Has anyone gone cold turkey with the pacifier

everytime she turns her head. She used to sleep in miracle blanket on her side on the sleep positioner but she started totally busting out of the blanket and moving down the positioner. We decided to try footed pjs on her belly as her brother just transitioned to this and it has been great for him. She fell asleep great last night in footed pjs on belly with paci in but tonight is a mess and she is overtired and keeps moving her head and her paci falls out. I tried her back but she won't fall asleep that way and I don't know what to do. The paci is a BIG problem. Can we go cold turkey without it and let her figure out her thumb or hands? Or, is that really really mean? She is just 4 months old.

Thanks,
Amy

 

We went cold turkey with our boys losing their pacifiers at 5 months. We also transitioned them from both being swaddled in the cosleeper to no swaddle and separate cribs at this time and did some cry it out. It was a tough few days but necessary as we were starting to hallucinate from sleep exhaustion. One took up thumb sucking and the other didn't. I'd say our lives all improved dramatically at this point. I think 4 months should be okay but you may want to stick it out just a little longer if you don't feel she's quite ready to make the change. By the way, before we did this we tried the No Cry Sleep approach to eliminating the pacifier with little success and felt that it was unreasonable for our situation but at the time I remember thinking maybe it would work with one baby.

 

I just kept putting the paci by their face, when mine started belly sleeping at that same age. maybe put a bunch in the crib with her, if she really wants it she will turn her head to the side and put it in. mine used soothies and they were able to keep them in when they really needed them, but now they pretty much just teethe on them and don't have to have them to sleep.

 

I put both my babies down with a pacifier in their mouth, but if it falls out--I don't go back in to replace it. I did that for awhile and it was futile.

Reyna

 

QUOTE(mrsfussypants @ Sep 28 2007, 02:02 AM) [snapback]426962[/snapback]
I put both my babies down with a pacifier in their mouth, but if it falls out--I don't go back in to replace it. I did that for awhile and it was futile.

Reyna



Reyna,

Did yours throw a fit when it fell out?

Amy

 

I want to know too! Did they throw a fit?

I have a love/hate relationship with the paci. I love that it soothes them, but I hate when they get mad because it's fallen out!

 

I went cold turkey b/c I was SO tired of trying to go back in and replace it when it fell out, my DS found his two middle fingers and my DD found her thumb, so now I just put them down and they soothe themselves, yippee!

I can also tell when they are tired when they start to suck these preferred fingers which is another bonus to not using the paci's...

I really wanted to use the paci's b/c I thought I could 'try' to break the habit better than the finger sucking, but now I don't really care if they suck their fingers, it has worked and they sleep 10-12 hours a night so suck on Dylan and Molly!

 

QUOTE(skittles @ Sep 29 2007, 11:42 PM) [snapback]429162[/snapback]
I want to know too! Did they throw a fit?

I have a love/hate relationship with the paci. I love that it soothes them, but I hate when they get mad because it's fallen out!


Skittles,

Today was day 2 without paci for DD and it really went very well. She had a little trouble during her naps but I let her cry for 5 minutes each time and patted her back and she fell back asleep. Also, the nights have been much better. She has found her hands and fingers so I do not feel so badly about taking the paci away! I even had to wake her up this morning at 8am after only one night waking (to eat at 5am). She used to spit the paci out when she fell asleep and then we would have to run up and dig it out from under her, otherwise, she would come across it in her sleep and whine for us to put it back in - such a relief to not have to worry about it. I also feel like we are doing her a favor by teaching her how to soothe herself rather than her having to call to us to soother her (i.e. reinsert paci).

Amy

 

i went cold turkey at 6 months. they never missed them. after the fact i found out that babies don't need pacis as much after 3 months. so i think u cd put them on the top shelf or in the garbage.

 

Thanks for the responses. This is an interesting thread.

This is something I'm going to talk about with the physical therapist this week. She actually encourages them to use the paci because it helps them build awareness of their midline and it strengthens their muscles and makes their bottle sucking more efficient (i.e., less dripping, almost none in fact). Ours were born in June so they're technically 4 months old but their adjusted age is just two months. I'm wondering if she'll suggest the three month (adjusted) time frame for us.

In any case, I don't think it's mean at all to quit cold turkey if it works for you!