So now I have been doing a ton of resurch since having Xander on whether or not to use a paci for my babies, all the nurses at the NICU and PICU and a lot of the studies that I have read on SIDS say to use a paci when the baby sleeps at night because it decreaces the risk of SIDS, something about it reminds them to breath, then there are some women/moms who say NO way to the paci because they say it creates nipple confusion but then when you talk to some LC's they say that is not true, they just choose what nipple they like the best and stick to it, the baby is not confused about the nipple being yours or not, some just prefere the paci nipple.

I don't want to start a debate I was just wondering what everyone else is going to do, I am thinking that we will use a paci at night time only, probably not too much durring the day as I can wach her while she is sleeping and keep and eye on her breathing, I think we will only use one while we are sleeping at the same time as her or can't keep a close eye on her breathing, just to be on the safe side.

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We will be breastfeeding and they say no so we wont be using one at first. I guess we will see how it goes.
With my daughter she didnt take one until she was a few months old. It was my fault. I gave it to her. It did make her calm down and go to sleep much easier. But then she had it until she was 2 1/2 and it got very annoying.

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Yes this could be debated I think equally. The reason I chose not to use a Pacifier is because I did not want Isabella to become attached to it and have to take it away form her at some point. I will not give this baby one either for the same reason. For me personally I think it is weird seeing a toddler walking around with a pacifier sticking out of the mouth. All of my friends and nieces and nephews had their pacifiers till about 3 and all but one have orthodontic issues and that is something I can prevent. My sister who works for an orthodontist says that is one of the main causes of kids he sees in his office. Both her kids who had a paci till 3 have had or will have orthodointic devices. My niecs who is now 13 fianlly got her braces off. However I know some children who really need to be pacified. Isabella was probably one of them as she would nurse or pacify like every hour on the hour till I weaned.

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I did use a paci with Zoie until 18mon when I took it away, then Magi refused to take one, Xander still uses one although I would wheen him right now at 18mon I don't because it is the only thing that calms him when he stays in the hospital, I think I feel more comfortable with using one while the baby sleeps this time but not more than that like Xander uses his.

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I bf'd, and gave my boys pacis. Isaac HATED it after a little while, didnt want anything to do with it, but Carson LOVED the thing. And Carson was a belly sleeper from the start (hated back/side sleeping), including having bad reflux. I was worried about SIDS but SIDS you really cant prevent, it just happens. Even if you do all safey things to help pevent it, it still happens. Nothing truely helps. I learned that from a lady on my other board whose boy passed from it.
Luckily, we didn't have problems taking it away from him (when he was sick back in Dec).
Btw, Carson was a VERY colicky and very difficult baby and the paci was a GODSEND for me and my sanity.

It also helped with the sucking reflex too. But I can't remember which boy had troubles. I dont believe in the nipple confusion. My boys were never "confused" and they were both boob fed, bottle fed, and sucked on pacis.

So yes, we will have one ready for this child.

It all comes down to is do what you are comfy with and feel what is right for you.

Sorry so choppy but Im sooooo tired today, lol.

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Rachel
Proud Mother of 2 Boys and a Girl
Isaac David born February 24th, 2004
Carson Eli born January 18th, 2006
Kianna Rachelle born May 25th, 2008







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I'll have them on hand, JIC. DS finds pacis every once in a while (we must have had a ton and I throw them away when I find them) and he pops them in his mouth at night. So, I'm trying to stay away from that.

The new pacis I have are soothies and DS will not use those at all. Some babies just do NOT like them. Others love them.

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I tried with my first- even though it wasn't my plan. After the first night home with him and being up all night dh suggested that we try one. Well- Keiran never really sucked on the thing. I realized that I was holding it in and picking it up more often than he sucked on the thing so I just figured he didn't want it after a few weeks. Then I never offered one to the other two because I figured they wouldn't suck on it if I didn't offer. LOL So I will not offer one for this baby either...mostly because of breastfeeding...and because I don't want to have to go through taking it away. It can cause speech delays as well as the orthodontic issues. Although, I had badly crooked teeth and so did my mom, so I think that was hereditary. My sister and I both had braces. My dad had perfectly straight teeth and never needed braces! My dh has braces now, because his parents couldn't afford it- but his teeth are straight- he just had the front gap thing. I forget what it's called. Otherwise, he has almost perfect teeth. Hopefully my kids will get good teeth!

So long story short, no pacifiers.

I have never heard that about SIDS and pacifiers, Carman...I would think it was opposite- that the thing would inhibit breathing! There are all sorts of theories on SIDS but I think no one really knows what causes it. (not trying to get in a debate about the theories ) But that is an interesting idea about pacifiers.

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Francine mom to 3 awesome boys~Keiran 2/18/01 Aidan 11/14/02 (water birth)Breylan 5/02/05(water birth)
and and Hunter Grayce~born 6/7/2008 7 lbs 6 oz, a fabulous water birth
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The day you deliver, outside will be warm. Your baby will arrive in the evening.After a labor lasting approximately 5 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 8 pounds, 15 ounces, and will be 17-1/2 inches long. This child will have blue eyes and dark hair.

I thought it was interesting too, something about when it starts to fall out of their mouth it wakes them just enough to start sucking againg which in turn reminds them to breath.

I just think it is a personal choice, I have done both giving and not and I think for me I prefer them to have one for my own selfish comfort reasons LOL I have never had problems with nursing because of them and with Xander I nursed and bottle fed and paci'd and he did ok, but this time I think I will limmit the paci to night time only. That was too hard for Xander only because of all the hospital stays but I think I may wheen him from it soon, I am trying to cut it to sleep time only right now and not let him have it durring wake time.

With Zoie, I had to wheen DH more than her, I had her completely off the paci at 16mo and then one night she got really fussy so Dh gave her one and I would throw them away and he would dig them out of the trash and wash them and sneek around to give it to her, I then ended up finding out and cut all the nipples off them before throwing them away and she hasn't had one since LOL

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I did not use paci's with my son and he started sucking his thumb. The Dr's said he would automatically stop at a certain age. Now he's 4-1/2 and every once in awhile he sucks his thumb. SIGH

So with my daughter we used the soothie paci. She LOVES IT! It's always in her mouth so we bought her an attachment that hangs on her clothes. I said it's easier to take away the pacy than the thumb. Well she loves it at night and sometimes when it falls out she will wake up and whine a bit until we put it back in. Sometimes she sleeps and it falls out and she doesn't wake. It soothes her when she's crying very fast and she's a biter at daycare so they actually requested we bring her pacy for her so she can be discouraged from biting others. Her entire class is full of biters so it happens. She's 15 months old now, but we figure sometime in the future we'll take it away from her. She does love those soothies.

For this one, I think we are going to go the same way with the soothies. I think it does depend on the baby a lot. My son HATED pacys but always prefered his thumb. GO figure.

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Jennifer (29)
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Embarassing confession....I sucked my thumb until......I was in.....the.......5th or 6th grade. I had to stop because of getting braces.

OMG I can't believe I shared that with you all. AAAAHHHHH!!!!! LOL.

Thank-goodness my boys didn't aquire that habit.

I'll be breastfeeding, and I plan to hold off on pacis for the first couple of weeks. After that, if it looks like this baby wants one to self-soothe/ get to sleep, I'll offer it. Two of my other kids loved their pacis, and didn't get rid of them until 3 years old. My other two babies didn't care as much for them and self weaned off of them after just a few months.

I always buy mini-Mams, and then Mams. It might be because I have older kids. I use what I used when the older ones were little. I know there's a lot more choices now, but I'm stuck in my ways, LOL.

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When Logan came out of me his hand went into his mouth, automatically. I didnt want him to be a thumb sucker, because you cant exactly take away a kids thumb...so a soother seemed to be the best alternative. He was so attached to it, but i didnt want him to be going to kindergarden with it.....lol. So we took it away when he was 18 months old. It was a much smoother transition then i thought it was going to be, I'f i had known i probablly would have taken it away when he turned 1.

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Amanda happily married to Ryan (June 10th 2005)

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Logan Lee (April 11th 2006)
Parker Drew (June 25th 2008)

I have been reading A LOT of breastfeeding books lately & they recommend holding off until 4 weeks. So hopefully that will work out this time.
We used one with DD until she was 4 months old, at that time babies can find their thumbs and we took it away.
It worked out very well for us.

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I work in pediatrics, and work with speech therapists. They told me if I was going to breast eed the baby to hold off on using a pacifier the first few weeks until the baby has latching on down. Using both can cause issues with breastfeeding with some babies, others are not affected by the two types of latching needed. But to be on the safe side wait till the baby has the breastfeeding down. I was also told that it can be beneficial with certain muscles in the mouth for the few months, but that after 6 or 7 months it really has no benefit. One recommended that if I choose to use a pacifier to try and take it away by 9 months, so that it does not continue to reinforce thrusting the tongue forward, and allows for even development of the muscles in the mouth. Just thought I'd share some info. from a therapist.

Of the three kids I have, two used a paci, one never took to it. I will have some on hand, and just see how it goes.

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Daniel Allen 6/20/2008

ive tried using a paci with all of my kiddos and only one wanted one for a long time. i breastfed two of my babies. my first will used a paci at bedtime/car rides and stressful situtaions until the age of 3. allison took to it for a few weeks, she now still sucks her thumb at bedtime or when upset, she's five. adam also maybe liked one for a few weeks but after that nope, he sucks his index finger and still does so, he's 3.

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DH and I just had this conversation this past weekend...

With Kate we offered a pacifier and she wasn't a fan. She found her thumb by 3 months but wasn't a continuous thumb sucker. When she started teething, we gave her the paci to chew on (we use the Gumdrop ones that are all silicon and taste like vanilla) and she used to chew on the wrong end. We didn't think she would ever use it. Well at around 11 months, who do you think I found sucking on the pacifier in her crib the right way? So now, she uses it only in the crib. I wasn't about to let her start using one so late but when we go to take her out of the crib we tell her she has to put it down and she drops it in. She NEVER has it out of her crib. I figure after she's adjusted to the baby being here we'll see when we want to take it away. She spits it out after she falls asleep so I figure she only sucks on it for about 45 minutes a day.

I have heard that it's supposed to help with SIDS but I also feel like the list of things that are supposed to help with SIDS is sooo long that anything can help!

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--Kristina

With our first I waited the recommended 4 weeks until bfing was well under way. We only used it when she got really fussy like in a store or what not, usually when she was hungry but mom was exactly able to feed right that second. She never really got attached to it so I don't really know how long she used it or when we took it away. With our second, well he ended up being a thumb sucker so I tried to get him hooked on a paci instead for the reasons posted before (easier to take away then a thumb) that worked for a few months then he figured out he could pluck it out with his thumb and insert his thumb. So that pretty much ended the paci, he eventually would not even take it. He really only sucks his thumb when he is tired or has just woke up. I hope he doesn't do it forever... I took with shamefully admit that I sucked mine until I was like 7. I really hope he doesn't do it that long.
So we will have some available for this baby but will only use them if baby seems too fussy or tries to use me for one. Oh forgot to add that my first used me as a paci and had I known better would have probably pushed the paci more. We will still probably wait a couple weeks to make sure bfing is going well before we introduce it though.

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Nikki ('78)
DH Chris ('73)
DD Madison 7/11/03
DS Colton 7/18/06

It's a good question. I did not breastfeed Kylie and offered a paci early on with her. She was a wonderful sleeper and I can attribute much of that to the pacifier. She learned to self-soothe early on due to having it. She also would wake up if it fell out of her mouth a little and would start sucking on it again so there was that. She gave up her pacifier without any problem when I decided it was time when she was about 15 months old. She was starting daycare and I really didn't want her having a pacifier then. All in all, I had no real issues with her having a pacifier.

I hope to breastfeed this time but may still offer a pacifier. I honestly haven't thought much about it but I guess I need to make that decision soon. Obviously things will be a bit different this time so it's something to think about.

At my u/s on Friday, Cohen was sucking his entire fist. It was pretty cute but I really hope he doesn't acquire a thumb-sucking habit. I'd much rather him have a pacifier if that is the case since they are easier to take away. Decisions, decisions...

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This just reminded me that when Kate was about a month or two she would cry every time the paci fell out of her mouth. And of course it fell out every time she fell asleep! I remember writing in her journal one day that I couldn't wait until she could find her thumb because I was so tired of getting up and putting the paci back in. I think that's when I stopped giving it to her!

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--Kristina