anyone here totally against pacifier use??

[3for3hb]

nak
just wondering.

i find them an invaluable tool, first to satisfy comfort nursing during those first few days when you're engorged and your nipples are really sore (I didn't start prepping them for nursing early enough this time), and also for in the car, or when he cluster nursing too much and spitting up a ton just because he's eating more than his little belly can hold.


my doula saw me using one on him today and was like, tsk, tsk, you're using a cheater... what's up with that? so i explained and she got it, but it still made me wonder if i was doing something really bad.

note: I find that i can get my babies to stop using the paci with no withdrawal before they are sux months old.

[ChristyH]

My little guy had an enourmous need to suck, he was totally wearing me out. He took a pacifier when needed and never had a problem with nipple confusion and didn't hurt my supply at all. I think it depends on the child but I don't have anything against them because they have saved my nipples in the past!

[spookymama]

Personally? Not for us.

If another mom wants to use them though, and finds them useful more power to her!

Our son was not a big fan, and didn't stop him from wanting to be latched onto the boob 24/7. No other substitutes needed to apply.

With this one, I don't think I would mind having him/her attached me to as often as my son was . Especially now that I know how hard weaning them off of something can be.

[Amandamanda]

I'm actually really glad that you asked this. my baby is 3 days old and she is very snuggly. she is a comfort sucker and wants to be on the breast 24/7. since the second she was born she has been an absolute amazing breastfeeder. my milk hasn't even come in yet, and she just is sucking and sucking away all day long and fusses if she isn't sucking. i was considering giving her a pacifier just for the times when she insists on comfort sucking because it is getting too painful to have her latched on all day without actually nursing and its obvious she knows where her food comes from and how to get it so I'm not worried about it ruining breastfeeding for us.

waiting to hear what others say..

[Amandamanda]

I'm actually really glad that you asked this. my baby is 3 days old and she is very snuggly. she is a comfort sucker and wants to be on the breast 24/7. since the second she was born she has been an absolute amazing breastfeeder. my milk hasn't even come in yet, and she just is sucking and sucking away all day long and fusses if she isn't sucking. i was considering giving her a pacifier just for the times when she insists on comfort sucking because it is getting too painful to have her latched on all day without actually nursing and its obvious she knows where her food comes from and how to get it so I'm not worried about it ruining breastfeeding for us.

waiting to hear what others say..

[Amandamanda]

I'm actually really glad that you asked this. my baby is 3 days old and she is very snuggly. she is a comfort sucker and wants to be on the breast 24/7. since the second she was born she has been an absolute amazing breastfeeder. my milk hasn't even come in yet, and she just is sucking and sucking away all day long and fusses if she isn't sucking. i was considering giving her a pacifier just for the times when she insists on comfort sucking because it is getting too painful to have her latched on all day without actually nursing and its obvious she knows where her food comes from and how to get it so I'm not worried about it ruining breastfeeding for us.

waiting to hear what others say..

[BlueIrises]

As with several other things I swore I would never do but ate my humble pie afterwards...the paci was one of them. I had a horribly painful time BF my son due to Raynaud's syndrome, thrush, bacterial infections, oversupply...so the paci was what kept me able to nurse him. If I hadn't had something to give my nips a break, I would have quit BF the first week rather than going 11 months...(we only stopped nursing b/c my supply deplete when I hit the 4-5m pregnancy mark and wasn't pumping to keep supply up)

With that said, it is difficult to break the habit. With this baby, I don't plan to introduce the paci as I am very hopeful my nips are going to do better with BF even with Raynauds as I know how to cope...but I'm not opposed to it either. I will only use them intermittently as I do not want this baby to develop a need to suck to sleep as my son had developed and wanted a paci to fall asleep.

I totally hate the idea of a paci but I do use them

[onlyAngil]

Merrr... I do not like them, I feel bad using them, but if others want to that is up to them... I just dont like them.

[Ironica]

I hate seeing them used to put off a hungry baby :-/ but we did try to get DS to use one when he was tiny and wanted to comfort-suck aaaalllll the time, while I had a massive oversupply and definitely didn't need the stimulation. We could never get him to take one, though. He wouldn't take EBM from a bottle, either... this guy was *never* confused about nipples, he knew exactly which ones he wanted! ;-)

We did use our pinky fingers as pacifiers a lot, which worked well.

So, the upshot is, I think there's responsible pacifier use and irresponsible pacifier use. I also think it's best to stay away from them for the first couple weeks at least, until their nursing latch is clearly established. But there are cases where they can make sense for everyone involved.

[anstar]

Hmm... I've never been against initial paci use - I did with both my boys, and we had wonderful BF relationships. There comes a point though, when a toddler with a paci just isn't attractive. Jackson was off his by about 16mo (due to a bout with hand-foot-and-mouth disease, he wouldn't suck on anything), and Nick gave his up by 12 mo.

I learned that it's important not to force it on them. Every kid is different, and if they don't like a paci, or they don't want it right then, it's going to be a huge pain later if your force it.

[KariM]

I'm not totally against them, but I have run into plenty of moms who ended up having them interfere with nursing - specifically contributing to low supply when used in the very early weeks. The babies would be content using the pacifier and the moms would go 4 hours or more between nursings. That obviously isn't a problem for every mom, but for those rare ones that needed more frequent nipple/breast stimulation to create prolactin receptor sites interrupting that with an artificial nipple can really be a problem.

Since this is your third baby I can't imagine it will be an issue for you, though.

My kids personally wouldn't take them! Both would just spit them out.

[s_kristina]

If you know the warning signs of low supply and nipple confusion and want to use one anyway then that's up to each mom. Due to extreme exhaustion from blood loss I used one while still in the hospital with ds and I think that contributed to his slight jaundice. He needed to be at the breast more, but he was acting content with the pacifier and dh holding him and it let me get some rest. I won't say no to them forever, but in the first 6 weeks or until bfing is well established I think they are risky to use.

[Goddess3_2005]

My lovely SIL used hers so she wouldn't have to nurse as often, she literally went 7 hours once with out nursing her then 2 month old and she thought it was cool. Grr. I haven't really used them, even my bottle fed babies didn't use them. I have problems with low supply as it is, so I probably won't use them this time around either. I agree with who ever posted about toddlers using them, eww, it just irks me to see that.

[surromommy2be]

Originally Posted by onlyAngil

Merrr... I do not like them, I feel bad using them, but if others want to that is up to them... I just dont like them.

This is me. I personally don't like them. But wouldn't look down on someone for using them. Personally I dont like seeing 3 and 4 year olds still on them.

[nutbee]

I was against them for my first - nipple confusion and whatnot - and then we had problems with nursing at first. As it turned out, she had a heart defect which was fixed surgically at 3 months. But, oh the irony, as against the 'suckie' as I was, when my dd ended up with an ng tube at 1.5 months she needed an occupational therapist to come in and teach her how to use one (and teach us parents how to help her out). Since she was being completely tube fed, if she didn't use a soother she would lose her sucking reflex and we'd all be up a particular creek without a paddle.

So, sometimes, its not so bad to use one occasionally. I've already bought some for the new guy.

I don't remember ever having a problem getting her off the suckie (in fact, I don't remember what happened at all, it just sort of faded away).

[Datura]

My boy had a lazy latch and just a bottle at 6 months old while I was at a class messed him up worse. We did, however, use a binky when the breastfeeding relationship was doing pretty well and he was in his carseat.

As someone who struggled with supply, I really wouldn't recommend it in the early weeks/months. Newborns live at the boob because they have tummies the size of marbles, which can be frustrating..

[Meksmama]

I used them with my dd only after 6 wks due to her trying to suck her thumb and we have children in our family that suck their thumbs way past an age I wanted my dd to so I introduced a paci. One neice is 8 and my cousins at 15 still sucked her thumb at night.

I would do it again with this baby also if need be.

[blizzard_babe]

As a first-time mom, I'm trying my hardest not to be dead-set against or for anything (other than a select few non-negotiables) because you just never know. My plan right now is to put off pacifier use until after BFing is well established, if at all... but I'm also fully prepared to eat a big helping of humble pie should that be necessary.

[Goddess3_2005]

So true about the humble pie. There are so many things that I said that I would never so that I have done with at least one of my babies. I had one baby who lived in the swing because it was the only place he was happy, not a sling, a swing. LOL.

[schreiberwriter]

Originally Posted by Amandamanda

I'm actually really glad that you asked this. my baby is 3 days old and she is very snuggly. she is a comfort sucker and wants to be on the breast 24/7.

Actually, all the nursing is good for getting your milk to come in and be enough. It's best to wait to give her the pacifier.