Paci Baby

My son is 7months old and loves his paci has it all the time, My doctor told me to use the same brand name as the bottles you will or have been using. We use avent and he doesnt spit them out at all. Hope thats a little help!

Hi Shaun,

My daughter was a paci girl as well. And yes, it can be frustrating when you can't tell if they want to be soothed or fed. I'm all for on demand feeding ... but again, you don't want to be a human pacifier. If you put her to the breast and she isn't vigorously sucking... then she wants to be soothed. To feed she will suck hard enough to bring about let down.

We used the Avent paci's. They worked well and my daughter liked them. She didn't like any others. And paci's shouldn't be a problem until their permanent teeth come in.

Babies will typically eat every 2-3 hours, unless they are going through a growth spurt... then it will be more often. (easy right! ha ha ha) How they suck is a key indicator though. And, as you do the trial and error you will learn the the signals and be able to tell the difference.

Congratulations on your new little one!

Pacis are actually supposed to help guard against SIDS, so most doctors recommend them for children under the age of 1 now. I tried Soothies first, but my son wouldn't take any but Nuk pacis. I would go to the store and buy maybe one of each kind, and then see which ones your daughter prefers. At such a young age, don't worry so much about having the paci in her mouth all the time. It's more of a concern as they get older.

As for telling when they want the paci vs. food, at 2 months, your daughter should be developing a pattern of when she wants to eat, so pay attention not only to signals, but times of day when she eats more. If she eats hungrily when you offer the breast, then that's probably what she wants. If she eats only a little, gets fussy while eating, or is eating to put herself to sleep, offer the paci. My son used to fuss when my milk would come because he wanted to pacify on me, and wasn't hungry.

Don't worry too much about mistaking the clues, though. I was really worried about that when my son was very young, but actually, in other cultures (Asian and African), babies are given the breast every time they fuss. You're not going to horribly destroy your daughter by mistaking the cues occasionally, and pretty soon, she'll be on a schedule so you'll know when she's hungry.

Hi Shaun, congrats on yer newest lil one :) My 1st born lived on his paci ..And thank you for calling it a "paci" and not a "binky" . and he would have up to three of them hooked to his shirt..he was so cute. :) anyhow..from my experience, if he wanted food, he would spit his paci out and cry til he got his bottle, i would try a few times if i thought he shouldn't be hungry, try dipping her paci in alil water, and see if she will take it then. well GL :)

We use the Avent paci. My son couldn't keep the Soothies in either, they are heavy! I would keep to the rule to feed her every 2-3 hours. My son would spit out his paci is he was hungry, so that's how I always knew.

the GumDrop paci is similar to the soothie but shapes more to the babys mouth so it stays in easier. some hospitals are now giving those out. you can go to this website they have them...http://www.gumdroppacifier.com/ and i'm sure other sites sell them too!

I agree, that it isn't something you should mind. But, try and consider weening it from her sometime maybe around 4-6 months old. Otherwise, you're going to have a baby who wants to keep her pacifier until she's 2 or 3. All you have to do when it comes time is when she wants the pacifier, play with her, just distract her. With my second child, I stopped offering him the pacifier just before he turned 6 months old, and he never cried for it.

Hi Shaun
My kids took a pacifier when they were going to sleep. My question would be, why is she crying so much? Do you think your breast milk is satisfying her?
The dentist always told me that pacifiers were not good for the kids teeth. They do sell ones that are better for the baby now and i'm sure they are avail at Baby's R Us or Target. They are designed a little differently.
Congratulations on the new baby and good luck with this.
take care and god bless.

I think the paci this early is fine all the time. The soothies never worked for us either, try the Gerber Nuk's, they are orthodontic and BPA free. Its when they start to get older that you want to slowly wean them off the paci. Most experts say 6 months which is really hard, but I would shoot for a year so they don't become too attached. As for the nursing, by about 3 months you should be able to go about 3 hours in between feedings. Try and get her on a feeding schedule so you know if she starts to wimper around feeding time, you will know why. I used Baby Wise and it was a fantastic book about having a routine and getting your baby to sleep thru the night early on!

Hi -

As far as knowing whether she is hungry or not, what I did with my son (and I can't remember how many months he was but somewhere between 2 and 3, I think) at night was when he woke up crying (as he always did! :) ) I would put his binky in his mouth. He would usually settle down. If he went back to sleep, I knew he wasn't hungry. If he started crying again right after that, then I would decide he was actually hungry and I would feed him. That was how I started "testing" whether he was hungry or not and started stretching out the night feedings.

If only it would work so well with my daughter! :)

Don't worry about nursing too much. You should be nursing on demand around the clock and using yourself as the pacifier anytime she wants milk. You can't feed her too much breastmilk, so offer before giving the pacifier and only give the pacifier if she rejects the breast.
As far as I have read, there are no "good" pacifiers. They all have the potential to create teeth and speech problems. I don't know if any are worse than some for bite, but I do know that the soothies are really bad for nursing babies. Get a soft, "open-ended" pacifier. Gerber makes one type, I'm not sure who else does:
http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-NaturalFlex-Silicone-Pacifie...

You can get them almost anywhere for cheaper than this amazon price, I just posted the link so you know what I'm talking about.

My son used a pacifier until the speech therapist told us to get rid of it a couple months ago. Turns out he needed the oral stimulation so much he now sucks his thumb :( So, I encourage you to use it as little as possible. We only used it for sleep and car rides from the time he was about 6 months old and it was still hard to get it from him (and now the thumb-sucking...argh).

Good Luck:)

They have different sizes. my 9 month old STILL likes the
0-3 month size. she gaggs on the 3-6 size. I use Advent but honestly its whatever the baby likes. They say to try to get the pacifier to look similar to your nipple. I didnt know there were different sizes. You will just have to keep trying one until she likes it.
Good luck.

I like the Sassy brand the best, since the nipple is straight. My son didn't like the ones with the angled nipple, it kept falling out of his mouth.

Is your daughter a good eater? At that age my son would spit out his pacifier when he was hungry, so it was pretty easy to tell the difference.

First, congrats on your two girls!! Second, I learned a great trick to help keep the paci in...use a little reverse physiology! When you first put it in and she's actually sucking on it, tug back on it a little bit and she'll work to keep it in her mouth. It will strengthen her sucking mussels and show her that if it starts to fall out she just has to suck harder to keep it in. It may take a few days, but she’ll get better at it. GOOD LUCK!