Pacifier use has backfired on me

[milovany]

I will preface by saying I've used a pacifier with five of the six kids who came prior to the little 4 month old sitting on my lap as I type (the sixth was my first thumb sucker).

 

This little guy -- Axel by name -- didn't use the pacifier for the first 2-1/2 or so months of his life. By that time he slept through the night a handful of times and was doing pretty well with getting back to sleep on his own if he woke up in the night.

 

I decided about then that he no longer needed to nurse in the night -- for one, he's a CHUNK and for another, I just mommy-knew he didn't need the nourishment -- so my thinking went along the lines of "If he wakes up before let's say 5 a.m., I'm going to help him get back to sleep without nursing. Then he'll learn he doesn't need to nurse in the night and will just stop waking all the way up."

 

Enter .... the pacifier.

 

I started slipping this in his mouth and he'd go back to sleep! Wonderful! Marvelous!

 

Addicting!

 

Ack!

 

So now I have a 4 month old who n.e.v.e.r. sleeps through the night and who NEEDS the paci to get back to sleep. And with the paci he doesn't zonk out for a long time like he used to after nursing. In and out of bed (his cradle is two feet away) over and over until he sleeps, but then he's still somewhat wakeful for 2-3 hours until I *do* nurse him.

 

I've backtracked now to sometimes just nursing him when he wakes up at 3 or 4 and getting him to zonk out for another 3 hours. But I want off this crazy cycle!

 

Anyone have any words of wisdom for this tired mom?

[Karen sn]

Well, I have never used them.

I hate plastic and I don't get why so many kids need them BEYOND their baby years and even toddler years.

I wonder if makes for an oral fixation problem later.

I choose to ruin my kid in a million other ways - so don't take that as a criticisim....just saying that I never really got it - the whole pacifier thing - because it seems to just be one more thing to wean them from and if you loose them all h*ll breaks out.

 

(I of course reserve the right to change my mind later on in life...)

 

Can you just quit it cold turkey and get through the next few weeks of what will probably be h*ll - but then you could have him sleeping a little more throughout the night like before.

 

I am evil when I am tired - so my heart goes out to you and your lost sleep. You have your hands full already without then facing the day exhausted. And what about expressing some milk and maybe letting dh do one feeding at night.....maybe that would help.

[kat19]

First off :grouphug:...

My 4 month old does have a pacifier.

He usually falls asleep with it but once he is out, he doesn't need it.

I get up maybe once or twice a night to give it to him.

If I hear him moving around w/o fussing, I will play his mobile(with lullaby music) for him and he goes right back to sleep.

He has always just recently started sucking on his thumb~not too sure if I like that or not but not much I can do about it.. :001_smile:

 

If you want to get rid of the paci, do it and give the night time feeding. He will eventually figure out how to put himself back to sleep.

[milovany]

You both have said what I think I already knew -- that I'm probably going to have to go through a rough patch until we're back to where we were. *Sigh*.

 

I have used the paci (successfully?) with five of our other kids with no addictions, problems in breaking the use at a young age and etc. I like to use them mostly for quietness when needed (church for one). To break their use, I do it when they go down to one nap a day -- I keep them up until they are SUPER tired, then they just go to sleep rather than need the paci to suck to sleep because they're so wiped out. But I'm going plastic-free in other areas, so will likely head that way in this one, too. I'm just not there quite yet.

 

Thanks SO much for your replies!

[milovany]

~K~ When was your little one born? Our situation sounds a lot like yours except I'm up and down several times over the period of a couple of hours. Axel is trying to suck on his hand, too (in fact DID fall asleep last night doing so), but isn't very adept at it yet.

[lighthouseacademy]

All babies go through periods of needing more nourishment at night and not. My youngest went through periods of sleeping through and waking several times. Usually the waking periods correlated with a developmental milestone. I would nurse him at night unless he sleeps through himself and not offer the paci at night at all.

[Susan in KY]

With my eldest, I weaned him from his night feeding by giving him water in a bottle. (He exclusively breast fed.) He never took a pacifier. He cried for a few minutes (less than 20) each night for three nights, and then he slept through for 10 hours a night.

 

He was such a great baby--and he's still an excellent sleeper to this day! :001_smile:

 

Maybe you could try that instead?

 

Susan

[Ellie]

~K~ When was your little one born? Our situation sounds a lot like yours except I'm up and down several times over the period of a couple of hours. Axel is trying to suck on his hand, too (in fact DID fall asleep last night doing so), but isn't very adept at it yet.

 

Here's the thing: Unless your little guy is eating a good dinner of solids, he really does need the nighttime feeding. Even if he is a chunk (and I'll bet he's a very cute chunk). Sometimes babies will suck on their hands or thumbs or a pacifier and sleep all night, but since they are not nursing for a long period of time, it *can* affect their mothers' milk supply. It can also cause them to be less than satisfied during the day because babies *need* to nurse, for more than just nourishment.

 

And then again, none of these things might apply to your sweetie baby. Just something to think about.