Question for mamas of paci babies

[Teddy'sMom]

Ok, so DS1 never took a paci so I am new to this. DS2 (now 8 months) takes a paci just for naps and bed. In a way I am glad because it helps him to fall asleep so easily. Often I just walk or nurse him until he is tired and lay him down with the paci in his mouth and he goes to sleep on his own.

The problem is that he does not stay asleep. Most naps are only 30 minutes and he is up a ton at night and often will not nurse when he gets up. It seems to me that when he has a partial waking he needs the paci to go back to sleep, but since it has fallen out he ends up crying for me. The biggest problem here is that often even when I go in and give him the paci, he will not go back to sleep. Most of the time he will not actually take the paci laying down, so I pick him up and walk him and then he will take it. Then I have to get him all the way back to sleep before I put him down and even then he often wakes up when I try to put him down. Sometimes I think my presence just motivates him to wake up all the way and so we have a lot of very short naps and long away times at night.

I don't really get it! He needs the thing to go to sleep, but at night and in the middle of naps he acts like I am abusing him when I try to give it to him
He will wave his arms and try to rip the thing out, but if I can get him to take it he will fall asleep.

I feel like his sleep is really suffering and I know it is hard on DS1 when I have to keep going in to try to get him back to sleep during naps.

So my questions for you mamas with paci babies are...

1. Did your baby just suddenly start to realize they needed the paci at night and get it themself or at least willingly take it when you gave it to them?

2. Is there anyway I can get him to love the thing since he seems to need it? (He used to sometimes fall asleep without it in the sling or in the car, but now he MUST have it to fall asleep).

3. I have read NCSS and have not had success trying to use her PPP with the paci. He sometimes would go to sleep without it, but it didn't lengthen sleep time so I often ended up giving it back to him to try to get him to go back to sleep., Plus the added time to put him down for naps and bed is hard on DS1. I could maybe be convinced to try it again since my attempts were months ago...

4. I was at first glad he took the paci. Is he going to get over this hump and I will be glad again?

Thanks mamas!!!

[mamazee]

Is it possible he wants to nurse at those times? If I thought my dd wanted the paci, but she wouldn't take it, I'd assume she was hungry.

[Teddy'sMom]

He will nurse 2 or so times a night, but other than that he just back arches and screams when I try to nurse him. He has never been a big comfort nurser like his brother was. He just wants to eat and be done with it...kind of sad for me, but he seems ok with it. Sometimes I just wish he would nurse bcause when he does it helps him to calm down and take the paci and go back to sleep.

[Blueone]

I don't really know what to say on all of those, but it could be a developmental phase, or maybe he's teething, is he reaching a new developmental milestone? Those can all cause issues in many areas.

Otherwise, my son has used the paci since he was about 2 weeks old. He only used it when he was going down for a nap and that's how it still is (4 months). He will fight sleep though with arching the back, spitting the paci out (I just put it back in) and so on. He doesn't get mad over the paci though, it's over going to sleep.

I hope you get over this phase soon! It sounds like he's just fighting sleep though and the paci to him signifies sleep. Maybe try giving it to him sooner, or try laying him down first, calming him down, and then giving the paci to him. You might need to find a different routine.

[pranava]

My DS did this same thing at 4 and 5 months. If I could get him sucking on the paci, he would go to sleep. But aye, there's the rub. He did not want to go to sleep. I think he knew I was trying to get him to sleep and he wanted to fight it. Too hard to fight sleep with the calming paci in the mouth, so it made him mad. I eventually gave up on the paci. He's 8 months now and the paci has been replaced with some rocking, then a musical toy he can hug with I pat his butt. Now I can usually walk away with him drowsy and happily cooing at his toy and he will fall asleep on his own. Of course, we do have off nights - teething, overly tired, or sick, and I have to nurse him to sleep.

[mamazee]

My first dd no longer wanted the paci after about 6 months or so. It's possible he just doesn't want the paci anymore.

Good luck! It sounds frustrating. I bet he's teething. Teething can make sleep difficult.