A week after his birth, when Levi was in the midst of a crying fit, a friend told us we were silly to not give him a pacifier. She had surprisingly strong opinions on the matter, saying that babies want and need to suck.
On the flip side, the lactation consultants at the hospital were adamant that we wait at least a month to give him one. They said that introducing a pacifier or a bottle too soon would jeopardize his ability to learn how to latch properly while breastfeeding.
In the end, we decided to let Levi try out a pacifier when he was two-weeks-old. He took to it like a champ, and it didn’t seem to interfere with breastfeeding (although he took to that like a champ, too). We agreed that we would only give Levi a pacifier when he needed to be pacified and at bedtime. Around that same time, our doctor recommended we also introduce a bottle at least once a week. Baby guy gulped his first one down, no problem.
When did your baby start sucking on a pacifier? And what do you call it in your home? A paci? A nuk? A sucky? Something else?
{my iPhone photo}
we started giving Owen a pacifier almost immediately. he’s a huge sucker as well (hahahahahah!)
he nurses like a champ still, and eats from a bottle as well. at one month today, he eats at least 3 ounces already every two or three hours, and i just can’t produce that much so we supplement.
and thanks for your comment on my blog today – i agree that babies can’t be spoiled, and think it’s so strange when folks tell me otherwise! i love dancing around with him, even if it means i get less sleep, and we’ve been trying the swing although he’s not as into that as i’d hoped he would be.
Parker started a couple days after he was born. The dr gave it to him after he was circumcised. I think they may have put some Tylenol on it for any discomfort. I remember being concerned that he wouldnt latch on… but there was NEVER a problem there. We went through the whole “only when he needs it”… and then as he got older he began to control when he “needed” it. It resulted in a hard break! But we referred to it as his Binky!
I was worried about him having a binky until he was 3 but I see kids that are nearly 4 still using the binky so I am happy that he is over it now.
Alice is the only baby that I know (in “real” life) without a pacifier. It works very well for us. I have no problem at all letting her use my boobs as a pacifier when she feels like it. She is pretty much always happy and never shed a tear (for the moment)!!! Anyway, each baby is different and you have to try different things to see what works for you. It is your baby, not the nurse’s baby 🙂
We waited until the pediatrician suggested using it when he was a few weeks old. W would nurse FOR-EV-ER, so the paci was supposed to provide soothing so that I could do things like eat and pee. As it turned out, he nursed forever because he wasn’t getting enough; he cried as much as he did because he wasn’t getting enough. I’m sure introducing the paci earlier wouldn’t have caused BFing to go any worse.
Then, one day, when he was not quite 6 months old and on an airplane, he just spit it out and wouldn’t take it any more.