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PACIFIERS - The Great Debate

January 14, 2018

 

PACIFIERS - The Great Debate

By Nancy Hamm

It’s 2 a.m., and you have been up every thirty minutes for the last four hours. You expect to be up every thirty minutes for the rest of the night. You are exhausted. Life looks pretty dim, and your precious bundle of joy is only three weeks old. The baby will sleep fine when sucking on the pacifier but she does not have the control to keep it in her mouth so when it falls out, she wakes up and starts crying. Wait, you can take the baby to bed with you and hold the pacifier in her mouth. It will work, but you will not sleep well knowing she is right beside you. So what is the solution to this exhausting situation?  

I am here to give you insight into the pros and cons of pacifiers.   Do I use them in my work? Yes! They do a great job to stretch feeding time and soothe a fussy baby. Has a baby I cared for been pacifier dependent? No! Why not? It is a habit that can be easily broken and is not beneficial.

Let’s start with the pros and cons of pacifier use:
Pros:
Great Soothing tool
May offer a temporary distraction
Works well to extend feeding time
Pacifiers are disposable
Cons:
Baby may become dependent
May increase the risk of middle ear infections
Prolonged use may lead to dental problems

    If you choose to offer your baby a pacifier, keep these tips in mind: 

    • Let your baby set the pace. If your baby is not interested in the pacifier, try again later or skip it entirely. Don’t force the issue.
    • Let sleeping babies lie. If the pacifier falls out of your baby’s mouth while he is sleeping, don’t pop it back in. They may cry for a minute but will soon learn to soothe themselves.
    • Try other ways to calm your baby. Don’t use the pacifier as the first line of defense. Sometimes just changing the baby’s position may be all that is needed.
    •  Know when to pull the plug. If you find your baby becoming too dependent on the pacifier, pull the plug. Do it in the first three months. After three months it is entirely a habit. Please don’t get me wrong, it can also be a habit in the first three months and the longer you let the habit continue, the harder it is to break. Once broken, your life will become much easier.
     

    Use the pacifier with caution. The following advice is what we call insider’s information. It is so simple but takes a lot of consistency and fortitude.

    You must teach your baby to self-soothe. Part of the self-soothing is giving the pacifier as a part of soothing a baby one time. When it falls out you must let the baby soothe. Self- soothing can also involve distracting them, changing their position, patting them or shushing them loudly in their ear, swaddling them or gentle jiggling. Yes, even when they are only two or three weeks old self-soothing works. As a matter of fact, the earlier you start the easier it will be. The crying schedule for a two or three week old is one to three minutes. Usually, they fall asleep before the time is up. This is the beginning of creating a baby-friendly home, a happy mommy and a content baby.
    About the Author:
        Nancy Hamm: Co-Owner of Gentle Blessings www.gentleblessing.com. Owner of Exclusively Newborns www.exclusivelynewborns.com and the Managing Director of the NCSA, (Newborn Care Specialist Association). Ms. Hamm is a Certified Newborn Care Specialist and has been caring for newborns for over 25 years. She educates RN’s, LPN’s, Doulas and Nannies in newborn education. Her first love is doing night or 24/7 duty for newborns and consulting/educating new parents. Ms. Hamm can be reached at 602-412-849

     

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    The sound of cheery calls of “MAAAAMAAAAA” from the next room may be lovely at 7am. At 4am, or 5 am, not so much. Your baby may be up and ready to start the day, but you probably aren’t. 

    Answering the questions below may help you get there.

    1. Is your nap schedule mucking up your baby’s overnight sleep?

    This might seem like an obvious question, but your baby’s sleep needs will change fast in the first few years of their lives. A quick look at the average nap number and duration might give you an idea:

    • For babies from 3-6 months old, it’s normal to take 3-4 hour-long naps per day.
    • For babies 6-15 months old, expect 2 naps with 3-3.5 hours of total sleep. 
    • For one and two-year-olds, you should expect a single 2-hour nap. 

    Part of the reason you might be seeing earlier wakeups is that your baby has graduated from one nap cycle to the next.

     

    1. Does your baby have enough time between their last nap and their bedtime?

    We call this an “awake window,” and it can make a big difference. It might seem strange that your baby went to bed fine the night before, and you’re seeing a response to nap scheduling in the pre-dawn hours, but if your kiddo’s sleep is disrupted at night, it will impact the morning. 

    • 3-6 months, at least 1.5-2 hours between final nap wakeup and bedtime. 
    • 6-12 months, at least 2.5-3.5 hours between final nap wakeup and bed.
    • 12-18+ months, 3.5-4.5 hours between final nap wakeup and bed.

     

    1. Is the room staying dark after the sun comes up?

    Black 0ut curtains can make a big difference here. Remember that our brains signal wakeup when the light changes. So if dawn is at 430am, and even a little bit of light comes into your baby’s room, their little brains will PING with wake up juice.

     

    1. Is your baby going to sleep too early or too late?

    It might seem counter-intuitive, but a late bedtime can actually backfire on you. Overtired kids don’t sleep as well. If you made their bedtime later and it didn’t fix the problem, try an earlier bedtime and see if that helps. You might be surprised.

     

    1. How do you make it better?

    Try to make one change at a time; just one. Stick with that change for 3-5 days to see if it impacts things. (One night is usually not enough to see substantial change.) Be as consistent as you can with the change you made. For instance, if you decide to increase the space between bedtime and final nap wakeup, make sure to stick to the wakeup time you planned.

     

    If your baby is waking up and chirping happily to themselves, feel free to leave them there for a little while. Let them get used to being alone in the crib. If you can, try to delay the start of the day by 5-10 minutes each day. This can make a big impact.

     

    Everything else aside, remember that this is a short time in  your kid’s life; as they get older, their sleep will become more regular, and so will yours. Don’t let yourself get too discouraged. Things are hard now, and you’re doing a great job.

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