Pacifiers Use and Breastfeeding - Page 2

[Novus]

DS got a pacifier on his 2nd night because he was inconsolable. We had a really rough start to BFing, but I actually think the pacifier helped somewhat because he'd take it and calm down enough to latch on. On the one hand, I think his latch *might* have been better without the pacifiers, but on the other hand, if it hadn't been for the pacifiers, I would never have been able to get him calmed down enough to latch on in the first place, so it's probably a moot point. Oh, and we started bottles at 6 weeks old and to this day, he prefers bottles to the breast. In fact, we very rarely gave him bottles after about 3 months old because it always seemed to kick off a nursing strike.

He liked the green soothies okay, but *loved* the Mam ones. He was constantly attached to a pacifier until he was about 8 months old, when he just didn't seem to need them anymore.

[4myfinn]

I started my DS with a pacifier at just a few days old! I had oversupply issues for a long time and comfort sucking just didn't work. He's 6 months old and we don't seem to have any problems nursing. Now he only likes the pacifier when he's going down for bed or for a nap and only when he's first falling asleep. He spits it out about 10 minutes after he falls asleep. If we wanted to get rid of it right now, it honestly wouldn't be that difficult. Now that he has two teeth he seems to only want to bite it anyway.

I remember reading on kellymom (I think) something about how now they think that pacifiers don't cause the long-term nursing problems they once thought, that perhaps the women who have the problems are more likely to have the problems anyway (i.e. be less committed to breastfeeding or more likely to give the paci instead of nurse when baby's hungry, etc.). I think as long as you remain steadfastly committed to breastfeeding, you should be okay. Just don't use the paci as an excuse to delay nursing or as a substitute for nursing. When DS was small I would usually offer the breast first until I was able to better read him and it was clear to me that he just wanted to comfort suck.

Good luck!

[Nicole730]

I gave my Elsa ( ) a pacifier at a few days old this time. She really seemed to want to suck and I knew she wasn't hungry. It took a few tries, but eventually she took it and now uses it occasionally. Like, in the car or if DH is rocking her to sleep. It hasn't affected breastfeeding at all.

The first time around I tried one with DS, but since he spat it out I gave up. I'm not a pro-pacifier person in general, but I think it is worth a shot this time around.

[LemonPie]

I tried it with my first two and they both refused it and would never use it.

Baby #3 however, wanted to comfort suck without milk and would scream when she was done eating but still wanted to suck. So we used the Nuk pacis with her. Around 3-4 months of age, she figured out how to comfort nurse with the breast and gave up the pacis for the most part, except that we used them to help her at bedtime/naptime. A lot of times I'd nurse her right up until I laid her in the crib, at which point I'd unlatch her and slip a paci into her mouth. She's 18 months and in the last month or so she's started refusing even that. So we aren't using them anymore I guess. I still have them on hand just in case.

[SomethingAnonymous]

We introduced a pacifier sometime during the first week. Also our fingers. He really wanted to suck- but if he got any more milk he would throw up constantly. He would be full, but still need to suck on something. It has not negatively affected breastfeeding. Now at 7.5 months he refuses the pacifier and only wants our fingers