Pacifier Troubles

Pacifier reduces the risk of SIDs death. 6 months is very early to take it away. She's OK with it until 1.5-2 yrs old. Only take it away sooner if it's completely her idea.

My son uses his thumb instead of a pacifier, but I have heard of the wub-a-nub? I think that is what it is called. They are online, or at Baby Daily in Meridian, ID. They are pacifiers with stuffed animals attached. The baby has an easier time holding it, and finding it when lost. They are a bit pricey, but most people I know whose babies have pacifiers swear by them.

I wouldn't recommend taking the pacifier away at this point. She has already had it and uses that to soothe herself, and at 6 months won't understand why it is gone. I would though, wait out some of the wake ups in the middle of the night. Plan it out with the rest of the family that for the next couple of nights, she will be crying a little more often (weekends are usually easier on everyone). Then, when she fusses, give her 10 minutes to settle herself down...then 15 minutes. She will eventually learn to find the pacifier herself (may be easier with the wub-a-nub), or will learn to get herself back down.

My daughter used her pacifier to sleep until she was 2 1/2. IMO it is not an issue to push early especially at 6 months. Just enjoy the sleep mama. When she is a toddler you can just talk to her about it and it will be easy.

TEACH BABY TO FIND BINKIE: I would go in when baby was crying during the night and teach them to look for their binkie themselves (if I knew they weren't needing a feeding). I would guide their hand around until they found it, then bring the binkie and their hand to their mouth. After a while, I WAS THE ONE SLEEPING :D If your baby was a 4 year old, I'd say "enough with the binkie already", but there are so many growth spurts coming where your baby will want to eat during the night, but in order for you to spread out the feedings the binkie is great.

Well, I actually just threw like 5 or 6 in the crib so my daughter would be able to find another one when she dropeed one or it fell out of her mouth. It will take a few nights of getting her to learn there are more in there but she will catch on and roam around the crib looking for it. THat is what we have done with our 2 girls and it has been a life saver. A friend told me about it and it was kind of an Ah-ha moment for me. Hope it helps you too!

For heaven sake don't take it away at 6 months... just let her have it. Babies need that as a way to comfort themselves.
It may be a few years, but in time she will give it up and it is better to do it when she can better understand why she needs to give it up.
What if she was a thumb sucker?! You wouldn't take her thumb away? Truly don't make it an issue and enjoy the sleep.

I am a massage therapist too! Isn't it a great job? Do you do infant massage for your baby before bed at night? It is great for getting babies to relax. If you have never formally learned infant massage you cna just adjust your pressure and strokes for a little body adn it is fine. Is there a reason that you need to take the binky away now? It will not really do any harm to just let her take it for a few more months. I was my second baby's "pacifier" and I wish that she would have taken the fake kind at least once in awhile!

I know my thoughts are not the most popular, but if you dont let your baby cry it out, they will never learn to self soothe. It was very h*** o* me, we had the same issue with my older one. I was up every 30-45 mins replacing the pacifier for him. Out of pure exhaustion one night my husband told me to let him cry for 20 mins. I hated every long minute, but it worked. He acutally never took a pacifier again and slept much better. And, a good cry does not hurt a baby, it actually helps. It is a cariovascular work out for them. Trust me the cry is harder on you than them.

I always had at least 3 or 4 pacifiers in the crib, so if it came out during the night, the baby could roll over and another one was right there. After they were zonked out, I would go in and make sure that they had not fallen out while they were rolling around trying to go to sleep, then make sure they were strategically placed. I never had a problem after that. Binkies are worth it. When my son was 3, the binky fairy came and brought him a toy he really wanted, and we gave all of the binkies to the fairy to give to other little children, worked like a charm.

She is only 6 months old, let her have the pacifier! In my experience (I have two little girls) she will be fine. Remember that she needs her sleep just as much as you do.

I would suggest waiting. I just took the binkie away from my 2 year old we told him the binkie fairy was coming to take them to the babies because he is not a baby anymore. So he put it in this pillow we have for the tooth fairy when that time comes anyway he put it in there and he gave his binkies to the babies! He also recieved a small toy as a thanks from the binkie fairy. It has been four days now and he asks for it every once in a while but I just remind him we gave them to the babies and he says ok and moves on. There are times when he will ask me to go get them from the babies so he can have them back but we just find a toy that will take his mind off of it. Keep in mind he only went to sleep with a binkie so I was terrified about how that was going to go, and he has been great.

My daughter started sucking her thumb at 3 months and refused the pacifier. I liked it because it's something she can control and I found that she "needed" it a lot less than I would have actually been offering a pacifier. Now she just turned 2 and has naturally reduced the amount of time she sucks her thumb. It's only when she's tired and she only sucks for a few minutes to help her settle down then she takes it out and falls asleep without sucking. I really don't see what the big deal is about sucking as long as it's not constant and it stops long before their adult teeth come it. It is important that your child learn ways to sooth herself whether you introduce a special blanket or toy lovey for her to have in her crib that can take the place of her pacifier. It's interesting the things they choose as a lovey, I offered my daughter stuffed animals a safe, simple dollies, but her lovey is a cheap flannel receiving blanket. It doesn't even matter which one.

Seriously, whoever made a big deal out of a baby with a pacifier NEVER HAD A CRYING BABY! I thought I would never give my baby a pacifier until we were in the car andn she screamed the entire time. I thought my head was going to explode, so I took the pacifier out of the package and gave it to her. SILENCE. The ringing between my ears stopped and she was happy and content. Just after she turned 2 we were on a family vacation adn one night we couldn't find it. I thought the world was going to come to an end, but she was old enough at that point to understand that sometimes things get lost adn we'll find it later. She went to bed without it while I "pretended" to look for it every time she asked for it. That was it. Now she would try to steal her baby brother's when he wasn't using it, but she knew hers was "all gone" because she wasn't a baby anymore.
I was concerned about her teeth - since I had a doctor tell me what a bad mom I was for giving MY baby a pacifier. I changed doctors to one who said I was mom, and what I was doing was just fine. The pacifier is JUST FINE until they are about 2-3 years old - just not as a permanent fixture in their mouth.

Let her have it as long as she wants it--even until she's 2 or 3 years. It's a lot better than her thumb! My four kids had a pacifier until they didn't want it anymore and they are now in their 20's & 30's!

I am all for pacifiers if your kid will take them. My 3 year old still uses them to sooth herself to sleep (she promptly spits them out) and in times of high stress for her She carries them around the house. I might have worried about it more had I not seen a Dr. Phil years ago where he had Dr. Sears on talking about pacifiers, the mom's daughter carried tons around the house (my dd!!) and they said you know she will outgrow it it isn't like she will go to kindergarten with it.
they are orthopedic now so not really a tooth issue there
besides I sucked my thumb until I was 10 and am the only one in the fam with perfectly straight teeth...no braces...
anyway you know you will get strong opinions on both sides, but I'm all for letting the child let you know when they are ready to let go and move on. My dd is in preschool now and she has no problem not taking her pacifier to preschool or dance, or out in public.
But it's there when she needs it.

My daughter was a binky baby all the way. Don't take it away...it is her comfort. Especially if she is only 6 months old. I really liked the Nuk ones. She will naturally grow out of this-on her own time. My daughter was about 20 months. If your daughter is still sucking a pacifier closer to 3 years old, then you have reason for concern and should talk to your dentist and pediatrician. Binkies are no more damaging than finger sucking. My son sucked his finger and he has more of an overbite than my daughter who had a binky! All the best with soothing your baby and getting more sleep, K.

Well you need to decide if you want sleep or not. It will entail crying it out. A child cries when they aren't happy, losing the pacifier probably won't be a pleasant experience and to be honest if you break this habit now it will be a lot better then later. Breaking that habit in toddler hood will be a lot more difficult! Babies suck for soothing, normal and necessary, but if your baby is waking because of the pacifier falling out, it is counterproductive if she has to have it to sleep all night. If they are dependent on it to sleep, then that is another issue.
Finding other means to soothe theirselves sets them up for healthy sleep habits. Pacifiers are not good for teeth, speech later and just really after the year mark very unnecessary. She may just wake because she is hungry. Mine didn't sleep all night until almost the year mark.

If you are having problems you will have to decide if you can just handle crying for a few nights. It takes work, not fun but if you want the end result you have to choose what to do.
If you are sleep deprived, the two year old is getting disturbed I think maybe it is time to let it go. Not to mention if your six mos old is waking crying anyway for the pacifier then her sleep is being thrown off. I say, take them away, throw every single one of them away. When she cries, go in rub her back and get her settled back in, change her, feed her and let her settle back in without the pacifier

I NEVER did cry it out until mine were over the year mark then rarely, however I never ran in right away after the 6 mos mark. I let them fuss for at least 10 minutes and the majority of the time they settled back in themselves. We never want our babies to cry, but you can calm her down with soft music, rub her back and not pick her up to help her learn to fall back to sleep without the pacifier.
Get a music box, that goes off with sound, and slowly winds down when it hears the baby fuss. Take into consideration she could be teething now too, which is a whole different reason for sleep disruption and try tylenol, motrin or teething tablets.