pacifiers

[maisiedotes]

UGH. I do NOT want to give my baby a pacifier but I don't know what to do... she NEEDS to suck on something. Her hand, her blanket... whatever is around. I talked to the lactation consultant who said not to give her a pacifier until she is at least 2 weeks old, and to use the round kind (not the orthodontic kind) because it is "more like mom". I feel like a pacifier is something that we can at least take away whereas her thumb/ finger/ etc is there to stay. Any thoughts on this? I would never give her a pacifier to replace a feeding, of course, but I feel like she is more content if she is sucking on something.

Thanks for any insight/ alternatives!

[StacieM]

I don't know about alternatives.

I do know that my youngest daugher also NEEDED to suck on something. I thought she was just that hungry, but then whenever I just kept feeding her, I was overfeeding her and she was always throwing EVERYTHING back up.

So with my son, when I knew he had had enough milk, but still needed to suck, I did end up giving him a pacifier. Like you said, that could be taken away when he got older, but I wouldn't be able to take away his fingers if I'd let him just suck on his fingers. So I did let him have a paci until about 6 months, then we did away with it.

Plus I had read someone said they rather have their baby soothed by humans instead of plastic. By that time my son was not a newborn and I started watching how I was using the paci. Was I using it as an easy way to soothe him when he could just as easily be soothed by me? Or did he really just need something to suck at that time? That helped me lessen the use of the paci until I was ready to take it away completely.

I'm thinking this little one may need something too because she attacks her hands every once in a while (even after a feeding). She doesn't really suck on them for long though, but sometimes after just a little bit (not even a minute) she'll just knock out even if she *seemed* wide awake when she was trying to get at her hands.

I'm curious to see if someone has alternative ideas though.

[Curlita]

My lactation consultant says, as a rule, wait until 4 weeks. BUT when I called to tell them about Conrad's CONSTANT need to suck, they gave their blessing but said to watch the latch and if it starts slipping, then let him suck on an adult finger instead.

I don't like using the paci and hope to wean him from it, but right now he really, really needs to suck on something to be soothed. When he is done eating, he slides down my nipple and just slurps on the tip. Ouch. So given a choice between tip nibbling and a paci, I'll go with the paci.

Conrad prefers the Nuk to the Avent, but will suck on either. I just make sure he is done with a good feeding before I give it to him, and if it has been 1.5 hours or longer since his last meal, I offer the boob before the paci.

One thing I would caution in your case is that sucking will stimulate an increase in milk production... so if you are still having supply problems, you might want to tough it out and let her suckle for comfort for a few more days.

You might want to call your LC again and say, hey, I'm really considering giving her a paci because of this need to suck and see if there are situations where they would give a paci the thumbs up.

Isn't Mairaed 2 weeks in 2 days?

[maisiedotes]

Originally Posted by Curlita

My lactation consultant says, as a rule, wait until 4 weeks. BUT when I called to tell them about Conrad's CONSTANT need to suck, they gave their blessing but said to watch the latch and if it starts slipping, then let him suck on an adult finger instead.

I don't like using the paci and hope to wean him from it, but right now he really, really needs to suck on something to be soothed. When he is done eating, he slides down my nipple and just slurps on the tip. Ouch. So given a choice between tip nibbling and a paci, I'll go with the paci.

Conrad prefers the Nuk to the Avent, but will suck on either. I just make sure he is done with a good feeding before I give it to him, and if it has been 1.5 hours or longer since his last meal, I offer the boob before the paci.

One thing I would caution in your case is that sucking will stimulate an increase in milk production... so if you are still having supply problems, you might want to tough it out and let her suckle for comfort for a few more days.

You might want to call your LC again and say, hey, I'm really considering giving her a paci because of this need to suck and see if there are situations where they would give a paci the thumbs up.

Isn't Mairaed 2 weeks in 2 days?

Yup- she will be 2 weeks on Friday. The lac consultant said to wait till she is at least 2 weeks old but preferably a month... I am glad she is not the only one who needs to suck! She gets the tip of my boob too and it KILLS ME. youch. The lactation consultant did warn me against letting her sit there and play around on the boob. She has been doing this weird thing... like flicking it with her tongue. I feel kinda dirty when she does that... is anyone else experiencing that?

Thanks for the info!

[Curlita]

Originally Posted by maisiedotes

She has been doing this weird thing... like flicking it with her tongue. I feel kinda dirty when she does that... is anyone else experiencing that?

Yeah, infants have a real unabashed enthusiasm for the nipple that one rarely witnesses in a non-sexual situation.

[maisiedotes]

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[scheelimama]

Piper has a strong sucking need. She had such a good latch and such a strong need to suck (like 24/7), I gave her a binky on day 2 of her life. I found with dd2 that the Avent binky's were the best for breastfed babies. We only use it when she's already nursed both sides for a solid hour and she just wants to keep sucking, or in the carseat, or when we're out and about and just need to pacify her for a minute to get her back to sleep.

[welldone]

I wish Asher would take a pacifier. He's nursing constantly, and supply isn't an issue for us. I tried the Soothie pacifier, which is supposed to be best for breastfeeding, and he takes it better than the others (Nuk and Mam--hates them), but only takes it once every few days or so. And only for a few minutes.

He won't take a finger anymore, either.

My last daughter was a very oral baby, too, and we ended up getting her to take a pacifier around four months. We limited it to naptime and bedtime, after I had nursed her, when she was going to be sleeping anyway. If she had been my first baby, I'd have layed around and nursed her through all her naps, but I couldn't very well do that with another child about. So, the pacifier became a way for her to sleep better when I couldn't just sleep with her. A very gentle and sensible way to use a pacifier, I think.

She still uses one now, at two and a half, at bedtime. I figure if she's young enough to still be nursing, she's young enough to have a pacifier. She only gets it in bed, and it works well for us.

[maisiedotes]

Are the avent pacifiers the orthodontic ones? Or round?