Need Pacifier Help

I threw like 5 pacifiers in my daughters bed and then I would go in and put her hand on one of then to train her to look for them on her own. Each night I let her CIO a little longer until she stopped crying and just reached for them herself. Good Luck
LeeAnn

My son was the same way. He slept from 7-7 from about 5 months on. Now at 16 months its about 8-7am. At that age I used to run in all the time to put in the plug, but eventually he learned how to do it himself. I just left plenty of binks for him to find. Good luck

My friend told me to put about 5 or 6 pacifiers in the crib and the baby will eventually get one and put it in himself. Worked for my 2 boys. Good luck.

hi adrienne;

you got a lot of responses but the issue of CIO is one about which i am passionate, both as a mom and as a former paramedic, so i thought i would throw in my 2 cents; PLEASE NEVER LET YOUR BABY CIO.

it is one thing to allow an older baby, say a 8-10 mo old or older, to cry for 5 minutes or so to kind of break the spell of going to bed crazies, which happens in my house a lot; or to let an even older baby cry for say 10 minutes to get through a tantrum.

but CIO for a 4 month old is extremely dangerous, and frankly, sadistic. a baby that young can not self soothe in any way and all that you do when you let him CIO is panic and possibly choke. babies that young who do fall asleep from CIO are passing out from exhaustion, and that's not part of good sleep cultivation.

babies that young, and i would say up to 8 or 9 months, who are left to cry, can choke, go into respiratory arrest, burst blood vessels, and vomit.

it's very serious. it's a bad idea that has gained traction in our society because parents work excessively hard to make ends meet and are desparate about thier own sleep. also, because it was established by our parents' generation as the way to do things, we are often told that we must do it the same way, even if we know better in our hearts.

my son is 3 and my daughter is 15 months; i put my son's paci back in till he was about 18 months when he became able to either do it himself while asleep, or continue to sleep when it fell out. i do the same for my daughter, usually one to 2 times per night. my son gave up his pacifier about 3 months ago and it was hard for him but he was ready; i knew this because he was chewing the pacifiers to pieces as if they were gum; in other words the pacifier was no longer appropriate for whatever his need was. these days he's into rye bread instead. as for my daughter she's less into her paci than my son and i expect she'll give it up within the year. she doesn't use it except to go to bed and go back to sleep.

in case you're concerned both my unlce and my cousin who are orthodontists say that no damage to the teeth is usually done with pacifiers unless they are used beyong 4 or 5 years old tho my pediatrician feels that pacis outside the house are a notorious source of germs that cause colds. just a thought.

anyway good luck and please be sweet and compassionate to your tiny baby, he needs your help.

with love,
J.

My daughter is 11 months old and we went through the same thing. We made many trips to her room every night to "plug" her up. You might want to try letting him play with the pacifier during the day to try putting it in his mouth on his own. also, put more than one in the crib with him. Once my daughter started putting it in her mouth on her own, she would still need our help when she couldn't find it. We have about 3-4 of the in her crib and we don't hear a peep out of her anymore.

My son is also a pacifier baby. If you want to continue allowing him to use a pacifier I would continue going in and giving it to him as long as he goes right back to sleep. Our son did the same thing aroung 4 to 5 months. We continued to go in and give it to him and eventually, as he got older, he figured out how to put it in himself. We now put about 4 pacifiers in his crib at night and we usually don't hear from him until 6 in the morning (he also goes to bed around 6:30). If you want to get rid of the pacifier, you may want to let him cry it out. The older he gets, the harder that will be. Good luck!

Hi Adrienne,

I don't believe in CIO, and at 4 months, even if someone is open to that option, it's too young. While it's great to have a baby who sleeps so long, if you keep going in to give him the pacifier, your sleep is still interrupted. While I never did CIO with my kids, there is a difference between crying and fussing. What happens if you do not go in to give him the binky? If he just fusses a few minutes and goes to sleep, I think that is fine. But I do agree with the person who commented that 12 hours is a long time for a baby under six months to go without eating. I think if it were me, I'd nurse him (or give a bottle if you bottle feed) the first time he wakes up and see if that keeps him satisfied the rest of the night.
Good luck

If you want him to sleep throught he night go for it! I had to do it and slept great! 3 kids later.

He may be hungry, and using the pacifier as a sub to sooth the fact that he is hungry. Since he falls asleep so early, maybe the first time he wakes up you should give him a bottle instead. That is young to sleep that long without eating.

Hi,

We had the same problem with my daughter when she was 4 months old. We eventually just lether CIO, it took 3 nights for her to stop waking. The first night she woke 3 times and cried well, it wasn't really crying it was like a sleepy cry, for about 10 mins each time. the follwing 2 night she only woke 2 but each time it was for only a few mins. eventually she was sleeping from 7 till 7 no disturbances and belive me i noticed a change in her right away during the day.

Good luck

The same thing happened to us when my daughter was 4 months! Can your son put the pacifier in his mouth on his own? As per our dr's suggestion, we put a ton of pacifiers in our daughters crib so that once she was able to put it in herself, she could do so. It took a little bit of time to learn how to do that (we tried to teach her by giving it to her in her hand and letting herself put it in during the day instead of putting it in her mouth for her), but now she wakes up in the morning with a different pacifier than we put in when we put her down. Until she was really good at putting it in herself we did go to her and put it in for her. But that was all that we did-we made it very matter of fact. Walked in, didn't look at her, didn't talk to her, put it in her mouth and walked right out. We waited until 5 1/2 months before we let her cry it out. You might also want to wait a few minutes before going in to see if he will put himself back to sleep. That's what usually happens now if she wakes up in the middle of the night.

Good luck! I never thought she would go back to sleeping through the night, but she did!

Hi Adrienne,
My daughter went through the same thing. I would get up three or more times a night to put the pacificer back into her mouth. It ended around 6 months when she was able to put the pacifier into her own mouth. I also started putting multiple pacifiers into her crib so that she could easily find one. The downside to this was that she started to really like the additional pacifiers and eventually wanted to sleep with one in her mouth and another in her hand, which she would rub around her nose and eyes. For my daughter it was very soothing and with them she slept wonderfully, so I was all for it. I was able to get her off the pacifiers completely shortly after she turned three (cold turkey with the promise of a doll house if she could give them up completely). My son, on the other hand, never took to the pacifier (I tried!) and until he was 7 months old would wake up multiple times a night crying. We let him CIO which was hard but seemed to work after a couple weeks. Also, right around that time he started to roll over and sleep on his side or belly, which also seemed to help (I noticed with my daughter an improvement in her sleep around the time she started to sleep on her belly). Good luck!

Give him the binky. If it helps him sleep and it keeps your sanity...it's worth it. He won't be able to get his own binky until he's older. Until then your just gonna have to put it back. If you let him CIO you know your not gonna be able to sleep until he stops. So for everyone's sanity, just let him have it.

You can't spoil a 4 month old baby. Suck away!! You will be able to wean him of it later (cold turkey will work well for him but will be hard on you for two days max). I think that he is too young to CIO although I am a HUGE fan of CIO once a baby is over 6 months! Ferberizing WORKS!!

Also, aks the pediatricians advice (he/she will tell you what to do). I think that your doctor's advice should be #1. If it's not or you question it, shop around for another doctor!! Good luck!

Put a bunch of pacifiers in his crib. He should be able to put them in his mouth by himself very soon.

I, respectfully, disagree. Let him CIO. The sooner he learns to fall asleep without it the better. Just try it. I'm not saying you should let him cry until he gags - just give it 5 minutes before you go in there and see what happens. This habit is only going to make getting a good night's sleep more difficult in the long run - not easier. It might help now but when you're still going in there "multiple" times a night 3 months from now you'll regret it.

Hi Adrienne,
I agree with Diana. Also, he may be too young now, but as my son got older, I put 3 in the crib with him (in the corners because that's where he tended to go) so he could find them himself.

My son is 21 months old and sometimes (rarely) I still have to go find his pacifier for him at night! Only because he can't find it, or is still asleep but crying. But usually if I hear him at night he will talk or whine and then fall back asleep. He only has the pacifier at night and we are going to go cold turkey very soon (have been putting it off because his allergies have been so bad that we didn't want to make sleeping any more difficult).
Before he could roll over or crawl for his pacifier himself I would go give it to him. Once he was able to move on his own I started giving him time to find it (5-10 minutes) before I would go in and give it to him. And we go weeks without me needing to go give it to him.

So, unless you are trying to wean him from it I would say give it back to him until he is able to find it on his own. However if you want him to stop using it then go ahead and let him CIO and he will soon stop needing it at all.

Good Luck getting more sleep

We did the same things with our daughter. As long as you get rid of the pacifier by the recommended age, which I don't remember, (we did 14 months)than I don't think there is any harm. 4 months is too young to start CIO methods. That is usually recommended for 6 months and older. Babies will go through various sleep patterns as they grow. Do what works for you in the moment, as long as it is safe. Good luck.

At 4 months, you have a couple of things going on--possibly a dependency on the pacifier to be comfortable and likely a nice little growth spurt going on where he might be a little hungry! Yes, I know you don't want to go back to middle of the night feedings. But perhaps feed him again right at 6:30 or even have him stay up to 8pm so you can feed him one more time, if you haven't already tried that. And perhaps wean him off the pacifier...it only gets worse later. It's a rare baby at 4 months to stay on a sleeping schedule like that. But sure sounds great--especially when you have the precious two so close in age. You need sleep, too! Hope this helps.

My daughter was the same way. Night after night, I'd run in, "re-cork" her (LOL) and run back to bed. I don't quite remember when it happened, but one day she was able to put her bink back in all by herself and nights have been bliss since then! Every once in a while, she'll roll over and fall asleep on it, or she'll be so groggy she can't find one, and then I do still go in to give it to her and she's almost a year old. She only has her "bink" at bedtime and naps and it really does soothe her even though sometimes she only plays with it and doesn't even suck on it. It makes her calm and happy and therefore does the same for me. I figure we'll start cutting back on it this next year and have her off before age 2. Good luck whatever you decide.

Hi Adrienne,
When my daughter was born, I gave her a pacifier, because she was my first and that's what you do to keep a baby happy. She loved it but couldn't keep it in her mouth all night long. So, I was, like you, the official binky go-getter - all night long! Everyone told me it would get better eventually so I went with it. Then, she got a bad cold at 4 months old and had to breathe through her mouth. She began to hate the pacifier because she couldn't breathe with it. So, no more pacifier. She cried very little about it and when the cold was over refused to take it back. When my son was born, I gave him a pacifier as well and at 4 months decided to just get rid of it, figuring if she could do it, so could he. If you decide to do it, go cold turkey. Never let him have it again. Not for comforting himself, not for naps, not in the car, not at night. He will cry, but it doesn't take long. The most important thing to remember is that the way he puts himself to sleep at night - without it - is the way he will be able to put himself back to sleep when he wakes up - without it. Expect a rough 3-4 days and then it will be like he never had one. Good luck!

4 months is way too young to cry it out. I had to do the "binky" thing with my oldest daughter...

It won't be forever...you have a great sleeper - lucky you!

J.

It looks like I might be the only anti-binky mom. (I'm also an anti-finger sucker mom.) I was always afraid of the binky breaking off while the baby is asleep, then fearing the baby choking on it. I was also afraid of my son getting buck teeth from thumb sucking. I was also afraid of having a toddler or child still walking around the stores with binkies in their mouths, which looks rather babish and embarrassing. I never let my son sleep with anything in his mouth when he was a baby. When he would wake up in the middle of the night, I would just go over, pick him up, put a binky in his mouth, dance around with him until he was almost ready to fall asleep, then take the binky back out of his mouth so he knows it's not there anymore, continue dancing a little, and he'd fall right to sleep. First think you know, he started refusing the binky so I never forced one on him. The day care center workers were amazing how he never needed a binky for naps. He never put any thing in his mouth that didn't belong there either and has beautiful teeth.

Hi,
I am a mum of 3 and all my children have had and still do have a dummy (pacifier) I'm australian, so we call it a dummy!!
I feel it could just be a phase, he will probably stop doing it, but to help it along, you could put a few dummy's in the cot-crib with him, he may be able to find it himself and resettle.
You may need to get a up a few times, but try to let him settle by himself.
The other suggestion maybe to try to take the dummy out of his mouth early after he goes to sleep, so he isn't constantly sucking. Is he feeding well, cause maybe he is hungry still?? So maybe an extra feed before bed might help. If he feels more full he'll sleep better.
But i'm hoping that it's just a phase for you cause i know how precious those hours of sleep are. My Babies usually go down with it, but spit it out at some stage of the night and don't worry about it too much.
But i must admit, that with 3 of them i have had my fair share of sleepless nights and all due to the dummy. Whilst it has been my saviour at times, it has also been my demise.
If you really find it hard to deal with them i would ween him off it as soon as you can and introduce another sorce of comforter. My daughter has my nightie that we cut into 3 so i could wash pieces. But that has been a comfort to her.
In Australia the health nurses that we see every milestone month. 2,4, 6 and 12months 18, 24 months etc, they tell us that 12 months is a very attachment time in their lives so to rid them of anything they can get attached to that you don't want them to have foreverish. So bottles and dummys are the first to be told to go at 12 months. And if they surpass that age, it is way harder to get rid of them.
So maybe the weening earlier maybe another option.
I know that this is kind of all over the place with advice, but each child has been different for me and i also let my kids have their dummy's till they were 3-4 years of age, and my baby still has his at 16months. It's the one thing i didn't follow what the health nurse said. And so i have been through all sorts of different stages.
I so hope that this can make some kind of sense and that your beautiful baby sorts it out for himself for you.
Good luck and get plenty of sleep.!!!
Carolyn

That seems like a long time for a baby so small to go without eating. Maybe he's hungry.

HI Arienne,

My son is almost 1, but I remember having the same issue when he was around 4-5 months old...he'd be find once we stuck the binky back in. I always went in because he'd fall right back to sleep, and let's face it, much nicer than letting them cry! Brendan can now search for it himself and sticks it back in. Have you tried one of those binky clips? Clips to the pajamas so they can get used to finding it themselves. Hope this helps! Lynsey

There is no right or wrong answer here...all babies who use a binky go through this stage and I was one of those mommies who bought the glow in the dark binkies and put 3 or 4 in the crib with 2 of my sons....I also had 3 sons learn to go without before 6 months....I followed their lead...is baby super attached and do you work and or need a lot of sleep(obviously we all need sleep, you know what I mean) or can baby fuss for a couple of mins and fall back asleep and not need it? Babies wake up several times a night and fall back asleep, there is a pattern we as parents form for our childs sleep...meaning sometimes we are too attentive and we answer every cry(even the not so important ones)think of it as your child talking to himself...okay I am getting way off track....this stage will pass and in a few weeks baby will find binki for himself so if you want to keep it do, it's not wrong just try to keep it in the crib for sleeping time and not use as a comfort item and baby should wean himself and not have a major issue giving it up later...best of luck!