This is baby #3, my other 2 girls are 5 and 7 - so there is so much I have forgotten! I know each child is different and being he is a boy too maybe that makes the difference? Both my girls slept through the night at 4 weeks old. They both also were finger suckers. So my little man finds his fingers throughout the day, but for some reason doesn't find them at the most important time sleeping. He relies on his pacifier (all new to me, the girls never took to them) He is able to fall asleep on his own without my help as long as he is tired and I give him the pacifier. But he is waking frequently thru the night and during naps (and its not that he is interested in eating), so I've become a slave to his pacifier but he can't seem to soothe himself back to sleep. At night he 'throws' his head back and forth and loses the pacifier and this can go on for 30-45min and then he passes out but then he is up 1-2 hrs later and doing the same thing. Any advice out there? I've heard some say to eliminate the pacifier and let him cry it out - I did try it once, but I failed - I couldn't bare to hear him so upset. PS as soon as I gave him the pacifier he feel right to sleep. I feel so bad, trying to take away what I have implemented!
Added: many of you have suggested additional pacifiers in his crib... problem, he really isn't holding things yet!
When you are ready for him to get rid of the pacifier completely, try cutting a nick in the sucking part. Each day, cut one more small nick in it. He won't be as satisfied with sucking it. My pediatrician told me to do this and it worked like a charm with my son, who gave it up after a week with no crying!
Oh boy - this one is going to be a bumpy thread!!!
I recommend you read Babywise for the sleep.
Have you tried putting more than one in his bed? If he can't put his hands on one, he can always find another one. My daughter used a pacifier until she was 14 months. She left in at her godmother's house and that was the end of it. I told her she left it, and she never asked for it again. Good Luck!
Try putting like 4 or 5 pacifiers in the crib... then when he loses one he can find one with ease.
My first didn't have a pacifier either, but my 2nd and 3rd used them until they were 2. It's a pain to get up and "plug it back in", but it's the way that they self soothed themselves so I went with it. I imagine you could teach them other wasy to soothe themselves, but at this age I'm not sure how. Ask your pediatrician?
Here's hoping you have a 3rd great sleeper though - you lucky girl!
If he is waking up after an hour, then either he is not getting enough to eat from his last feeding or he is uncomfortable. My daughter had mild reflux which we did not get diagnosed until she was 18 mos old. The symptoms were not strong enough to notice during awake hours, but she was a HORRIBLE sleeper because she was in pain when she was flat on her back. No amount of sleep training would help because she would wake up in pain. A pacifier helped a little bit because the sucking would generally calm her and also swallowing the saliva probably helped a little too. Good luck!
Getting rid of the pacifier is easier than fingers, so if you don't want to let him cry it out, stick with the pacifier. don't encourage the thumb. My vote, after having one that did neither (threw the paci across the room at 2 months) and a 5y+ thumb sucker, my vote is to let him cry it out for a few days. This will help him learn to self soothe.
If you don't want to do the CIO, have you tried pinning/tying the pacifier on a short ribbon to his outfit? that way, when if falls out, it won't fall far, and he can probably find it to put it back himself.
It has been a long time for me too.....but both my kids loved the pacifier and Slept great with them. They had them til 2 1/2 or 3 . I kinda don't remember how I handled it when it came out, the baby just found it somehow and learned to do so on its own. It may be that he is too little for doing that. I guess I did go back and forth to help the baby find it again . But it does get easier and they do eventually spit it out for most of the sleep time . Sometimes my child would find it again and then dose off for an extra 30 min or so or find comfort too it. IDK. It is a waiting out process.
