Author Topic: Pacifier as a Crutch. Help!  (Read 1209 times)

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Offline AngeMullan

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Pacifier as a Crutch. Help!
« on: November 02, 2016, 20:03:19 pm »
I've read some recent reports encouraging parents to offer babies a pacifier at bedtime and nap time. We're doing that and our 11-week-old LOVES her pacifier. Since day one. But now it's a crutch. She wakes at the 45 min mark and I have to reinsert it 2-5 times to get her to then sooth herself back to sleep. I have two more months of maternity leave and I want to use them as wisely as possible. Is it safe to take away the pacifier in some way at this point in order to encourage more independent sleep? If so, how? OR is it safer to keep plugging it in while she's this young and wean her off of it when she's older (I've read 12-24 months is a good time). And is it really independent sleep if she needs the paci? I know she'll be able to plug it in by herself in a few months. Should I just deal with this for now... knowing it's a short time? I'm struggling because no one else (not my husband, mom or mother in law) have the patience for doing the constant paci plug in. It's only at nap time. She sleeps through the night without it. What can I do to make this time less stressful for all caring for her? I'm stressing. I can't do this alone. Is getting rid of the pacifier the answer? And if so, how do I do that?

Offline deb

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Re: Pacifier as a Crutch. Help!
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2016, 20:37:53 pm »
One child we went cold turkey to wean her (this was around 7 months); we only resorted to this when the No-Cry Sleep Solution Gentle Removal kept getting stymied by her getting a cold and us needing to start over and over and over again. The other child was more stubborn and we eventually taught her to replug herself and just sprinkled lots of them in her bed at night and she'd grope around until she found one and plug herself back in (I wish we'd thought of that for #1).

At that age, though, we discovered that if we came in at the 45-minute mark and replugged her before she woke fully enough to notice - she would sort of stir and her mouth would move like she was checking to see if it was still there, so that's when we did it, before her eyes opened - she eventually began to sleep through that 45-minute mark. Took maybe a week of that, possibly less.

Meanwhile maybe a moderator can link to the Pantley Gentle Removal post if you can't find it?

Offline deb

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Re: Pacifier as a Crutch. Help!
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2016, 20:40:25 pm »
Wait, it seems to be here: Gentle Removal Plan