Help with Pacifier Problem and 4 Month Old Son

I got great advice from a pediatrician about this once. They said when you and the baby are awake and the baby has the paci, tug at it a few times. Not enough to pull it out, but just enough to make the child feel the paci coming out. do this through out the day. They will reflexively suck it back in, and learn how to hold it in their mouths better. Then when they are asleep they can keep it in! It took a week or so, but it worked!

Hi T.
Well, bless you.
there are several reasons why he is doing this- he could be teething, he could just be a little hungry why he is waking or he could be having some bad dreams. babies do that- and it is something you will just have to cope with- sleepless nites with children never end- just take a little nap during the day when he naps if you can-
good luck and blessings

Teach your son to put in his mouth himself. That's what my husband and I did with our twins when they were small...

Everytime it pops out and you want it to go back in, you put it in his hand and use his hand to put it back in his mouth...soon he will do it himself...we also had the binkies attached to the clips for them and attach those to this clothing and sleepers...this way he doesn't loose it in his crib at night...

Good luck.. ;-)

Most 4 months old require a feeding or two during the night. If he is waking that often, it is more likely that he waking because he is hungry. Listen to your mama instincts on this one. He will sleep for longer intervals as his belly grows and allows for him to take in larger amounts.

You may be surprised at how much more sleep you will get if you just feed him when he wakes. FYI 5 hours is considered sleeping through the night, not 8 or 10. Small babies cannot be expected to have the same sleeping schedules as grown adults.

Hi T.,
You didn't mention whether your son is breastfed or bottlefed. Breastfed babies usually cannot go an entire night without feeding at that age. So, if you are breastfeeding and having to put the paci back in his mouth more than 2 or 3 times, I would say definitely feed him. If he is bottle fed he may be able to go all night without feeding, but at that age, it is also possible that he may still be hungry some nights (i.e., if he is about to go through a growth spurt). So again, if you are having to put the paci back more than a few times, you may want to offer a bottle. I went through this with my oldest daughter. She was bottle fed (refused to nurse from day 1--my two younger daughters both nursed without a problem--I know, very weird). When she was about 3 months we realized that she was only having a few sips of formula before falling back to sleep. So, we started putting the paci back in her mouth when she woke up. Like you, sometimes it was only twice a night, other times it was more--but I don't think it was ever more than 4 times a night. If she'd woken more than that I think I would've fed her. I think it took until she was about 5 months before she was able to find the paci in her crib and put it back in her mouth herself. And, it was gradual...some nights she could find it, other nights she would wake us up b/c she was searching and couldn't find it anywhere (it would often be stuck between the matress and one of the slats of the crib). So it may be that your son just needs to develop a bit more to get to that point. Be patient with him...when you become a parent, sleep deprivation unfortunately goes with the territory! Best of luck to you. :-)

I have an almsot 2 and almost 3 year old. They were paci kids. I started with paci clips at 4 months or older. Got some cute ones from Fussy Couture on Etsy - but i have seen cute ones lately at Target too. They are wide and short ribbon - metal clips that don't come unclipped. Some would probably disagree - but we needed sleep. My kids could 'find' the attached paci easily and get themselves back to sleep. My son gave up his paci easily at 2.5 - all on his own. I expect my daughter to do the same. We have never had any sucked thumb issues thanks to our pacifiers!

This is the reason I never started the whole "paci thing" with any of my kids. You think it's hard now, just wait until he's 2 or 3 (my neices experience was HORRIBLE...OUCH). I was always told to let a child learn to put himself to sleep. I've never had sleeping issues with any of my children and I think it's because of this valuable advice I got when we adopted our first. I've been told it takes 3 (sleepless) nights to break a habit and this might be one of those things you need to try out. It's difficult to hear them cry, but I would think it better now than later.

The only thing that came to my mind is maybe trying to gently remove it once he is asleep and then shush him softly before he fully wakes up. Maybe having if fall out and waking fully is causing the problem. Sometimes when my little boy was that small we would do that and after gently removing it he would fuss a second but we would just pat him on his belly and shush him softly and he would be out again. Now my little guy fell asleep nursing almost every night so this is something we did at around six months of age because he started waking a little bit and having trouble getting back to sleep, but it might be worth a try. I wish you the best!

I had this exact same problem with my son when he was four months so I know how draining it is.
We ended up taking the paci away from him completely and using the Ferber method to teach him to put himself to sleep. It was really tough hearing him cry but with the Ferber method you do go in and reassure them at certain time intervals so your child will not feel abandoned. Get the book on the Ferber sleep method, it's called Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. The first night was a little rough but the second night was better and by the third night he slept straight through 8 hours without us having to get up once. It was wonderful!! The Ferber method really worked for us with this problem and I highly recommend it. Dont worry, you WILL get regular sleep again, you can do this!!

Just also thought I would mention that I gave my son his paci back at age 6months, because we were on a flight and it wasnt time for a bottle and I was worried about his ears popping while we landed. At that time I found out that during those two short months he had developed enough that he could put his paci back in his mouth all by himself. I started letting him have it for nighttime sleep and he went from going 8 hours to 11 straight hours. It was awesome. He would still lose his paci sometimes so I just started putting (literally) 10-15 pacis in his crib every night so if it fell out he could find one easily to put back in his mouth all by himself. Worked like a charm and he is now 23 months, I still do the same thing and he is a great sleeper.

Good luck!!

Hook it on to him during the day so that he can learn to put it back in his mouth himself. They have special strings that are a safe length and won't let it fall too far away from his hands. Then, hopefully, at night, you can insist that he pick it up and put it in his mouth. Then, you won't have to insist, he will do it. But, 4 months is pretty young for this. But, it is worth the training for when he's a bit older. As of now, you may have to let him cry it out?

My daughter will be 5 months next week. She does sleep through the night, she never wakes up completely, but I do feed her several times during the night. I think its totally normal at this age. I Bf, which you didn't mention, but BF babies digest their milk a lot more quickly so he could be hungry. Even if he is on formula maybe he needs a bottle.

4 months old is pretty young to be sleeping through the night, so I think pushing in a paci a few times a night is not that big of a deal. Most 4 month olds still wake to eat a few times a night. Does he still need to eat at all?

The only suggestion I have is perhaps have him close to you (bassinet or something) so that it's not as hard to put it back in his mouth.

This sounds exactly like my problem when my son was 4 months old! I let this go on until he was 5 months old, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone. My son would go to sleep with no problem, but like yours, he would wake up the minute the paci would fall out. I don't know if you're ready for this, but I started to let him cry it out. What I ended up doing was putting him to bed and when he would wake up, I just let him cry until he fell back to sleep. Literally, 2 nights later he was barely fussing and was able to go back to sleep on his own. It's not easy to let your baby cry- I was a mess, but it really was the best thing for him. I still put him to bed with his paci, but if it falls out, I don't go back in there- it's a one shot deal. Hope this helps!

I did not get a full nights rest till our son was a year old. I had the understanding that babies still needed a bottle durring the night. Also our son had diapers needing changed and burpings. Count your lucky stars that he is sleeping that much. Hope you find your answer.