Advice needed - Pacifiers a must??

H

higgledy

New Member
I heard it can be very difficult to wean a child off pacifiers. And pacifiers are prone to give crooked milk teeth. And of coz a host of other hygiene problems.

Hence, is it possible not to give a baby pacifiers right from the start? Will it make the child very difficult to handle?

Please advise. Thank you.
 


Hi Higgledy,
Both my children dun use pacifier, in fact, they rejected it. I tried giving them but they will spit it out immediately. I will cuddle them when they cry, distract their attention or give them some water from the bottle.
PD says if the child really needs pacifier to sleep, must try and remove it when he is asleep, cos really bad for the gum and teeth.
 
Hi,

I agree with WahWah, but too bad i gave my daughter pacifier when she was 2 months old and now she is 2 years old, still need the pacifier when she goes to sleep! sigh...really very hard to wean off. The lucky thing is that she will spit out the pacificer when she is sleeping, so won't wake up in the night to ask for it.

But it is not a good habit to start cos it is really hard to break! Any suggestions on how to break it gently? Thanx
 
Hi Higgledy

I did not give pacifier for my DD to suck even though my DH wanted to use it to smoothe her. Fortunately the first time she spit it out and I insist that she does not like it and stop giving her ever since. You can smoothe your baby in many other ways no need to depend on pacifier.

I remember I still suck my pacifier when I went to Primary school!!! I myself know it is a shameful bad habit but unable to break it. Therefore I swear off pacifier for my own child.
 
Thanks YY, that is very encouraging. But I guess you need to have a lot of patience in handling your baby esp when he keeps crying.
 
think bb sucking on palm and thumb cos they already used to sucking something - pacifier... then for houses with old folks around.. you dun wanna give pacifier also very difficult, bb keep crying and you dun give the old folks will keep staring and grumbling at you for not making the bb stop crying, saying wind will go into stomach wor... cry too long also no good.. maybe chris method is good.. use only for few months then after that can stop better stop..
 
the husband and i initially were against the idea of giving the pacifier to our daughter. my family just smiled when we told them this. then my daughter was born and my MIL came to stay with us for a week - she too joined us in the crusade of not giving in. however a week later, we gave in .. we decided that giving a pacifier is better than letting her suck on a thumb .. pacifier can be thrown away whereas the thumb is always accessible at any time - my brother is 17 years old and when he is stressed, he will unconsciously suck on his thumb .. so far the daughter is not thoroughly dependant on it .. she needs it to fall asleep but then spits it out.
 
cuclainne,
Thanks for sharing! I think you have a very good point there! It is probably easier to wean a child off pacifier than his own finger!!
 
cuclainne,
Thanks for sharing! I think you have a very good point there! It is probably easier to wean a child off pacifier than his own finger!!
 
not really true lei. my elder son stopped sucking on his hands n fingers when he started using them to play, explore.after 1 year old just tell them big boy already, its dirty and all his teeth were out, so need to suck on hands anymore
 
mine also the same, in early months everyone even the PD told me to give dummy to stop her crying and using me as a Big Dummy (BF).
My girl never liked dummy, moved on to sucking her hands, licking toys etc and now no more since she can crawl and pick up stuff with it.
But she never suck her hand to sleep, always bf or bottlefeed to sleep but turned away when she had enough.
And despite all old folks on the street giving comments on how dirty that she put all her fingers in the mouth, its whatever works for the bb.
 
mine also the same, in early months everyone even the PD told me to give dummy to stop her crying and using me as a Big Dummy (BF).
My girl never liked dummy, moved on to sucking her hands, licking toys etc and now no more since she can crawl and pick up stuff with it.
But she never suck her hand to sleep, always bf or bottlefeed to sleep but turned away when she had enough.
And despite all old folks on the street giving comments on how dirty that she put all her fingers in the mouth, its whatever works for the bb.
 
if bb cry non-stop can just try to calm bb down and dun give pacifier first?? until really no choice then give is it ok? will bb suck in a lot of air by time really allow pacifier?? i am referring to a bb less then a month...
 
my bb is 2 weeks old, and me too trying to resist giving her the pacifier...but sigh...tried all methods to soothe her but she jus stop a while, stare at me and then cry again. I am worried she will get dependent on it. But anyone can advise any other method? She jus wans to suck.
 
sucking is a baby natural instincts, and its hard to deny him this.
Its not that hard to wean off the pacificer later
i did it to my 2 girls its ok.
 
I totally agree with bernie that sucking is a baby's natural instinct, they feel comfort in sucking.

If you don't give the pacifier, your baby will still suck his thumb. It is a lot easier to wean off pacifier than the thumb. You can throw away the pacifier, but you cannot cut off the thumb ! I have seen a 3 year old girl still sucking her thumb.

Both my kids use the pacifier. I let my girl used it until 3 years old. Weaning is not difficult. I just bribe them with something they like
happy.gif
 
Share with U what i did to my girls , starting i took it off when they were sleeping, next i decided at about when they are 2 yrs old, i threw away the pacifers and the next morning i asked : what happen to your pacificer ?

Nurse Mummy told a white lie!
kao_kiss.gif
 
No weaning problem for my kids. Both stopped around 2 yo. Make them responsible for the pacifiers. And if they lose it, no replacement.

Finger/thumb sucking is not recommended. Deformation of fingers/thumbs may set in with prolonged sucking.
 
I was one of the "anti-pacifier" mum but still end up giving my son pacifier because he was having colic but he will spit it out when he fall asleep. If he never spit then i will remove it when he was asleep. He used it till around 6 months old. Agreed that it is better for them to use pacifier than finger/thumb. Ever i saw a gal, she is either K1 or K2. She was sucking her thumb then she will stop a while and "air" her thumb till dry then start sucking again and the moment she "air" her thumb, I saw a big bristle on her knuckle of her thumb, quite gross.
 
Bernie,
That's an effective method
happy.gif


Serenade,
I think babies will automatically suck their thumb if they are not given a pacifier. It will be difficult to stop them from doing it.

Jer,
That's gross !
 
Hi tamarind,

Very true that it's babies' nature to suck for comfort. A mother shared with me that she saw her baby sucking fingers during ultrasound scan.

The blister thing is a very real thing. Not trying to scare mothers. It happened to both my sil's and sis' sons.
 
I never gave my daughter a pacifier becos' I believe she cries because of an unfulfilled need and not because she wants a pacifier. Babies dun know whats a pacifier. So if she needs comfort I hold her or breastfeed her if she is hungry.

Anyway, I dun like the idea of having another item to clean and sterilise (not sure if can sterilise). Since I have to keep my baby's hands clean anyway, she can suck on it if she wants. I have seen mothers drop the pacifier in the carpark or place it anyhow with the sucking part on the table. I dun think it is cleaner than her hands. Plus it looks difficult to clean properly especially when you are out.

In any case, it is natural for babies to explore with their mouth when they are young. My daughter sucks on everything when she was little so in any case, I doubt she would have taken to just sucking on the pacifier. Sucking at that age is also a form of exploration so by limiting her to the pacifier, it is limiting the child's experience. I also read that pacifiers can slow a child's speech development because they have less chance to speak with the thing in the mouth. I have seen really big kids still on pacifier and I think it looks bad because it hides the kids face and promotes their dependence on an object for comfort. It is also stressful to hear comments such as "so old already, still on pacifier?"

None of my friends' kids have pacifiers so I think it is not a must. My kid and none of my friends kids suck on their fingers when they reach toddlerhood. So hey, it is do-able but then again, whats do-able to me may not be do-able to you. Some people use cloth diapers but OMG, it is IMPOSSIBLE for me!
 
my son also stuck to pacifier liao.... he is only 1+ month old.. but good thing is that he will ask for it only when he feel sleepy and will spilt out once he fall asleep... but now i afraid once i pass him to babysitter.. the babysitter will keep giving him pacifier so that she can do her own work??
 
Pacifiers are secondary. Its who are the caretakers that's the problem.

If its the Grandma/babysitter taking care of bb, I think you can't really control the pacifier part also.

Weaning off pacifiers is really dependent on the toddler also. Some are easy, some will bring the ceiling down.
 
Babies find comfort in sucking. It's natural instinct. My advice is don't worry too much about it for the first few months of an infant's life. My first child spat out the pacifier on his own after 1 yr old and refused to suck it any more.

My second child took a longer time to wean off, but eventually, it's still done. And I don't see that they are any worse off for having used pacifiers
happy.gif
 
Recently..i started n it took juz ard 2days for two year boy to wean off his precious pacifier from 15/feb Till now almost 1mth.. he has forget abt it...
 
I gave my baby a pacifier because he was very sucky. He was also a very alert baby who resisted sleep so I had to use both a pacifier and sarong to make him sleep. When he was 6 months old I weaned him off both sleep props, using the method described in Tracy Hogg's The Baby Whisperer. It took 1 day (i.e. 4 sleeping sessions - 3 naps & 1 night).

Gina Ford (author of The Contented Baby Book) suggests using a needle to puncture the air bubble in the pacifier. The air bubble makes sucking the pacifier pleasurable so when it is gone, baby may reject the pacifier. Mummies might want to consider this method as a starting point although I did not try it.

My husband was hooked on a pacifier until he was 4. One day his parents took him to the park, told him "No more", and threw away the pacifier in front of him. He never asked for it again. Only try this if your child is old enough to understand. ;-)
 
My 2mth old bb is vv addicted to pacifier..

it's affecting his sleep.. will cry the moment his pacifier drops off and we put it back on, drop off again after a while n cry again.. and the process repeats again and again..

any ways to wean it off?
 
2mths old? I advise you stick to pacifer till your baby is slightly older, maybe after 4 mths.

He just need to suckle on something to feel comforted.

If you really wanna wean him off, just forgo the pacifer and hope he forget abt it in a few days. But you might have to comfort him to sleep for that few days.
 
I gave in. Was anti pacifier until PD told me easier to wean off pacifier than thumb. My 2 mths old gal is sucking her hand and thumb, so thought suck on pacifier better.

Haiz. Still feeling uncomfortable seeing her on pacifier though.
 
lemonade88,

i have the same problem as you, hang in there. my baby is now 5mths, have been popping the binky back into her mouth since she was 1mth...
i totally understand what you are going thru...

rin.
 
My second dd refuse pacifier and prefers her thumb. Now cracking my brain how to stop her from sucking. She's tried to take off the plaster we put on her thumb. Any good ideas?
 
Easy, some old folks will say to apply medicated oil on the thumb , or mail polish. The bad taste will turn her off.
 
<font color="aa00aa">I used to be really against pacifiers, but my baby used to cry so much I was desperate so I popped a paci in.

I must say it helps her to fall asleep and she seems calmer and happier with it.</font>
 
I never used paci on my first one, this second one, I cannot help it, I need to shut him out so not to wake the older one or my husband at night especially. I tried all things beforehand, but seem he is the sort need comfort and quite jumpy at times. Paci seem to calm him, and he actually show me he prefer paci than my breast when he just wants to suck. So far he spit it out when he doesn't want it, he is now 7 wks
 
i dun think it's wise to put medicated oil or even nail polish on pacifier leh...

the 2nd one is full of harmful chemicals..
 
<font color="aa00aa">Yeah, agree with Dew Cheng. Don't put medicated oil or nail polish on pacifiers! These are poisons and aren't meant to be consumed!!!

jan jan, I'm using Pigeon pacifiers. Not sure if they are BPA-free. There is an age specification indicated. For Pigeon, newborns use Stage 1 pacifiers.</font>
 
Weaning from pacifiers:
Just cut off the tip of the pacifier and give to baby / toddler. It's not shiok to suck anymore.
Try this before baby turns 2 if possible, so they are not old enough to know and understand that something has been done to the pacifier.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Sexless marriage
Replies
7
Views
5K
lakshsony
L
S
Husband backed out on having kids
Replies
3
Views
2K
Positivetots
Positivetots
M
Ifc consideration.
Replies
1
Views
529
EK1990
E
A
Elective egg freezing of married women must involve husband
Replies
0
Views
2K
Angelica Cheng
A
P
Natural MC, appreciate some advice..
Replies
2
Views
2K
PowerBerry
P

Back
Top