my love/hate relationship with the paci

I was so anti-pacifiers but once sleep deprivation kicked in and it was hard to soothe the babies day and night, I gave in and it was miraculous. DD LOOOOVES her paci if she is upset, frustrated, or tired. DS can take it or leave it most of the time.

The problem is that dd will drop it out of her mouth at night after her early morning feeding while she is dozing back off and fuss until we put it back in. This morning was awful. Their feeding schedule was all thrown off so I have been up since 4am with her paci fits and feedings. I know it is helpful for them to be able to soothe themselves by sucking but I feel like we have created a monster. I cannot spend all morning and day running in to put it back in her mouth. If she is very tired, she will sleep through dropping it out of her mouth but during the day she catnaps and needs it. After the 5 or 6am feeding she needs it again. Tonight after her bath, she did it a few times and that is unusual.

What do/did you do? It is driving me crazy.

 

I know what you mean!! I was so thankful for paci's but it can be so frustrating having to put them back in over and over and over. BUT that was so much better than having to listen to them fuss, kwim?

It took about until the 3rd month for mine to gain better paci control of keeping it in their mouths. At that point, I then put a whole bunch in the crib (or where ever they happen to asleep) with them that way they could find them instead of me having to run in every few minutes.

 

Oh, I know where you are coming from! We were anit-paci too and held off until almost 2 months when colic became terrible. In fact I remember the ped saying that she couldn't believe I was taking care of them alone most of the time with no pacis!!! But then the screaming and crying got so bad I grabbed a hospital Soothie and tried it and BAM in 5 minutes they were asleep. MIRACLE!!! They helped colic soooo much, I wouldn't have made it without them. But right now I am playing the nuk game with Con but it's a rarer thing nowadays, his tummy is upset so he keeps waking up and wanting his nuk, then falling asleep and it falls out, then his tummy wakes him up again ... so it's not a pain or anything, I feel bad for the poor little guy. THey do go through a thing where they want their nuk all dang night long and you constantly sleepwalk into the room to replace it, but take heart, like Jamie said, they get better control over the things and can start to find them on their own. Just about a month ago they started being able to put them in their own mouths using their hands. But then I wonder how dependent they are getting on them, and how easy it is to calm them by plugging them up with a nuk ... eh, it comforts them. It does get better!!!!

 

someimtes our will go back to sleep without it, but other times need it. DS can get it back in, but not DD consistently at any rate. I read in no-cry sleep solution (which mostly didn't work for us, BTW!) that once they get to sleep or stop sucking, to gently remove it and then apply gentle pressure upward to the lower jaw/chin to decrease the sucking reflex. that worked a bit, but again, not 100%. i think the point was to get them sleeping without something always in their mouth. hyou could try it. who knows it if will work!?!??! i try to use them as little as possible, but honestly don't know what i would do without them!!! they are wonderful little mute plugs!!!

 

yes, I know exactly what you are talking about.. the paci situation..
One of my girls loves her "binky" she has to have it when she sleeps! during naps, and thru the nite..
Now that they are crawling and climbing, sometimes she wakes up, stands up in the crib and drops her binky
out of the crib onto the floor! I finally put a few binkies in her crib so that I don't have to run in and give one to her!
She would just scream if she saw me come in the room! Extra Binkies in the crib will defintely help!

 

I totally agree with you. I love them during the day and hate them at night time. If Jack loses his dummy he has a screaming fit untill you put it back in. Even if you have like 10 in the cot it will be the one on the floor that he wants. It is a nightmare. Its slightly better now he can put it back in but i can still be up 3 -4 times a night. So not much advice here just i am going through the same thing. x

 

Have you tried a Binky Buddy? www.binkybuddyusa.com I ordered them for my girls when they were about 3 months old, and i sure wish i had them so much earlier! even now, at almost a year, they still cannot keep the things in their mouths very well...but these binkybuddies help tremendously. i used to tuck them into their swaddles, and now that they are not swaddled anymore, I tuck them under the snaps on their PJs. works wonders.