Author Topic: Pacifier use and 4 month old sleep patterns  (Read 3603 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline DaniRose

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 16
  • Location: Maryland, USA
Pacifier use and 4 month old sleep patterns
« on: May 08, 2019, 15:32:26 pm »
My son is a couple days shy of 4 months old.  He has about 1:45 awake time now and takes two naps that are 1:30 to 2 hours (we wake him at 2 hour mark) then a third short nap in the evening. We try for 7pm-7am nighttime sleep. 
For weeks now he wakes shortly after 5 am and does not sleep solid until his 7 am wake time. We have to consistently give him the pacifier and he sleeps in short segments until 7, or sometimes we hold him and he sleeps solid.   I know he is not hungry during this time because sometimes I nurse him and other times he has just nursed an hour before. 
He does not know how to put himself back to sleep During daytime or night sleep. If he wakes and still wants to sleep he will take the pacifier and go right back down.  This tells me I should get rid of he pacifier because we replace it so much but I worry because of how much he likes it. Is there a way to still use it without having to replace it all the time? I especially worry about that 5 am struggle. 
Also, is it right to wake him if the nap reaches two hours?

« Last Edit: May 08, 2019, 17:04:33 pm by DaniRose »

Offline Aimi

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 101
  • Location: Sweden
Re: Pacifier use and 4 month old sleep patterns
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2019, 08:30:30 am »
I just wanted to share what worked for us since we had the exact same problem!
We just removed the pacifier from our DD at 14 weeks (four days ago). We just quit cold turkey and she's fine without it, it went so much better than I thought and she sleeps much better in the morning hours wheras before needed a lot of help from around 5. She's sucking her fingers and thumb instead and eventhough I would prefer a pacifier when it's time to quit it's not worth it beacause both her and I didn't sleep well and it takes a long time before they can replug themselves. We had to do the same with DD1 at 5 months and it was so worth it! Good luck in whatever you choose to do!

Offline DaniRose

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 16
  • Location: Maryland, USA
Re: Pacifier use and 4 month old sleep patterns
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2019, 11:20:03 am »
Thank you for your reply!  I have been considering getting rid of it and over the past few nights the strangest thing happened. After his nighttime nursing between 3 and 4 am I put him in his crib without the pacifier and he talks and plays a few minutes and then goes to sleep! This has happened 4 nights in a row and he isn’t waking at 5 like before! He will still wake up sometime after midnight and want the pacifier, and he will cry for it at all other sleep times.
Did you stop giving the pacifier starting at bed or nap?

Offline Aimi

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 101
  • Location: Sweden
Re: Pacifier use and 4 month old sleep patterns
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2019, 13:28:35 pm »
I started at bedtime. I wasn't planning on doing it then I just decided in the moment since I had been trying to get her to sleep for a really long time. She was crying with me trying to replug the paci and her dropping it and wanting it back and it just didn't work and it wasn't the first time.

I don't know when the best time is to do it, I did it for the first nap with DD1 and I remember more crying but she was older so I don't know if that's why.