wishes with your sweet baby.

[Mommyof4ks]

My constant nurser never took a paci, and believe me I tried HARD lol. My other two took pacis before we even left the hospital, but for some reason I was the paci for my middle son. Grrrr...

[SonshineLearner]

Oh yes... if you really want them to take it... a bit of brown sugar can help :) I nurse forever... all the time... and my kids still took pacis. They were a substitute sometimes, but I still nursed very often... maybe sometimes once an hour?

:)

[Pata]

Has anyone had success introducing a pacifier to a 100% breastfed baby? My baby is 11 weeks old, and if I didn't put my foot down, so to speak, the boy would nurse ALL DAY LONG. So I'm thinking a pacifier might be a happy compromise. But my attempts so far have failed--he just doesn't know what to do with it, and rolls it around in his mouth or spits it out.

 

Has anyone had success doing this? I'd love to know how!

 

Thanks so much--

 

Haven't read all the replies, but I think that you stole my son :D. He wants to nurse all the time and has no interest in the paci. It's some comfort to know I'm not the only one! The good thing is he's gaining weight really well :). Now I'm going to go back and read the advice...

[staceyobu]

No. No luck whatsoever.

[staceyobu]

Sometimes it's helpful (in an emotional way, not so much a practical one, lol) to just think of it differently - babies do not use mothers as human pacifiers. They use pacifiers as substitute breasts. It's this backwards cultural thing that has us thinking they're "using us as pacifiers". No, they aren't. They're using pacifiers as us. In non-industrialized societies where babes and mothers stay together all the time, it's common for babies that age to be nursed every 20 minutes for several minutes. This doesn't necessarily work for our lives, so we give them pacifiers and nurse them less often, but they aren't doing anything unusual by wanting to nurse all the time.

 

 

I like this! :)

[PiCO]

Has anyone had success introducing a pacifier to a 100% breastfed baby? My baby is 11 weeks old, and if I didn't put my foot down, so to speak, the boy would nurse ALL DAY LONG. So I'm thinking a pacifier might be a happy compromise. But my attempts so far have failed--he just doesn't know what to do with it, and rolls it around in his mouth or spits it out.

 

Has anyone had success doing this? I'd love to know how!

 

Thanks so much--

 

Both my kids were exclusively bf. Both took to a paci at birth. They were both picky about the shape, though.

 

My oldest also took to a water bottle right away. She was dehydrated- you could tell by looking at her fontanel.

[Closeacademy]

Both bf, both used a paci. Oldest had a hard time giving up the paci. The youngest gave up bf and paci around the same time.

 

When I introduced them, I gave it to them after they nursed. This seemed to make them happy. It did take a week or so for it to take.:001_smile:

[AHASRADA]

I didn't do anything special. I just gave it to them, when I noticed they were trying to suck on their thumb...She still sucks her fingers though, and she just turned 4. I don't know how I'm going to break that habit. It is much easier to take a pacifier away.

 

My ds put himself on a 4-hour schedule from day one, and never needed his thumb or a paci. He was just an "eat-my-fill, I'm-done" kind of guy (and still is).

 

My dd had her fingers in her mouth from day one, and nursed about every 2 hours (which was a lot for me, LOL!) I was actually relieved that she naturally took to her fingers, because I didn't like the idea of the pacifier. My mom had always said how stupid kids looked running around with the hunk of plastic covering their mouths, and I hated that they were easily dropped and had to be washed constantly, or lost. Her fingers were always there, and she had learned to comfort herself.

 

As she got older, I became concerned for her dental health, and wanted her to stop. I started thinking at least a paci could be thrown away. We tried putting lemon juice on her thumb, telling her she was a big girl and pulling it out etc. By the time she was 5, she tried not to do it in public, but always reverted to her thumb when she was tired. I eventually gave up, and somewhere around her 6th birthday, she just stopped. Fortunately, she has no dental problems whatsoever due to her thumb sucking.

 

There are pros and cons to both (considering a paci with the new baby, we'll see...) but my advice for stopping thumb sucking is just like weaning. Just be patient (with some admonishment to limit the activity to private and/or sleepy time if they get quite old) and they will grow out of it.