Bf toddlers and pacifiers

[bluedaisy]

If you breastfed your baby past infancy, did they use a pacifier?

I'm just curious - I know several children who were weaned at a few months who are completely attached to their pacifiers. I'm wondering if children still get attached to pacifiers if their sucking needs are being met by the breast.

My daughter is 9 months - she used a paci occasionally for the first 2-3 months but has no interest in it now. haha, I even tried to get her to take it again since she breastfeeds constantly throughout the night and it's sometimes hard to get my boob out of her mouth

ETA: I allowed multiple choices for multiple children

[pammysue]

DS is 15 months and he still uses his paci for sleeping. That is the only time he has really used it. I cannot sleep while he is nursing so it has been a lifesaver.

ETA: I voted occasionally.

[LianneM]

DS is 4.5, still nursing, never used a pacifier

DD is 14.5 months, still nursing, uses a pacifier for naps and nighttime, and sometimes in the car.

She nurses less, and is overall less interested in nursing than he was at this age (or now, for that matter). I think she needs the pacifier because she doesn't want to nurse, but needs to suck. Before we offered a pacifier, she would get really angry if she wanted to suck but there was milk. She has never been interested in nursing for comfort and was one of those 5-minute-nursers almost from birth, just very efficient so she got enough, but didn't stay on long. I hope she doesn't wean early because of it, and that is one of the reasons I am adamant that she not use it just around the house - it's only for bedtimes and occasionally in the car.

[pbjmama]

I only voted for my oldest. He is 3+ and very attached to the paci, recently weaned...almost weaned? He has always had an incredibly high sucking need. I'm sure he would nurse to 5+ if I did CLW with him. DD is 17 months and uses the paci for naps/night and a little during the day. She never liked nursing as much as ds either but she is still nursing.

[Lynn08]

Does taking one out of another babe's mouth to chew on count? Because that is the only interest dd (13mo) has ever shown in a paci!

I voted that we never offered one, then I remembered that we did offer one once, when she was a few months old and we had to take a 3 hour car trip. I thought a paci might soother her while I couldn't nurse, but it did nothing. She screamed louder because she was sucking but nothing was coming out, poor thing.

And that was the extent of it until a few weeks ago when she pulled one out of another little boy's mouth and popped it in hers, only to start gnawing on the nipple. (She's trying to bring in two more top teeth.)

[readytobedone]

i voted very interested. she is 28 months and still uses a binky a LOT. it was less for awhile (mostly sleep and car), but then she started teething her final molars...

since i WOH, too, i dont limit her having the pacifier at daycare, since she doesn't have access to me. once all her teeth are in, we'll work on setting more limits with the binky, but for right now, she is very attached. and still nursing lots. like, at least 6 times a day, even the days i work.

i think she's just one of those high suck needs kids. as an infant, she nursed all.the.time. she didn't really become interested in the pacifier until about 5 months.

[LadyCatherine185]

My DS has never used a paci other than to chew on/as a toy. He also tries to take them out of other kid's mouths.. haha. But never used it to suck/for comfort.

My nephew is 17 mo and still nursing, but also very attached to his "binky-bink" and has been since birth.

I think if DS had been offered one as a small baby he may still be attached to it, but I don't like them so I never gave him one. :

[leaveit2beeker]

My son is 19 months and his Nuk stays in bed with him. (We recently transferred him to a toddler bed.) If he's not in bed, he doesn't get to have it. This has been our situation since about 11 months old, and he seems to be a happy little guy without the Nuk.

[kcstar]

DS is 24 months, and still nursing. I voted "very attached to the paci", but at this stage it's mostly nighttime and naps. It used to be, when he started making noise sucking the binky (like he wanted milk), I could pop the paci out and he'd go to the breast. Not anymore.

*Sort* of like Lianne's DD, he has a very high need to suck, except that he is *also* very attached to the breast.

I'd almost think he was getting frustrated with supply, but there's been milk every time I checked.

[mommyshanti]

never used one w/ my 3 children
i only have to wean them off of me lol

[KristyDi]

I voted "gave up before 12 months"

She rejected the paci around 3 months.

[SparklingGemini]

My DD was a pacifier and boob addict. She loooooved her pacifier. But she weaned herself off of it when she was around 8 months because she had Coxsackie which caused painful blisters in her mouth.

She did a lot of non-nutritive sucking at the breast and mostly used her pacifier for in the car and right before naps.

I always planned to wean her of it before her first birthday, so I'm glad she did it herself.

BTW~DD is 26 months old and still nursing frequently throughout the day(and night!)

[KangaTwo]

My nephew bf to at least 1 year (don't recall whether they have weaned or not) and is fond of his paci.

I learned with DS1 that I'm too impatient to try to teach babies to keep one in their mouths. That and it freaked me out when he was very young and I realized he hadn't eaten in 6 hours because I kept pushing the paci. So, I haven't offered any since then.

[Teenytoona]

DD never used a pacifier for much besides the occasional chewing on. I did try, as sometimes I needed a break. The only time she's interested in pacifier is when we're around her cousin, then she will take it out of his mouth and try it out, I guess to see what all the fuss is about? but yuck.

[chel]

I tried to get dd to use one at 6w (constant nurser). She didn't want anything to do with it. She found one (under a friend's bed) and started using at 6m. Used only during car rides and bedtime. Gave up on her own around 14m. I think she finally realized we were trying to plug her up.

[spirit4ever]

neither of my ds's used one, dd is very attached to both the paci and boob!!

[Baby_Cakes]

DD is like yours, she took a paci early on, like at 2-3 months, but refused them shortly after. I think by 5 months or so she would have nothing to do w/them.

[rissierae]

My ds is very attached to both. He is 15 months, and I don't think he'll be ready to give up either the boob or the paci, for a while yet. He uses both for comfort, and to fall asleep.

[AutumnAir]

DD's 20 months and still nursing at least 8 times a day, so no sign of stopping any time soon! She's never taken a soother, though I did offer in desperation a number of times when she was a newborn - she was literally nursing about 20 hours out of every 24. But she didn't want anything to do with it. Rejected bottles too.

[MacKinnon]

Both of my children used paci's quite regularly and dependably until around 6 to 9 months. DD just spit it out one day and wouldn't take it back. DS just gradually lost interest and stopped using it. DD nursed to 2 1/2 and we mama led weaned during my pregnancy when I lost my milk, and DS is still nursing at 2 and 9 months.