Author Topic: Has the paci become a prop?  (Read 2087 times)

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Offline Jpbaby

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Has the paci become a prop?
« on: October 01, 2017, 04:34:42 am »
Hello! I have a 23 week old boy. I have noticed that he wakes every night to get the paci replugged, but lately this has been happening every hour. Today he had a very good day with very good naps and a great bedtime routine falling asleep easily on his own, first time it has happened since 3 weeks ago when we went through the 4 month sleep regression. So I decided to unplug his paci, and he has woken up twice already asking for it again, he's been asleep for 2 hours only. I just plug it back for a minute or so and unplug it and he keeps sleeping.
I am wondering if this means he has gotten used to the paci to make the transitions and that is why he keeps waking. Also what do you recommend to do about it, how to address this dependency?

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Has the paci become a prop?
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2017, 19:48:36 pm »
It does sound like a dependency, yes.  Basically you either put up with it until he can learn to replug himself (7-8 months or so), or you take it away and have a bit of a rough time with sleep until he learns to do without it!  PUPD is something that can be used for this situation if you wanted to?  But you may feel that a quick paci replug is preferable to a lot of tears and upset in getting rid of it?

Did you want to post your routine for us just in case there's anything else there that could be contributing to increased wakings?


Offline Jpbaby

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Re: Has the paci become a prop?
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2017, 16:58:37 pm »
Hi! Thanks for your response! I ended up taking it away and I'm so amazed at all the things he has been able to do ever since he stopped using it. Trying his firsts attempts at self soothing, so proud of my boy. Night wakings have stopped to just once a night around 2:30-3 am for a feed.
I have been wondering if he still needs this feed at 5 months and a half or could it just be a habitual waking? He does eat when he wakes, which has me confused. And he's never slept more than 5-6 hours straight.
Our schedule lately has been looking like this.
E 7 am bf
A
E 8:30 fruit
A
S 9:30

E 11 am bf
A
S 1:15-1:30

E 3 pm bf
A
E/S 5 pm bf (usually we are doing errands around this time so he fall asleep on the breast for about 30 min)

A 5:30
E 6:30 bf
S 7-7:30

Df 11 pm

Is it still normal for a 24 week old to ask for that 3 am feed?

Offline lkat

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Re: Has the paci become a prop?
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2017, 00:36:33 am »
Hi, stumbled onto your thread because my daughter is the same age and she also had a paci dependency which we got rid of, just by removing it and then she started sucking her thumb lol. Not sure if that is a "win" or not ;D

Re: the night feed, not sure what the experts here will say but I think 1 night feed is still pretty common at this age however my doctor told me that at about 8 weeks babies can sleep 12 hours without a feed, if they've been gaining weight ok, but doesn't necessarily mean they will. But with that being said my 5 month old hasn't had a night feed since about 2.5-3 months. When she used to wake in the night, unless she was crying I would always give her 5-10 mins to see if she was actually hungry or if she would re-settle. Most of the time she would fall back to sleep and now she doesn't wake up at all  :)

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Has the paci become a prop?
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2017, 19:06:48 pm »
That's great that the nights are so much better :D  I agree with pp that a night feed is pretty normal for this age.  Some babies do sleep through but many don't and I wouldn't be rushing to wean it, particularly if he takes good feeds through the day too.

Routine looks good!