Pacifier for newborn (less then 4wks)

[aquanark]

Is it alright to give a pacifier to my newborn (less then 4wks old) because my newborn likes to suckle esp at night?

 

[pixie]

If you can, don't introduce pacifier.
This is something you want to give and it is not a must give. If you understood what I mean?

Once it is given, you will have to wean him/her off at later stage which may not be easy.

Make a wise decision. Welcome to parenthood

 

[diza]

I had the same problem too coz my boy just love to latch for comfort especially when he wants to sleep.. I tried giving him the pacifier but he rejected it. Actually it became a blessing in disguise coz it helps to establish my milk supply. Then I train my baby to sleep without latching like getting someone else to put him to bed. After returning to work I only let him latch for comfort before bedtime. Now he sucks his own fingers.. I don't know if that's part of baby's development or that is his own way of comforting himself.

 

[Mreow Mreow]

Diza, it cuz u use to BFeed lying down then let baby fall asleep thereafter?

My gal seems to have the suck to sleep habit too, after I started to beefed lying down!!

But she'll auto push out my nipple when she is done

 

[diza]

I don't think BF while lying down is the cause for their habit.. But it's definitely easier to feed while lying down especially at night. He cries, I just shove my nipple in his mouth and i go back to sleep. Hehe

 

[joycepng]

Babies that are breast feed are used to our nipples. So they wanna suck onto something. I gave my little one pacifier when she's 2 wks. I only give to her during sleep. After a while, she will auto puke out her pacifier when she asleep.

 

[silly1812]

I gave my 3 weeks old boy pacifier too.. but I dunno why it dies seem to stay put in his mouth. I always have to put it back into his mouth. Once out he cries out loud..

 

[Alisa]

i gave my son pacifier when he was less than 1 mth cuz my husband cannot tahan his cry. Hee... anyway, they will kept pushing out the pacifier cuz it is not like breast that soft so after a while, he got used to it. he quit himself from pacifier when he was less than 5mths. lucky for us.

 

[endlssorrow]

my baby girl less than one month already with it. use on n off to pacify her.

 

[pinkk11]

there is no absolute answer of whether it is good or bad using a pacifier...
if it helps to keep your sanity, you should just use it (i did and i'm thankful for it! lol~)..

 

[chengtng]

My newborn (<2 week old) would cry continuously when he was not sleeping, and it would sometimes last for 6-10 hours. Even with a CL, I was flat out exhausted just picking him up and putting him down for the 6-10 hour stretches. My CL also quit on me after 2 weeks. I was also told that too much crying was bad for him because they take in a lot of air when they cry so they would feel uncomfortable after that (thus causing them to cry more?)

Anyway, after introducing the pacifier (which we use only for sleep) near the two week mark, we found it very useful for him to expel the excess energy that he has before going to sleep, if he's already drowsy but somehow fighting sleep... (Also, he seemed to like the replacement CL much much more, so he started crying a lot less... hehe..) I don't know if I was lucky, but he had no problems with latching / bottle feeding after we introduced the pacifier. Also, at 3.5 months now, he does not scream for his pacifier if we don't give it to him when it's time to sleep, and just whines a little bit for it if he isn't sleepy enough. Most nights he's able to fall asleep when put down in a dark and quiet room, without the aid of a pacifier... If he has probs falling asleep, the pacifier works like a miracle drug! Just pop it in and within seconds his eyes would droop... Don't foresee weaning him off to be problematic, because we only use it on and off. Also, I've seen babies with bumps on their fingers cos their parents do not want to introduce the pacifier to them, so they end up sucking their fingers to self soothe, and that leads to a bad habit. As their fingers are always on hand (pardon the pun), it is definitely more difficult to wean them off finger sucking rather than pacifier sucking as you can just not buy anymore pacifiers!

Hope this helps!