I have twin boys who were born 7 weeks premature on February 1st. They were in the NICU for 7 weeks and always had a pacifier at their disposal. The nurses even propped the pacifier in their mouths with a bulb sucker. Now that they are home, they need it to fall asleep. I’ve never been against letting them use one to soothe them if they were upset while we were out or after a bath, etc, but at 3 in the morning when I wantand NEED to go back to bed, it’s starting to put me over the edge. My husband travels so I’m about to face nights alone and I can’t spend the entire night holding it in their mouths! The minute the pacifier falls out they start to fidget and flail and eventually work themselves back up to crying. Are there any suggestions out there? Should I take it away completely and suffer for several nights as they try to learn to self soothe? I do not know what to do!!!
I don't agree with the person who said to teach them to suck on their fingers. I've known kids that I grew up with that continued to do it (i'm talking about into adulthood) You can't take away a finger or hand when they get older like you can a pacifier. Thumb sucking is a bad habit like nail biting or hair pulling etc. Don't encourage something like that. Just work on the muscles in their mouths like the other lady said.
I also have twin boys, mine are alomost 7 months old now. My boys actually stopped taking their binkies when I was letting them learn the night schedule. What I did was when they woke up I would go in their room and tell them it was nite nite time and they needed to go back to sleep. I would not touch them or give them their binkies. Yes it killed me to hear them cry but to get them in a night routine you kinda got to let them. After a while they desided to suck their thumbs. Hopefully that helps! My boys were 5 months when I did this, now they sleep from 9:30 to 6:30. NO BINKIE! Good Luck.
My baby never had a pacifier, but she figured out sucking on her hand and fingers, when she was a couple days old.
I would try teaching them to suck on a few fingers. They can always find their fingers.
If the babies learned to soothe themselves with pacifiers and they won't take anything else, I don't think I would have the heart to take away the only thing that would soothe my baby, when they are so young.
You need to work on their suck instinct. My son had the same problem. Durring the day when they are sucking on the paci, gently tug at it to teach them to hold on. If they are letting it go, give it back to them, let them alone for a few minutes and try again. This will help them learn to sub conscously hold onto the paci. Also, you may try getting them a bigger nippled paci, it may be the nipple is too small and they can't get ahold of it. The ni=ux brand is the best, the nipples are bigger than most and the kids are able to get ahold of it better. Good luck
I am so sorry but I really don't have any fabulous advice. Both of my boys used pacifiers. My oldest actually didn't use one until he was 4 months, I have NO idea why I started giving it to him then.... he used it until he was 3 1/2!!!! My youngest was 5 weeks early and spent about a week in the NICU. He used one right away but I was able to get rid of it at 16 months. My oldest slept in my bed until he was 6 months so when he would lose his paci I just had to search the bed for it. When he went to the crib I would keep a few of them in there with the hopes he would be able to find one on his own. If not I would have to get up and give it to him. My youngest was in a co-sleeper next to my bed until he was about 8 months so it was kind of the same thing, when it would fall out I would just have to reach in to find it. If you think they are using it too much or relying on it too much slowly give it to them less and less. At this point it is helping them be able to self soothe. (Once they get to 3.5 like my oldest was it's purely habit!) Good luck to you!
