Post Punk Kitchen Forum

So much conflicting info out there...L pretty much wants a boob in her mouth 24/7. I hadn't planned on using pacifiers, but when she's not eating it wears thin.

If you used pacifiers, when and for what reason did you use them? If not, why?

The Emperor wanted to be sucking on something close to 24/7 for what felt like the longest time. We thought for sure he would either go for a pacifier or become a thumb sucker. But when we tried introducing a pacifier at 4 weeksish, we discovered that he was just. Not. Having it. We tried a bunch of different brands and styles and he didn't want any of them. It killed me. Kid, we know you're orally fixated! Take the binky!

After a couple of weeks of trying, we just resigned ourselves to letting him either suck on boobs or on our fingers (which were an acceptable substitute much of the time, even though pacifiers weren't).

I think they make sense as soothing devices and as long as you're not using them in place of feedings or something, then if they make your baby happy, may as well go for them.

I would have let Walter use one, but he was just never interested. He would play with them for a minute, but never suck on them.

It's amazing how once you have a kid, things you thought you were strongly one way or another can change so quickly!
Ezra had a pacifier while he was in the NICU which really helped soothe him, especially since we weren't allowed to nurse at all for that time. Even though I know it did help him out in such a cold environment, he didn't seem to use it that much, just a few times a day during the times when we couldn't hold him and comfort him ourselves. Once we got home and got breastfeeding down, he didn't want it at all.

Leela used a paci on our second night in the hospital because I was exhausted and she wanted to feed 24/7, and the nurse suggested I try it. It gave me 4 hours of sleep and was amazing.

At our lactation class we were told that if you introduce it before 4 weeks it can cause nipple confusion and in Happiest Baby, he suggests weaning them off it by 4 months, so I'd think you're at a good time to introduce it. I think sleep and soothing are really important things, so I'm with everyone else on this - if a paci gives you some respite, go for it.

I had oversupply once we got home, so I needed her to keep eating hahaha, otherwise I would have considered keeping the paci. I actually feel a bit bad that we didn't use it during her jaundice treatments to calm her because she was so unsettled and upset and in retrospect perhaps it could have made the experience a better one for her.

We tried and tried to use a pacifier. Like The Emperor, Grey wanted/wants to suck all the time but is not interested in a pacifier. We must have bought 40 different styles trying to find one he would take, but he is a boob only kind of baby.

As the childhood and birth educator I see every week says, if they want a pacifier give it to them, you never see a 15 year old with one.

We introduced them at 3 or 4 weeks out of desperation (can't remember exactly when), and they were a lifesaver for me. Paci+bouncy chair meant that I could get things done, and when she got really upset, the Happiest Baby on the Block method of soothing was magic (we did shushing, swaddling, sucking, plus swaying-- we could never figure out how to rock her on her tummy properly). Lydia totally rejected the paci around 5 months on her own with no prompting.

This is what happened for us as well. My daughter was not interested in anything that wasn't the boob, including bottles.

Oh yeah, and I should add that we breastfed, and I don't think pacifiers ever interfered with bfeeding for us.

Malcolm was never interested in one, which I was glad for. It eliminates having to tear him away from it when he's older.

My oldest never showed any interest in anything but boobs - not even bottles - so it was never a question. My middle son liked a pacifier ever-so-briefly when he was teething, and the youngest was an enthusiastic binkyface until he was about 18 months old, when he quit cold turkey (he did this with weaning, potty-training, and everything else). I don't have an issue with them as long as they aren't used as a substitute for parental attention, or a "plug" to shut the baby up; some babies just like/need/want to suck more than others.

pacis are AWESOME. i would have lost my mind without 'em. she is still very in love with hers at nearly two, and we've toyed with eliminating it, but god, she sleeps through the night, is weaned and is a doll in general... surely she's allowed a dumb piece of plastic as a comfort item. (my annoyance is directed only at my husband and my former self, both of whom are dead set against toddlers with pacifiers). we insist she take it out while talking to us, and she's not allowed to have it at daycare, so it's usually only in the evenings anyway.

My daughter used them only a handful of times as an infant because she really always just wanted a boob or bottle. I wish she had liked them more. When she was about a year old she took to sucking on the paper-ish tags on stuffed animals and I was finally able to sleep for more than an hour at a time. Her teeth are in good shape, which is what I really worried about. She also was weened off the night bottle at 18 months.

we tried and he won't take one. he just sucks his fist and toys now. I wish he would take one. I never thought I would say that before I actually had a kid.

I'm going to try it tonight and report back. My mom gave me one of those wubbanubs with a little stuffed animal attached to a soothie, so we will see if this can take the place of my nipple while she sleeps! fingers crossed

I am going to be the lone voice of dissent and say I didn't use them and never considered using them. My mom sent me one when I was pregnant with Beetroot and I immediately threw it out (boy, was she mad...and probably still is). I think they are gross and germy and didn't want my kid chewing on plastic (I know they come in rubber, too).
I generally try not to judge other pacifier users and have never voiced my dissent or given the stink-eye to anyone involved in pacifier use, although I hate when they are used as shut-up devices. I see them a lot with older kids around here and I think it's kind of weird when kids have them in their mouths all the time (one of my really good friend's first kid basically had a pacifier in her mouth 24/7 until her mom cut the sucky-bits off of all of them).

Mind you, I do think they looked totally bad-ass on those mean-looking teens who used to wear them in the 80s and hang out on the mall bathrooms!

i first introduced one to felix at 2 months because i wanted something to soothe him with beside boobs while on a plane. he liked it but it took a long time for him to figure out how to suck on it without it flying out of his mouth. after a while he just used one at night, and around nine months he just stopped accepting it very suddenly (i did not complain and threw them all away immediately). i tried to give milo one right away because of how helpful it had been with felix, especially through teething, but he really could not figure out how to latch on to one. even now at 11 months he will occasionally put one in his mouth, but he holds on to it with his hands the whole time.

my kids LOVE(D) having stuff in their mouth almost 24/7 for the better part of their first year. i prefer the binky to so many other things they've somehow managed to get in their hands and mouths. and, i don't have any qualms with someone trying to calm/quiet their baby with a binky, but when it's older kids i definitely think it's time to move on.

Well, it worked for what I wanted it to...putting in pacifier for after extended nursing to lay her down in the co-sleeper. She used it for like two minutes and was out cold for about two hours, which was heavenly. Then all hell broke loose and we were up pretty much all night; nothing really consoling her, not even the breast. And she is still not sleeping today! Yesterday I was worried she was sleeping too much. Nothing to do with pacifiers, just venting.

I didn't think we'd use one, but baby hates the car so much that I got one of those Nattursutten rubber ones for Christmas, as sucking on papa's finger usually soothes him a bit in the car. No interest in the binky! I had him try it a few times not in the car just for practice and he sucks on it for 5 seconds, looks at me like I'm crazy, and smiles and it drops out of his mouth. It's like he's telling me, "not falling for it, mama! You think you can trick me that easily?"

that's kind of how it is here too, kids up to 4 or even 6, and moms talking about having to cut off the paci before school starts. (yeep).

i was very anti-pacifier before the kids were born, but would have sold my own mother to get them to take a pacifier at certain points of babyhood. But the girls weren't interested, and that was that.

I read to wait 6 weeks before introducing. Guess what? Wait 6 weeks and your kid won't want a pacifier. I wanted my kids to take one but they never would.

I can't quite remember when we introduced one to Kai. At first he didn't like it, then eventually he did like it for a while. It helped a bit when trying to get him to sleep, and in the carseat (which he has always hated). Then he lost interest. Again I can't remember when, but it was a long time ago, months before his first birthday.

Neither of my kids would take them by the time I tried. I wish they had, though. Being a human pacifier is not so great all of the time.

Both of my kids used them pretty early (within the first two weeks, if not sooner?). It just seemed like they both wanted to suck on something even after having finished eating and it hasn't interfered with breastfeeding. We weaned the oldest one of his just before he turned two and it wasn't difficult and didn't seem to be very upsetting to him.

+1 on "my kid wouldn't take one", which my mom could not believe - she too kept buying different ones and was adamant that "she HAS to use one". I also wished she would've taken one at times but then I saw my brother's twin girls acting like complete paci junkies...they would go to sleep at night with one in their mouth and clutching another one in their hands. And if there was one on the floor by their cribs they would scream and scream til someone came and gave it to them. I know my brother went through hell trying to wean them off it, but obviously it isn't always like that.