pacifiers?

[sarahr]

My DS (age 1.5 weeks) often wants to suck to sleep, but then gets angry and restless when I nurse him and milk comes out. My milk spurts out a lot, so I don't blame him. He settles happily and falls asleep if I give him a finger to suck.

What would be the pros and cons of using a pacifier in this situation? I don't want to disrupt what is so far a very successful nursing relationship but I also want to make him comfortable.

[JayJay]

Well I actually do the finger sucking thing and after a while, especially if you co-sleep, it becomes second nature. What I do is bend my little finger and give her the bottom knuckle. For some reason she likes that.

Then just a week or two ago, she found her thumb. So we managed to get through the whole thing with only the little finger knuckle and now she sucks her fist or her thumb usually. Sometimes though, she does still want the boob - and I know what you mean about wanting to comfort suck and then getting milk and getting all spluttery - Bella used to do it too. But now, being a few weeks older, she doesn't mind so much about that - we nurse from one side only at night and my milk supply and her suction has made it so that if she wants to comfort suck, she doesn't get so much milk. A lot of that has to do with her own discovery that if she sucks softly, without drawing so much of the nipple and areola into her mouth, she will get hardly any milk but will still be able to comfort suck (if that makes sense) so she does that quite a bit.

Basically what I'm saying is that if the idea of using a paci is in any way uncomfortable to you, there is light at the end of the sucking tunnel! XxX

[lindsayjean]

well, I guess I'm in the pro-paci camp. Because both my kids had an intense need to suck (my littlest is 6 months old and uses a paci) and I have an overactive supply so much so that they diagnosed my DD with reflux because she was throwing up so much milk... turns out she just needed to comfort suck... a LOT. And my milk was choking her. So yeah... a pacifer has been our friend. It did not interfere with the breastfeeding relationship with either of them. My DD nursed for 2 yrs until she self weaned due to my pregnancy and my son is still going strong every 3-4 hrs.

I think really as long as you don't use it as a substitute for using yourself to comfort them (like- plugging the hole instead of picking up the child to soothe) it can be a very useful tool. It hasn't affected us negatively at all and I will use them for all my kids who need them.

With my first I was really worried about it and did not want to give her one, but in desperation I did, and now I totally see how they are useful and not so bad like some crunchy moms make them out to be. Those moms must have never had crazy suck all the time babies and overactive supplies like me I guess!

[cristeen]

There's nothing wrong with giving him your finger to suck on, and as he gets a little older, he'll be able to adjust his suck as a pp mentioned, so that he can comfort suck without getting milk. At 1.5 weeks, it is way too soon to introduce a paci IMO, if you intend to EBF. Your supply isn't even close to stable yet.

[mkksmom]

I can't remember when I introduced the paci, but I want to say it was about 2 weeks with both of my girls. I don't see much difference between letting them comfort suck on your finger/knuckle vs. a paci because either is still substituting for the breast. The difference to me is that it is much easier to keep a bunch of clean paci's on hand for when my LO likes to suck and is over-full. I think you'd be fine as long as you make sure she doesn't want to nurse any more and that you try the breast before the pacifier.

[jazzharmony]

I would not use a pacifier. All babies need to suck 24/7 at that age. It's all about supply and demand and you can easily interfere with that by introducing a pacifier. You also run a serious risk of nipple confusion at that age.
This will pass. If you have oversupply issues or a fast letdown, try popping him off as your milk is letting down and catch it in a cloth. Once the heavy flow stops, he can nurse comfortably.
If you do find you continue to have oversupply, find a good IBCLC or go to a La Leche League meeting. It can be easily dealt with.
Good luck and enjoy your baby. It passes so so quickly.

[dogretro]

For us, the paci has been 100% positive, 0% negative. DD has taken one since day one & never had a single nursing problem. I know it varies from family to family, but that has been our experience

[texaspeach]

I had oversupply and oald so we introduced one around 2 weeks. he used it for about 6 weeks. I was so resistant but it was fine. all the sucking was worsening the oversupply.

[earthnut]

I got a pacifier 5 days ago. Nea's a little over 2 weeks old now, so she's still young, but she only had one day of being more fussy at the breast. She was doing really well at breastfeeding before I got the paci, so you should judge her current skill levels. I use the paci sparingly, only when she's in her car seat (and I cannot physically be with her) or when she's particularly fussy and obviously not hungry at night. Other than that one day, she has not shown nipple confusion. She's continuing to improve at breastfeeding.

I read that babies will prefer whatever sucking that gives them the most milk. Bottlefeeding will give more milk than breastfeeding, so should certainly be avoided this early, but as pacifiers don't provide milk, they are not as much of a threat to breastfeeding. That's the theory anyway.

[marsupial-mom]

Count me in the pacifier camp.

[Adallae]

We introduced a pacifier early for the same reasons (around 2 or 3 weeks?). She gave it up on her own around 5 months and it didn't interfere with breastfeeding. I never wanted to use one, but she had a clear need, and it worked well for us.

[odoole]

Originally Posted by dogretro

For us, the paci has been 100% positive, 0% negative. DD has taken one since day one & never had a single nursing problem. I know it varies from family to family, but that has been our experience

Another pro-paci parent here. This is my first baby and I've never parented without one, but I have always been so grateful for the pacifier and don't know how we would do without it. It's such a source of comfort for him when he's going to sleep or feeling agitated, like in the carseat. I don't see how it's any different from rocking or bouncing or singing or any other device you would use to comfort a baby (and we do all those as well). No nursing problems at all, ever. He had one from day one in the hospital.

[Llyra]

I think it's probably okay if you use it cautiously, for a limited part of the day or night, but I'd try to hold off awhile longer. I'm the biggest fan of pacis you'll ever meet, when they're used carefully, but I think a week and a half is still too young to introduce it without being very careful that baby is still spending a LOT of time on the breast. All that sucking is what establishes your milk supply, in the first six weeks to four months, and if baby is using a paci, your supply can be affected negatively.

I say try to hold off a few weeks if you can, but if you do decide to use it, use it cautiously, watch baby's output carefully, and baby's weight gain, to make sure baby is getting enough milk, and be ready to get rid of the paci if you see any sign of trouble-- taking a long time to latch, resisting latching, poor latch, reduced output, slow weight gain, etc.

The advantage of the finger is that you have to be physically present, and it's usually uncomfortable for you to keep doing it for any length of time, so that you're effectively limiting the amount of time baby spends sucking NOT on the breast.

Block nursing can do a lot to help with oversupply. Use just one breast for a block of time-- say three hours, or four. If baby wants to nurse again during that time, put baby back on that same breast. Then at the end of the block of time, start using the other breast. This is a supply-reducing technique, so you wouldn't want to use it if you had any doubts about baby getting enough milk. But if baby is being overwhelmed by too much milk it might be just the thing to try.

[beebalmmama]

Both of my boys had a paci with no problems. I also had oversupply and fast letdown issues and so it was a huge help. I didn't introduce it with both of them until they were 4 weeks once bfing was well established with no problems. I did the finger sucking thing before then until I thought my wrist would fall off in the middle of the night.

[NaturallyPeachey]

I'm pro-pacifier only because we never gave DS a pacifier and now he walks around sucking his two fingers. I'd much rather have the pacifier which we can send to the pacifier fairy at some point than trying to tell him big boys don't suck on their fingers all day long (his are literally raw from being in his mouth and the cold weather). That being said if you are having any sort of latch issues or feeding issues I'd hold off on seeing if it will work for you guys.