What are your views on pacifier?
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What are your views on pacifier?
| Wed, 01-12-2005 - 1:21am |
What do you guys think of letting a 6-month-old baby use pacifier as a sleep aid? I know the books says don't let it become a habbit. Has any of you had to stop that habbit for your babies? Was it hard? Do you think it's absolutely essential to keep pacifiers away from babies?

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I am planning on taking it from him soon.
I think he needs it more to sleep, and that is it.
We will see how that goes when the time comes.
I think if it is something your child needs to comfort themselves, then so be it. I just don't think it should be used past a certain age.
One thing I cannot stand, is seeing a kid who is 3 or so using a pacifier. That is what I call a lazy parent!
Both of my kids had their pacifiers until they were 3. After about age 1, the only time they got it was for naps or bedtime. They both are great sleepers...they loved napping and going to bed right up until the time I took it away. They used it to fall asleep and then I took it out and laid it next to them so it wasn't in their mouth all night. My doctor and dentist both thought this was fine, and neither of them have any problems with their teeth. When it came time to taking it away, I started telling them a few months in advance that they were going to be too big soon and when I took it away there were no problems.
I think they are a great comfort to some children and if it works for you and it's not causing any problems, then don't feel guilty about it.
Hope this helps!
Wendy
Sorry for babbling!!!
Amanda
thank you guys for the different views and sharing with me your experiences.
My 6.5-mont-old son only needs pacifier to go to sleep, which is fine and dandy up until he develops a habbit of having me get up all night to fetch the pacifier for him so he can fall back to sleep.
Some book says this is an interruption to the baby's sleep as well, not to mention the parents'.
Did you guys have to get up in the middle of the night to replace the pacifiers?
So is the pacifier preventing babies to sleep though the night?
Do you still get up several times a night to replce it?
Does it get less frequent?
Pardon all these questions...I am feeling desperate being so sleep deprived due to this problem.
Wendy
Well I have a 2yo using a paci as a sleep aid. I did take it away for 2 night a couple of months ago and she was up til midnight. It is the only thing that calms her down to where she will go to sleep. And sleep is the only time that she gets it.
I have tried so many things to try to get her attached to something else and it is just not working. She did get a cabbage patch kid for Christmas that she has been sleeping with so I hope them become good friends and can take the place of the paci.
So I say go and give them the paci
Sarah
I say give those babies their pacifiers! My 4 year old was (and still is) a thumb sucker. He only sucks his thumb when he's in bed and nearly asleep. But he has put himself to sleep since he was 6 weeks.
My daughter started out as a thumb sucker as well, but switched to a pacifier. (We somewhat encouraged the pacifier because she had horrible problems with eczema, her thumb would get rashed and infected from sucking it.)
Anyway, she's coming up on 2 and the pacifiers are not permitted out of her crib. Although she must have a stash of them somewhere because she'll occasionally show up with one in her mouth!
As for keeping the pacifier in the crib -- I bought a clip for a MAM, shortened the ribbon, and clipped it to a small stuffed bear in my daughter's crib. (She was around 9 months when I did this.)The bear couldn't fall out and the pacifier stayed in.
Hope this helps!
Kelli
Josiah had a pacifier right from the start... we had one in the hospital. He used it all the time until he was about a year and then started self-weaning from it. From then until 16 months, he used it only at bedtime or in the car. One day during his nap, he had thrown it out of his crib, and so that night I didn't give it to him when he went to bed. He cried for awhile that night, but he finally fell asleep. He was weaned completely within 2 days.
HTH
Karyn
Josiah - 19 mos.
Micah Nathaniel - EDD 5/21/05
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