Introducing Pacifier for 1 Year Old

I wouldn't introduce it at this point, you have other great suggestions here. I disagree that it's a "bad habit" but it's not necessary at this stage when other options might work. I had one that used a paci and one that didn't - sucking is a calming behavior for little ones, but you have a one year old that has other options available. You made it this far so why introduce something you'll have to take away soon anyway...good luck!

S.,

First, I just want to suggest that nursing for comfort & food at night is not a bad habit, but completely normal, for a one year old. Yes, it can be difficult having to wake and nurse, and if it's too disruptive to you, maybe it's time to night wean. My son is 14 months and nurses a lot at night, so he's in bed with us, and it's not too disruptive. But it does mean I have to go to bed earlier to get enough sleep. I night weaned our daughter when she was 3, and it was a breeze because she was ready and she could understand what we were doing. But I will night wean our son earlier if I am not getting enough rest. Regarding a paci, I just remember the battles friends had getting their kids to abandon them! Good luck!

Why replace one bad habit with another?

It might be time for some tough love. When I decided I had had enough of the waking 5 times a night, we started with one waking. I sent my husband in to handle it. She cried, but within a few weeks, she was sleeping through that feed. The next feed only took a few days to break her of the habit. The morning nurse is/was the hardest --working on getting her to stop waking at 5.

I think that this is okay if used for the naps and sleeping. I would not recommend for all soothing because they do need to find ways to do that themselves. I am a strong advocate of the pacifier. Both my girls used them and it really did help their sleep patterns.

He'll kling to the breast as long as you let him. Take him off slowly using the pacifier intermittenly. Dr. always knows best.

Speaking from experience, I would not introduce the pacifier. My oldest was addicted to the pacifier until almost 3. It is a hard habit to break them of later on.

I am not sure I would recommend going to a pacifier now. If you do I would get rid of it by 2. Maybe you need to sleep train (let them cry it out). Good Luck.

My option is NO. You have made it a year without the pacifier, why would you want to introduce it now, only to have to take it away from him in a short while, Unless you want to have a toddler running around with a pacifier.
You ask so I gave my 2 cents. I wish the best of luck.

I had to use one for my newborn as he was doing the same, using my breast for a pacifier. I thought it was bad but he still eats enough.

It is still very common for 1 year olds to not sleep through the night yet. Also, children nurse more when they are coming upon a developmental milestone- hence you becoming a "human pacifier." Many breastfed babies want nothing to do with a pacifier, and if he hasn't had one now I wouldn't introduce it. If he does indeed take to it, it can become an incredibly difficult habit to break. Besides that dentists recommend giving up the pacifier as soon as they can for the sake of their developing teeth. It won't last forever, this stage. If it's not incredibly inconviencing to you, I'd say stick with him ebb and flow of bf'ing, it won't be long in the scheme of things before he's moved on.

I totally agree with your doctor!!! My son had stopped using the pacifier at about 5 months. I needed my sleep so one day I tried it and it worked!!!!! I do let my son fall asleep in my bed (so he still feels close to me) and then I move him into his bed and he sucks the pacifier the rest of the night. He has not nursed since re-introducing the pacifier and it is wonderful. My son is 14 months and we stopped last month. He even gets the pacifier his self sometimes off the night stand when we are starting our night time schedule. He is almost to the point I can put him in the bed by himself at night. I say try it!!!

I think the pacifier is a bad habit but he may be trying to ween him off you at night. Is your son able to fall asleep on his own? If not he needs to learn or else he'll depend on you/pacifier and will need you every time he wakes. Make sure that he is eating enough at night and that he isn't napping too much during the day. Once your son reduces the number of wakings, I would hold off feeding him for 30 minutes so he doesn't get used to waking up at the earlier hour to be fed. Good luck.

Nope!!! I would not even! I had a child who would wake up lots during the nite also. Just let them cry it out. I would give it a good 3 days of him doing that. Trust me, it will be hard not giving in and just 'easier' to treat the immediate, but long term, it will be better to not start giving him a pacifier now. Especially after a year old.

Hi, don't get me wrong, cuz' I am one to say "do what works"! But, you might just have a different battle later on when you have to take that damn thing away!!! My daughter was 3 when we took it away cuz' she loved it so much, so I wanted to get rid of it when my son was 2, well, he was alittle over 2, so that was ok...But he missed it, and we had a couple days of crying. Anyway, that said, we gave him a what we call a snuggle bear. It is one of those small blankies with the satin on the ends and a teeny bear. My 6-year old daughter still has her snuggle bunny!!! He just loves that thing, and that comforts him. Maybe you can explain that to your 1 year old and see what goes!!! Good luck to you!

I haven't finished reading all the replies, but did anyone suggest introducing stuffed animal of favorite blanket. My son and daughter, now 28 and 9 months, never used a paci past 9 months. They both have a stuffed animal they snuggle at night. Neither cried nor woke me up at night to nurse. Perhaps that would help.

I would not suggest introducing a pacifier...for sooo many reasons. To be blunt, I would question the doctor too. Mine would never suggest such a thing. Maybe he made the suggestion so that you could get some sleep, but you'll have another problem later when you try to take it away.

P.S. He should be drinking out of a sippy by a year too, that will help with the need for a paci too. Just another suggestion

Is it possible that he could be teething and his little gums are sore.

Best of luck
J.

This is exactly what happened with the little one-year-old boy I babysit for! Since he was obviously not hungry, but just needed comforting, a pacifier was the answer. His mom used it for naps and at night, and it made a huge difference in his nursing demands. She has done this for a few months now, and after a while he started sleeping through the night peacefully. At one, of course, he could pick up the pacifier and use it if he woke up and it had dropped out of his mouth. He doesn't want it at any other time any more - at first he wanted it more, and she let him have it, but he is weaning himself from using it while he is awake during the day. His mom and his doctor considers this better than sucking his thumb, which may push his teeth out of alignment. The pacifiers available now do not do that. Hope this helps you come to a decision that works for both of you. One year olds are great!

I was the human pacifier for my now 12 year old son too, but when he was 13 months old I got sick and takin a lot of drugs, I did not want to pass those drugs to my son through the brest milk, so I did not give him the brest any more. He suffered for 2 os 3 nights but then it was over. Good luck.

I had the same issue and tried it on three kids, none of them would take it, good luck :)!

Instead of introducing the pacifier, you may want to take a look at his diet to see if anything is causing him gas or tummy troubles, contributing to his waking. My daughter woke up 3-5 times a night from about 3-12 months until I realized she was reacting to the dairy in my diet (EBF). Sometimes children also react to wheat, citrus, etc. either thru the mother's milk or thru them ingesting it themselves.

I nursed my daughter for 15 months and had the same problem w/ her waking up and just using me as a pacifier. The doctor said they don't need to eat during the night anymore so try to nurse her longer right before bed. That didn't cut it so my husband stepped up to the plate and would give her a bottle of regular milk during the night if she wanted some but she really didn't. Just the pacifier was sufficient. Also a little after her 1st b-day I decided it was time to see if she could fall asleep by herself. I put a bunch of pacifiers in her crib and left the room with the door cracked. The first time it took 15 minutes and she was asleep and the next night 1 minute. We love to rock her to sleep and still do on occasion but wanted her to have the confidence to go at it alone and she's done great. No bottle or breast. Occasionally she wakes up and it's our rule to wait 5 minutes and then go tend to her which I can't remember now if we've had to go and tend to her. She's now weaned and it's so great when she's sick or when dad is out of town that she can sleep with me and we actually both can sleep because she doesn't use me as the human pacifier that I once was to her!

My oldest son started taking a pacifier when he was 10 months old. I had gallbladder surgery and was in the hospital for 5 days...my mom gave my son a pacifier and he took it. He then used it till he was about 2 1/2. What ever works so that he sleeps through the night. If you don't get rest you can't be the best mom for him....you need to help him learn to sleep through the night. If the pacifier doesn't work you need to just let him cry it out. He needs to learn to put himself to sleep.

I think you would be replacing the night nursing with a pacifier without changing anything- you would still have to get up 5/6 times a night to put the pacifier in his mouth (been there:) )

Look up information on night weaning on the web and try that. Your baby is old enough to go through the night without nursing, he just likes it (and who wouldn't like waking up for a snuggle and a snack?). There are ways to make an easy transition to sleeping through the night and introducing a pacifier will not fix that. Good lck.

If you can get him to take it at this age, great! Fingers are harder to break. The sucking reflex is normal and acceptable (as you may know by now). Fingers may mess up their teeth. My 10 year old used a binkie and quit it overnight, my 7 year old still sucks her fingers and her teeth are a mess. 1 year old my be late you may just need to go through the curve of braking a habit.

If you are working outside the home, your son needs to eat during the night. Not only is it comforting, but the nutrition will keep him healthy when he's playing with the other kids.

Hi S.. You must be so tired!!! My advice is to make sure your son is getting enough milk during the day. Also, if you haven't already, I would be feeding your son solids at least 3 times a day with sippy cup. You may also want to give him sippy with milk in the evening. My point is... make sure he is eating and drinking enough during the day and taking nap(s), but not sleeping too much during the day. Then I would put him to bed without a pacifier and put some ear plugs in... :-) Seriously, it's hard, but if you know your son has eaten/drank enough all day, he needs to learn to soothe himself and you'll feel better because you are getting sleep. You may want to ask your doc about how much food/liquid he should be getting during the day. Also, you could start out slow by only getting him one time a night and be sure to put him back in his crib... then eventually have him go longer without breastfeeding. By one, my son was eating 3 meals per day, plus snacks. I also breastfeed him most of the time, but felt like my supply wasn't enough, I started to give him more bottles and sippy cups after he turned one. Also, I had to make sure I burped him every time after a bottle/nursing because if I didn't he would wake up shortly after he fell asleep for a burp. I gave up on baby food early on and he seemed to eat more table food, so he slept better....
Good Luck.
T.

Personally, i wouldn't get him one. Buy some teething rings. the soft ones. My son didnt want a pacifier after about 9 or 10 months. of course he already had 5 teeth by then tho, so he was more on the teething stuff for a while. After all his primary teeth came in, he didnt even want teething stuff anymore. Good luck!
D.

I wouldn't introduce a pacifier. A one year old is old enough to soothe himself in other ways besides sucking. The real issue, is the night feedings. He is old enough to go through the night without waking to eat. I would cut out the night feedings and have him use a small stuffed animal or blankie for comfort in the crib. I would use the CIO method, but that is your choice.

i agree with the previous gal. if it were me, i probably wouldn't try a pacifier. we took our oldest's pacifier way at 18 months...i can't imagine just starting to give it to her at 12 months.

my husband also went in for me when our 2nd daughter decided she didn't like sleeping thru the night. she would always try to nurse if i went in, so he started going in and she gave up. she did cry quite a bit and that was hard, but it was worth it. if you're most comfortable with giving the pacifier, then by all means do what you think is best. but just remember that you'll probably have to fight him on taking that away eventually too; and then you have to decide well, what age should we take the pacifier away? what if he won't sleep without it? what if he's already in a toddler bed at that point, will he be getting out of bed then? tough call, but my vote is to find a way to not use the paci.

good luck.