is introducing a pacifier at all a good idea?

[jimdubu]

@sh419ob Honestly, pacis were a lifesaver to us during teething. It’s obviously not good to give your kid Tylenol or Motrin every night, but it made a huge difference for our kids with teething pain and self soothing. I would caution you not to worry about doing everything perfectly. It doesn’t exist and you are setting yourself up for guilt. Knowing risks and rewards is good, but wait to see what hand you are dealt before drawing lines. My son ate like shit but refused a paci until teething hit. My daughter ate like a champ and thrived with a paci from the get go for soothing her colic. I thought weaning her off it was going to be awful, but i just threw them all out and pretended they never existed and she pretended they never existed. It was like i had imagined them all together.

There are tons of reasons breastfeeding can go awry, plenty of pros and cons and plenty of anecdotal contradicting stories. See what you get and roll with the punches.

Editing to add: I don’t know how people who don’t use them allow their kids to explore things without eating them! Playing in the sandbox, coloring with crayons or chalk? Petting the animals? Wrestling with your sister? Sitting in the grocery cart? All of these things require the paci to stay in or he will eat sand, eat crayons, eat animals hair or bite the animals, bite his sister, mouth the grocery cart. Pacis save my sanity.

And yes, they may be responsible for speech delays, but a delay isn’t a big deal, your child is bound to be slower on some skill somewhere, and tons of things can cause speech delays.

 

[thomasia]

@sh419ob My son uses a pacifier and has no issues. He was born early, but meeting all of his milestones on his adjusted curve. It also reduces the risk of SIDS.

 

[seve]

@sh419ob My son- used the paci from day 3 and had no issues with BF.

My daughter- tried the paci a few x and once she got hooked it completely did interfere with BF. It was not "confusion". She just preferred the paci over actually eating. Weight gain issues and all. Refused breast and bottle. very annoying. I had to wean her from the paci 2x to keep her nursing. She was a very odd case. the paci used to make her gag until we got her tongue tie fixed at 6 weeks old.

Also the paci falls out of their mouth and you don't always get more sleep.

I'm really mixed on pacis. I would say try it very early on and see how it goes. My 2 kids were completely different so IDK where I stand.

 

[nillocjames]

@sh419ob I introduced a pacifier the day baby was born in the hospital and he still rarely takes one. He’s 4 months old now and tries to take it but he’s got a tongue and lip tie so he can’t hold it. It didn’t affect breastfeeding at all for us, he exclusively nurses now.

 

[sweettea]

@sh419ob As a former finger sucker, I've introduced a pacifier to my daughter bc I feel it'll be easier to break that habit. Finger or thumb sucking is hard to break in my experience.

 

[rdavis0720]

@sh419ob Mostly anecdotal here:

If you ever intend to do sleep training, you'll want them off pacifiers at night by then (6-7 ish months). Reason being: you don't want them waking up at night because the pacifier fell out; they should be self-soothing instead.

Also, we had a friend whose child kept her pacifier well past 3yo. They couldn't figure out why she struggled with Ms and Bs and Fs. So definitely don't keep it past, I would say, 2yo.

We have 4 kids. Of the kids who used a pacifier, we got rid of it at 6 months or so. Self-soothing really helps with sleep training, and we encourage language skills as early and often as we can

 

[castleamy]

@sh419ob Anecdotally, we have used the paci as a tool as well.

Baby was born in winter so diaper changes were hell for baby and us. He’d cry his head off! Then we introduced the paci during changes and it helped a lot! We could actually take a look at his body and inspect for rashes etc rather than just rushing to clothe him.

Now we are using it when he gets extremely cranky but isn’t hungry or ready to sleep. It helps about half the time.

We’re also relying on it as a sleep aide during naps when he’s really worked up or overtired or we want him to nap in the car etc. The issue with using paci at night is that you’ll have to keep reinserting it. That doesn’t seem to be the case with this baby, but we’re not using it at nights anymore.

Paci doesn’t seem to be interfering with nursing.

 

[olivemcr]

@sh419ob My son is ten months. I never introduced one, mostly because I understand it can complicate breastfeeding and we were already having a tricky time. He’s never started sucking his thumb, and I’m glad I won’t have to deal with the power struggle of taking it away later.

 

[exposetheevilthroughjesus]

@sh419ob Mine didn’t take to it when I tried to introduce one later on, and same happened with other babies from my antenatal group. The only ones who took a dummy were given it at hospital.

I tried my hardest as at the time it felt like it might make something easier (he hated everything except being carried and I wanted to give him something to soothe himself so I could put him in his pram!) but now in hindsight, at 14 months, it wasn’t actually a big deal. And now we don’t have to wean off it!

 

[kaitlin2012]

@sh419ob We used ours at doctors appointments. It helped, our kid always screamed as a newborn

 

[tarag]

@sh419ob It reduces SIDS but if you (safely) cosleep or bedshare then you can also use your boob as a pacifier haha. Seems silly, but I side lie and feed while asleep (keeping baby on his back and moving his head to the side) and he’ll keep pacifying all night

 

[sh419ob]

@tarag I’ll take the pacifier please! I know comfort nursing is a thing and that extra snuggly time even when baby isn’t feeding is precious, but having a baby latched on for hours sounds like a one way trip to breastfeeding aversion for me personally lol

 

[tarag]

@sh419ob Haha yeah I understand that. Personally I don’t mind but I know it would drive a lot of people up a wall. He also doesn’t have an uncomfortable or painful latch usually but some babies always do. If he does get a painful/uncomfortable latch I let him get what he needs and when he slows down I unlatch him. It’s annoying to relatch him when he’s half asleep haha