Pacifiers - The Great Debate

PACIFIERS - The Great Debate

It’s 2 AM and you have been up every 30 minutes for the last 4 hours.  You expect to be up every 30 min for the rest of the night.  You are exhausted.  Life looks pretty dim and your precious bundle of joy is only 3 weeks old.   The baby will sleep fine when sucking on the pacifier but she does not have the control to keep it in her mouth so when it falls out, she wakes up and starts crying.  Wait, you can take the baby to bed with you and hold the pacifier in her mouth.  It will work but you will not sleep well knowing she is right beside you.  So what is the solution to this exhausting situation? 

I am here to give you insight on the pros and cons of pacifiers.

Do I use them in my work?  Yes! They do a great job to stretch feeding time and soothe a fussy baby.  Has a baby I cared for been pacifier dependent?  No!

Why not?  It is a habit that can be easily broken and is not beneficial.

Let’s start with the pros and cons of pacifier use:

Great Soothing tool

May offer a temporary distraction

Works well to extend feeding time

Pacifiers are disposable

Baby may become dependent

May increase the risk of middle ear infections

Prolonged use may lead to dental problems

If you choose to offer your baby a pacifier, keep these tips in mind:

• Let your baby set the pace.  If your baby is not interested in the pacifier, try again later or skip it entirely. Don’t force the issue
• Let sleeping babies lie.  If the pacifier falls out of your baby’s mouth while he is sleeping, don’t pop it back in.  They may cry for a minute but will soon learn to soothe themselves.
• Try other ways to calm your baby.  Don’t use the pacifier as the first line of defense.  Sometimes just changing the baby’s position may be all that is needed. 
• Know when to pull the plug.  If you find your baby becoming too dependent on the pacifier, pull the plug.  Do it in the first 3 months.  After 3 months it is entirely a habit.  Please don’t get me wrong, it can also be a habit in the first 3 months and the longer you let the habit continue the harder it is to break.  Once broken, your life will become much easier. 

Use the pacifier with caution.  The following advice is what we call insider’s information. It is so simple but takes a lot of consistency and fortitude.

You must teach your baby to self soothe.  Part of the self soothing is giving the pacifier as a part of soothing a baby one time.  When it falls out you must let the baby soothe themselves.   Self soothing can also involve distracting them, changing their position, patting them or shushing them loudly in their ear.  Yes, even when they are only two or three weeks old self soothing works.  AS a matter of fact, the earlier you start the easier it will be.  The crying schedule for a two or three week old is 1 – 3 minutes.  Usually they fall asleep before the time is up.  This is the beginning of creating a baby friendly home, a happy mommy and a content baby.