will a pacifier cause her to wean early?

[cyclamen]

i try to always offer her my breast first and pacifier second. i have been trying to manage my oversupply short of taking sudafed or sage to dry up my milk (i am afraid to) and while some days i get the milk down reasonably by block feeding and she is happy nursing, other days it seems i make so much milk that i get horribly engorged and she won't nurse for more than a moment. (hence, the pacifier, for when she needs comfort sucking. it seemed cruel to deny her once i saw how relaxed it made her.)

she has started liking the pacifier for her naps, though she still nurses ten million times at night.

will this lead to her early weaning? i don't want it to!

[mumm]

I type this as I nurse my 28 month old pacifier lover. She nurses at least 8 time a day.

When my twins were born (kids #3 and 4) I had no paci experience. But one of the girls wanted to suck all the time so I gave her one. She stopped using it around 4 months. Her twin got one too, although she didn't really take to it, until about 6 months. Then she would just relax when she saw it coming, so I understand that you feel cruel not giving it to her. Often, when younger, she would be nursing and fussing, squirmy, etc and I'd ask if she'd rather have the paci. Then we would snuggle comfortably without having to deal with all the unwanted milk.

So, no, it doesn't have to lead to early weaning.

[Macnamara]

My 20 month old hasn't weaned yet, and he loves his paci.

[betsyj]

Is your dd only 4 mos old? I looked at your old posts and it looks like you had in her July?

If so that is not nursing beyond infancy.

While my son uses a paci we did not intro one until later and I pumped if I was having engorgement issues. At this point I would still want her on your breast because that is the best way to regulate your supply.

I think if you pump a bit first you might have more luck with your dd staying on longer. It could be she is getting a forceful letdown.

[cyclamen]

Thanks macnamara and mumm! This is what I was hoping to hear. Did you do anything special, like limiting the pacifier, or - it sounds like your babies just worked it out for themselves?

Originally Posted by betsyj

Is your dd only 4 mos old? I looked at your old posts and it looks like you had in her July?

If so that is not nursing beyond infancy.

While my son uses a paci we did not intro one until later and I pumped if I was having engorgement issues. At this point I would still want her on your breast because that is the best way to regulate your supply.

I think if you pump a bit first you might have more luck with your dd staying on longer. It could be she is getting a forceful letdown.

Yes, I had her in June. I am hoping to nurse her for at least two years and I don't want something that seems to be helping at four months to undermine that after all the other problems we've gotten through. I figured this wouldb e the best place to find mamas who'd nursed that long with pacifiers to get the benefit of their experience. Thanks!

[kcstar]

I have another 25-mo-old nursling who loves his paci.

[jocelyndale]

My son got a pacifier early on. I didn't buy them to start out with but he had a strong urge to suck and got really mad when my boobs constantly sprayed him in the face when he just wanted to comfort suck. He'd suck on my fingers, but that was it. My fingers were getting chapped, so I bought a paci. He was pretty clear when he wanted boob and when he wanted paci, even early on. And he either had boob or paci in his mouth for the first year. After that, he slowly started losing the paci. Sometime between 12 and 18mo, he gave the paci up altogether. I can remember the last couple times I tried to give it to him at night (a year ago or more). He threw our last two pacis behind the headboard.

At 2.5y, he still nurses several times a day and once or many times at night. He actually asked for a paci last week, but we don't have any. I think it's part of his recent game of "playing baby". I told him that not all babies use pacifiers and he's welcome to nurse or suck his fingers (2y molars are coming in).

So the paci certainly didn't lead him to wean early. I did have a pretty significant oversupply, though. I imagine that women with normal or even below average supplies could find that their supply *is* affected by paci use and that by encouraging comfort sucking on a false nipple, they could inadvertently end up with an earlier-weaning child. I have no experience, though, and this is just conjecture.

[prothyraia]

I had oversupply and overactive letdown with my oldest. He *couldn't* comfort nurse at my breast, because he'd turn on the milky fire hydrant and start to drown.

I gave him a pacifier, and watched him carefully with it. His was very clear on when he wanted to eat at the breast and when he wanted to comfort suck on the pacifier, and would spit whatever it was out if you got it wrong We also used it at nap/bedtime because he liked to toss his head from side to side without unlatching and that was...um...ouchie.

Once my supply really settled down (around 6-8 months, I think?) he gave up the pacifier entirely, even when my husband *wanted* him to take it because I was out of the house.

My son turns three next month, and is still nursing (through my subsequent pregnancy, even!).

To me, this is about listening to the needs of your child. Babies need to nurse for comfort, and since my breast wasn't exactly comforting at the beginning, I felt like using a substitute was the right thing to do.

[prothyraia]

Originally Posted by betsyj

While my son uses a paci we did not intro one until later and I pumped if I was having engorgement issues. At this point I would still want her on your breast because that is the best way to regulate your supply.

I think if you pump a bit first you might have more luck with your dd staying on longer.

Pumping/removing milk from the breast leads to increased milk production, which is the last thing you need with oversupply. It's one thing if the baby is hungry and just can't latch on to the breast because it's too full (in which case pumping is a good idea), but if the babe just wants comfort removing the milk so s/he can comfort nurse is just going to lead to making more milk than you need and exacerbating the situation.

I'm overly simplifying here, it's not like there isn't milk involved when a child is nursing for primarily for comfort, but you get the idea.

[betsyj]

It's one thing if the baby is hungry and just can't latch on to the breast because it's too full

Yes that is what I was assuming here because of this in OP's post:

other days it seems i make so much milk that i get horribly engorged and she won't nurse for more than a moment

I was worried that the baby truly wants to nurse but was overwhelmed. So, giving a paci would be harmful in this case.

I did not mean to suggest pumping would help OP's over supply-only that it would hopefully help her baby nurse better and more consistently. SOrry for any confusion OP!!

[cyclamen]

Originally Posted by prothyraia

I had oversupply and overactive letdown with my oldest. He *couldn't* comfort nurse at my breast, because he'd turn on the milky fire hydrant and start to drown.

Why can't I find the laughing smiley when I need it? This is exactly the issue. And like you and jocelyndale mentioned, she is pretty adamant when she wants booby and when she wants a pacifier. So I guess the baby really knows what she wants. It's sooo reassuring to hear that other moms with the same issue used a pacifier and it didn't interfere with long-term nursing. My daughter does the shake-head-without-unlatching thing when she is trying to go to sleep too and oooh, it hurts!!

nak.
I'm hoping by six months things will settle down with my milk production. There's so much to worry about as a new mom. I never worried about having bf troubles while pg, just assumed I'd breastfeed cause it was "natural" so must be easy? Then we had so many problems that now I'm trying to learn all i can about nursing a toddler before we have an issue.

and yes -pumping was NOT the answer for us. just more problems.

[pbjmama]

My ds always loved the bink, a serious addict! I weaned him at just over 3, he nursing through a pregnancy and all. I have no doubt he would be nursing at 5 if I hadn't actively weaned him.

[MyBoysBlue]

My DS had a paci until about 3 months then was a thumb sucker till almost 2 years. He just stopped on his own and he is still nursing at 3 years and a few days.

[cyclamen]

Originally Posted by betsyj

Yes that is what I was assuming here because of this in OP's post:

haha, yeah my wording probably could have been more clear!

[Carlyle]

Originally Posted by cyclamen

I never worried about having bf troubles while pg, just assumed I'd breastfeed cause it was "natural" so must be easy?

That was me too! I did read a bit and take a class, but I didn't realize that it can actually be HARD, you know? It's so natural, it must be easy, right? Nevermind that we don't SEE it in action as often as we'd need to to really make it easy

Anyway, I wanted to chime in on the binky doesn't necessarily hurt nursing train. My dd will be 3 next month and still loves her binky (yikes...gotta figure out how to wean from that eventually...). In fact she just woke up from her nap and staggered out of the room with her binky in her mouth murmuring (around the binky) "booby" "booby". (that's one recommendation I *do* have...don't call it "booby"...it sounds so bad when shouted in a quiet meeting or something )

Just watch your kiddo's latch. I guess they can learn bad habits from a binky. Just slow down on the binky use or something if her latch starts having problems. My dd started using it at 3 months and we didn't have any problems until she started biting on it (when she was much older) and I was able to talk to her about using a "big mouth" etc.

[cyclamen]

Originally Posted by Carlyle

In fact she just woke up from her nap and staggered out of the room with her binky in her mouth murmuring (around the binky) "booby" "booby".

Awww, that's adorable!

Yeah, I'm still calling it booby since she's pre-verbal, but we'll probably have to change that. And I'll keep an eye on her latch too.

[Carlyle]

It was adorable LOVE her And yeah, I'd change "booby" now while you still have a while to practice...the only thing that I can imagine would be more embarrasing for me than "BOOBY" in a quiet room full of people is "TITTY"... . So yeah, "nay nay" "nursies" " ba ba" ANYTHING. Although now, I probably won't even be able to do something different for any future children because Nell will be there going "NO MAMA IT'S BOOOOOOBIEEEEEE" And "boooobieee" is pretty cute in the privacy of my own home...

[AllyRae]

My oldest son had a binky until he was 3, and nursed until right before his 4th birthday. So apparently it didn't make him wean early. :

[Macnamara]

Originally Posted by cyclamen

Thanks macnamara and mumm! This is what I was hoping to hear. Did you do anything special, like limiting the pacifier, or - it sounds like your babies just worked it out for themselves?

DS wasn't one to comfort suck at the breast, so he got a paci early on. He knew when he wanted to nurse and when he wanted to suck. He uses it alot now to settle down.

[Maela]

I also had overactive letdown/supply with DD and now with DS. Dd used the paci from 2 weeks to ~8mo. I noticed that at 8mo she was playing with it more than sucking on it and I figured if I could wean her from it then it would be easier than if I waited until she was a toddler. She could have cared less by then. She is still nursing now at 27mo, it didn't affect her at all. She just really needed the comfort sucking, especially in the first three months. I didn't go anywhere without that paci! It was a lifesaver.

Now Ds is fussy from my overactive letdown (although not quite as much as DD was). But won't take the paci! So I'm doing what I can (block feeding - is that what it's called?), and just counting down the days until he's ~3mo (that's when Dd stopped being fussy at the breast).