Do you find nursing babies don't need a pacifyer?

Esther - posted on 03/13/2011

Both my kids take/took pacifiers.
My son had his until he was 2.5 years. He was exclusively breastfeed on demand for 18 month. He weaned himself. He is 3.5 now and he has a comfort toy he doesn't sleep without. Sometimes he still makes a suckling sound in his sleep.
My daughter (almost 6 weeks) has one too. she is also ebf on demand. I believe it helps her sleep better. She is already sleeping 7-8 hours at night.

Also my mum EBFed me almost 2 years and i had a paci until i was about 3.
Most breastfeed babies I know have a paci and a lot of the formula fed ones dont. So i guess it does vary from baby to baby.

Michelle - posted on 03/06/2011

My son took a paci, but neither of my daughters have. I weaned my son at 18 months and didn't have to deal with it again. All breastfed. My daughters wouldn't/ won't take pumped bottles either (my son would). It's a mixed bag so I'm not sure if it's the breastfeeding or not. I thought about that too. I found out when our third was born in November that new studies are showing babies who sleep with a paci in the first few months have a lower risk for SIDS but of course she won't take one (and I tried several). Seems like paci interest just varies from child to child.

Karla - posted on 03/06/2011

My son was exclusively BF for over a year. He started taking a paci around 5 weeks and LOVED it. He quite easily weaned off the paci at 18 months.

Katie - posted on 03/06/2011

I never wanted my daughter to have one. My thought was if she's crying, she's crying for a reason, and to use a pacifier wasn't giving them what they needed. When she was 4 months old, she was in the hospital, and was throwing up so they didn't want me to feed her. When she stopped throwing up, and was hungry, they wanted me to wait a little bit before feeding her, so they tried a pacifier. She played with it mostly until the Dr gave me the ok to feed her. For the next one, I still don't plan on using a pacifier. If, however, I had a baby with colic and the pacifier was the only thing that calmed them, then I would definately use one.

Cher - posted on 03/06/2011

MY 11mnth old boy has never taken a pacifier,Ive tried multiple times. But i do feed on demand so i think he uses me as a paci since isnt that what a pacifier is,a replacement of mothers nipple!I also never introduced him to one until after the 6week mark so he didnt get nipple confusion.

Heather - posted on 03/06/2011

Mine loves his pacifier. Always has. And I've breastfed him from day one, on demand. Still doing it at 14 mos. Honestly, I think it depends on the kid.

Sylvia - posted on 03/05/2011

Well, mine nursed till she was four and a half, and she thought pacifiers were excellent for teething. And throwing. For sucking, not so much.

She was also *extremely* offended by bottles. But I know lots of bf babies do take bottles sometimes.

Melissa - posted on 03/05/2011

I nursed my son for almost 2 years, and he never wanted a pacifier!

Katrina - posted on 03/04/2011

None of my 3 used pacifiers, we never offered them honestly. My first 2 were thumb suckers, they were in utero too. My third isn't a thumb sucker.
There really isn't a reason to force a pacifier on a baby if they don't want one. They may just not need to suck that much extra outside of what they get from the breast.

Christi - posted on 03/04/2011

you don't need a pacifier. it just causes teeth placement problems, a need for something in the mouth and thumb sucking. you are better off without him taking it. think about it: do you really want to fight him to take it then later have to fight him to get rid of it? good luck.

Anna Marie - posted on 03/04/2011

We never offered a pacifier as I am comfortable with being a pacifier if/when they need it. I did consider getting one for the car b/c the boys both hated it so much, and I thought it might help, but I just didn't want to have the hassle of weaning from it down the road, or the possibility that they would take to it and want to use it instead of me. I love my nursing boys - the more frequent, the better :)

Teresa - posted on 03/04/2011

My girls took pacifiers til we took them away at almost 2 years. They were schedule fed though (twins) and also were VERY mouthy... would've sucked on anything (and did).

My son would never take a pacifier. I tried to give him a bottle once and he looked at me like I was crazy and started screaming, so.... never tried that again. lol

Susan - posted on 03/04/2011

My son never took to a comfort toy/blankie either. I comfort nursed and nursed on demand, so I guess like Aideen said "Mommy was enough"!

Aideen - posted on 03/04/2011

2 of mine didn't take to a pacifier and never took to a comfort toy, or blankie or anything like that either. Mommy was enough I like to think.

Ashlee - posted on 03/04/2011

I also breastfeed, a daughter who is six months, and I could never get her to take one either, even though I tried on multiple occasions. She just spits it out after a minute. Sometimes when I'm driving and she starts freaking out, I can give it to her and it will calm her down, but I actually have to hold it in there to keep her from spitting it out haha I know what you mean though, I think I'm a human pacifier at least 20% of the time!

Minnie - posted on 03/04/2011

I never even considered using a pacifier. My babies have my breast and I have always let them comfort nurse.

Aleks - posted on 03/04/2011

I have found that the babies who are breastfed on demand do not really take to a pacifier. The ones that are more scheduled fed can.



That is what happened with my kids. My 1st born was to a large extent schedule fed and followed the "feed, play, sleep" routine (hey 1st time mum... was pretty naive, but I have learned from my mistakes, lol) and he needed a pacifier. While my 2nd born, who is pretty much fed on demand (still at age 2) never really liked it! We tried as we thougth she needed it, but she hated it and screamed even louder when we tried to soothe her with it!!! LOL



What I have noticed is that (from the contacts I have around me) is that those babies that are fed on demand never want a thumb or pacifier, while those that are ff or fed on schedule tend to need thumb or the dummy.



Oh, and regarding being a "human soother" , a pacifier or even a thumb is nothing but a poor or 2nd rate replacement for what nature actually intended to soothe babies - mamma's breast! Sorry, but that is the biological norm - being a soother and a pacifier, not a dummy or a thumb. This is something I have learned after having had my 2 babies, unfortunatelly my 1st born didn't get that comforting warm breast when in need of soothing :-( he got a latex teet instead :-( we live and learn....

Sydney - posted on 03/03/2011

I had to get my daughter to take one because she was using me as a pacifier. It took almost a month to have her take one, infact I had fallen asleep a few time with my hand holding the soother in her mouth. She is still finicky about it every now and again, but she only uses it at bed and nap time. It has been a life saver as I had no intentions of being a human soother.
I am not worried about weaning her off the soother... I would rather her take a soother than a thumb, I can throw a pacifier out. But I would for sure say that my child being breast fed would rather a breast than a soother.

Carolyn - posted on 03/02/2011

9 months into nursing and Logan does take a pacifier. only for bed though, we dont nurse to sleep. It took a couple different kinds and the Avent ones that are rounded on both sides did the trick. that puppy stays in his crib though and only comes out with us if we are out during a nap time.

Celeste - posted on 03/02/2011

I have 3 kids. 2 of them never took a pacifier, but one of them did. He stopped (on his own accord) at around 8 months or so..

Sarah - posted on 03/01/2011

Clara stopped taking it at about 6 months. She'll find one now and again and chew on the nipple but never sucks on it.

Amy - posted on 03/01/2011

My son who is now 5 would never take a pacifier no matter how often we tried offering it. However my daughter who is 11 months old did take one. She stopped taking it at 8 months though when she started teething.

Jessica - posted on 03/01/2011

I have 3 children, all breast fed and none of them would take a pacifier.