Pacifier Help - Santa Rosa,CA

Maybe you can try to help her find her own thumb? Sometimes kids (especially breastfed kids) don't like the pacifier. At least she can learn to self soothe with her own thumb rather than depending on someone else's!!

Okay, I hope this isn't stupid advice or something you haven't already tried. We have a 6-mo-old daughter. She hasn't taken a paci since she was about 6 wks old, but LOVES to chew/suck on the toy we've come to refer to as "Favorite Toy" -- it looks like a multicolored diagram of an atom, and it simultaneously entertains and soothes her. I hope this helps:) We've also started using the little teethers you keep in the fridge. She likes those, too. We just hook one up to a bunch of those links and hang them from her car seat or stroller. She seems content to gnaw on them, esp. when they're still cold. :)

Hi Jessica,
I sympathize. When my daughter was first born I quickly developed eczema on my pinky finger because it was always in her mouth! I took her to Babies R Us and talked to a nice, experienced person there (not what you'll always find, but worth asking) who said I should try a pacifier that was most shaped like my own nipple. My daughter ended up loving the Soothie green pacifier. The first night after I bought them she went to sleep swaddled with that pacifier in about 30 seconds. We were so overjoyed we took a picture!

Jessica,

Give her the pacifer- then give it a little tug-- she will start sucking and won't want to let it go. Do this a few times and she will get the hang of it.

Molly

Dampening the tip of the pacifier worked for my daughter too. Also you can order this stuff called "sweeties" off the internet, it is essentially sugar water that you just dip the pacifier in. My daughter really loved that stuff and now she doesn't really like her pacifier during the day, but she loves it during nap time. Hope that helps!

She is only going to suck on your fingers if you offer it. If she doesn't want the pacifier then don't give it to her. You will just get her into a habit that you will later have to break. I never gave my children a pacifier and my theory is that it gives the child more of an opportunity to speak more rather than have that thing in their mouth and prolong any speaking. Good luck!

Our first son was a die hard binky baby & our second son is a die hard finger sucker....his index & middle fingers on his right hand. As a baby, we tried desperately to get #2 to take the binky cuz we didn't want to deal w/trying to break him of the finger sucking but he was having none of it! Started sucking his fingers at 2 months which coincided w/sleeping thru the night. We knew a good thing when we saw it so left it alone! You can try to get your baby to like the binky, especially since for now it seems to be your fingers she wants to suck on instead of her own! But ultimately, it boils down to what she finds comforting. I know some kids like to suck on those small security blankets, which, yes, can get gross, but maybe she'd like that. Best of luck!

HI Jessica,
Our grandson is also 4 months now & likes to chew fingers. He will take the pacifier but would prefer something harder because he's teething. He wants to chew on something harder because it soothes his gums. We saw yesterday that he had stopped the swing & was chewing on the metal bar! Yew, I thought, but since it was working & he was so happy about it we let him.
Our daughter in law like you has tried several types. She found one he liked but has not been able to find another like it since. But we do have the one......
Maybe if you tried a teether ring or something, it might just be that she is looking for something that will help her gums feel better??
Good Luck, hope this helped

My daughter will only take the advent pacifiers. http://www.babiesrus.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw...
0 to 6 months is what we use.
Good luck

Hi Jessica,
Simple... Just stop giving her your fingers to suck on! She may cry for a bit but if all she has is a pacifier than eventually that is what she will use. Keep trying and she will stop sucking your fingers if they are not put in her mouth.
L.

When my little ones couldn't be calmed and refused the pacifier, I'd dampen the tip with water and put on just a tiny bit of sugar. That usually did the trick. I'd keep the little packets of sugar in the diaper bag, and if we were somewhere and they got really fussy (usually a restaurant, on a plane, while driving, guests at a friend's home), just a little calmed them down. It wasn't long before I didnt' need to do this, and they accepted the pacifier when fussy or winding down.

alot of parnets get confused by kids with a tongue that pushes things out, but baby will learn the skill soon.
I liked the "give it a little tug" suggestion, but most importantly put it back in so baby can learn how to keep it in by trial and error...

Hi Jessica, when I read that babies don't automatically take to sucking on a pacificer I didn't believe it until my son was born. My friends also had difficulty getting their babies to take the pacifier. My son was the same way in that he'd suck on daddy's fingers but not his pacifier. Starting at birth I just kept giving it to him every time he cried and also at nap or bedtime and sometimes whenever. Even if he spit it out I would keep putting it in his mouth. I also tapped lightly on the round part of the pacifier to let him know it was there. I also read that if you push down on it a little so that the nipple touched the roof of his mouth that it might trigger a sucking response. I also tried the bait and switch by letting him suck my finger and then switching to the pacifier. He finally took the pacifier regularly at around 3 months. Good luck!