Until now my son has always been a great sleeper. However, in recent weeks he gets upset at night (either between sleep cycles, or in a semi-awake state) if he can't find his pacifier. We already use one that doesn't have a ring on it, so that he's less likely to pull it out himself or get it caught on something. But he loves to roll over in his sleep, and when he does, his NUK gets pushed from his mouth (particularly when he's on his stomach and his face is turned to the side). He's too little to actually seek it out and find it, and even when he does, he's not yet coordinated enough, or awake enough, to get it back in his mouth. So he "squawks" and whines, which sometimes escelates into crying. Many times he's not even fully awake, but he's disturbed enough to not fully fall back asleep. This has us running to his room 3-10 times a night to "replug" him. My question is: Do I let him cry it out and find some way to soothe himself? I don't want to train him on the thumb because I like the option of being able to physically break the paci habit when he's older (like we did with my older son with no problem). I don't have any experience with night cryers because both my sons FALL alseep well. It's the STAYING asleep part that's now an issue. So, I'm not sure if he's old enough (at 5 months) for that piece, or if it would even be effective for night-waking. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Thanks for all the input. I'm OK with letting him cry, but we're holding off trying it because we think there's something else going on. Now he cries even with the pacifier in his mouth. He has a cold, and I think he's also teething. Plus, we took him off his reflux meds almost a month ago, and we're wondering if that could be acting up again. So, we're going to do a little problem solving and once I make sure it's not physical/pain related, we'll follow some of your suggestions. Thanks again! (Wish me sleep!)
My son just got threw this stage. He is a total pacifier baby. He would wake up crying for it six times a night and I found that letting him cry made it worse. He would then get hysterical from crying. He now finds it and puts it back in. I usually put him to bed with one and put two extra's in his crib just incase he kicks one out of his crib. The glow in the dark ones work well. Easy to find if you have to find it in the crib.
If you don't want to keep putting the pacifier back in then I would just let him cry for a while until he learns to soothe himself with something else. It will probably take a few nights of crying but he'll get it eventually.
I just bought my daughter a bunch of them, 10 to be exact and put them all around the edges of the crib. That way she would find one somewhere :o) None of my other 3 kids used them because it was such a hassle.
The best thing would probably be to try and break him of it now while he's younger but it's hard.
Good luck,
J.
I have the same problem with a 8mo. old I watch overnights alot. I'm afraid to let her cry it out because she'll wake up my daughter and her own mom doesn't do the cry it out so it wouldn't be effective. But at 8mos. old she can't find one and put it in her mouth. If she was fully awake then she can but not in her half sleep thing. So I "replug" her too. I guess if it was my own child I'd have her sleeping in another room, in a crib and I think I would let her cry it out. Right now she's in my room and I'm tired so it's easier to just "replug" her. When my own daughter would wake up several times a night for a bottle at 2 years old because that was her security item I finally had to be tuff and let her cry it out. It took about 3nights total and my life became alot easier. The first night is the hardest then it becomes easier. But if you don't do something NOW this habit will continue for awhile.
Don't be afraid to let him cry it out. I think 5-6 months developmentally is a great time to do it. He can find the paci if he wants it bad enough. He cries because he knows you'll come and give it to him. Break the cycle. I also put a few paci's in the crib with my son and it works well. The nuck kind with the ring are easier for them to find and put back in their mouth. Good luck. The crying it out only lasted 4 nights at our house and then he got it. But it was a tough 4 nights.
K.
We also went though this with our daugher until she got to the age where she was able to eventually sleep through the night. At six months of age she was still waking several times a night which her doctor said was normal. It wasn't so much that she couldn't find her pacifier it was just that she was at the age where she was likely to wake up at night. We would also just get up and give her a pacifier. It gets tiring but I didn't find that it was helpful to let her cry it out because she used the pacifier to fall asleep and was not able to fall asleep on her own. When your son is old enough to really sleep through the night you won't need to be constantly running to get him back a pacifier.
