hi!
my 5.5 month old son goes to bed without a fuss and without his pacifier......but he does have night wakings (not out of hunger) and I always give him the pacifier then, but I think it is causing more harm at least some nights - i'll have to go back in multiple times after the initial time of putting it in if it falls out right away or within an hour later - every night is a toss up! So i'm considering CIO (if you are against this please don't send me ur comments) to get rid of the pacifier dependency at night....
Does anyone else have a child that goes to bed easily without paci, but uses it in middle of the night?
Also, if i continue to let him use it for naps (he is also still swaddled for naps, but not bedtime) and continue to replace it during naps, is this going to be confusing for him? or is it okay to treat night and day differently?
thanks!
How do you know he's not hungry? Have you tried feeding him to see if he'll sleep a longer stretch after wards?
I would say that at this age cio is pointless as he will not get the connection. My 1st ds needed one and used for sleep until almost 3. Let me say that if he needs sucking to sleep, he may eventually find his thumb and you can't some day take a thumb away. I'm not opposed at all to CIO but not when they are so young. That is their only way of communicAting.
I would think if he uses it for naps, he'll want it for bed time too. I have a 9 month old who uses a pacifier for sleeping and this was an issue for a little bit...just know that soon (very soon) he'll be able to find his pacifier himself and put it in by himself. Don't stress too much about it now...that's my advice. =)
My daughter is 18 months and only uses her binky for naps and bedtime, and other than the for few months (newborn) she hasn't had it during the day. Having said that, I wish I would have taken it away sooner. She won't sleep without it. Last week I tried doing CIO without the binky and after 35 minutes and her vomiting because she was so upset I gave it back to her. If it were me, I would take it away now since he only uses it for sleep. She still wakes during the night when she looses it, so I don't think he will outgrow that as he gets older. I wouldn't treat night and day differently, either give it to him or don't, part time will more than likley confuse him.
If he is soothed by it, then I wouldn't take it away - it's healthy to have some thingto self soothe. As someone said, he will soon be able to find it and put it in himself... maybe put a few in the crib so they are easier to find.
Why try and take away his soothie. His happy thing. If it helps him sleep, I would keep doing it.
To me it sounds like he would get confused why he gets it for a nap but not bedtime. Which could cause more problems. I wouldn't try and fix something that doesn't need fixing.
If he needs the pacifier to get back to sleep and he cannot find it,and depends on you-this will continue. Does he roll over on his tummy? When he starts doing that-you can put pacifiers all over the perimeter-until then-either stop them or prepare to awaken-I would probably stop if he is getting himself to sleep when you first lay him down-it sounds like he's really cute!
CIO is hard for me, but I recommend it. All 3 of my children (8.5, 3, and 11 months ) were fans of the binky. I find nothing wrong with a soothie of some sort, but the older they get, the harder it gets. Especially if it's affecting his sleep. If you're sure it's not hunger, CIO might work. But you have to make a mental decision to do that..there is no turning back because it will really confuse him:)
Good luck!
My DD is a freak without her paci! I would get up a million times to put it back in, but then I started leaving the paci clip on her pj's and she got old enough/good enough to put it in her mouth herself and she would - I didn't have to keep waking up!! I would think about getting a clip for him so he can just pacify himself and not cry for you to do it. See if that helps....
My son used his at naps and at night, but never at bed time. It made it easier to take away since he was not used to needing it to fall asleep. I would maybe try some other comfort thing for him and see if he takes to it.
