Soother = Accidental Parenting??

[bheemeryck]

My 8 month old ds has been waking at 6:00 am for about 4 weeks now. Generally he will lay and play in his crib for 20-30 minutes and then starts to cry... and I go back in and give him his soother and most of the time get another 20-30 minutes of sleep (or he's just really quiet!!)

I've debated with myself about the whole soother issue since day one... and I don't love him having the soother, but we only use it in his crib or on long car rides, and he dosen't wake up at night looking for it, he pretty much uses it just to fall asleep. I understand it could turn into more of a dependancy thing, and in that case I would think more about weaning him off the soother.

HOWEVER, I just read Tracy's 'BW for Toddlers' and she recommended getting rid of it around 6 months... or it's harder to take it away. I honestly don't want to have to deal with finding another way to 'soothe' him to sleep... if this works, why change it?? And we NEED it to drive anywhere,  our drive to the grandparents place is 4 hours and we'd drive ourselves off the road on purpose if we had to listen to crying (screaming) for that long!!

Any opinions on if I'm setting myself up for future failure? Also, if I keep going in, soothing him in the a.m., should he eventually sleep himself until 7:00 am? I also use it at naptime when he wakes up too early... dosen't happen too often but it does, and again, I'd be hard pressed to find another way to get him back to sleep.

[mthyne]

I know soothers are a tricky thing.  We used one with our DD (who is now 4) and currently use one with our 9-week DS.  It doesn't sound like you abuse its use, and I think that would be the main concern.  I unfortunately abused it with my DD (1st time mom--didn't know better!), but we were able to relinquish it at 18 months with no fuss (we told her big girls in big girl beds don't use pacifiers--she gave it up willingly).  If he doesn't fuss for it the rest of the day, I wouldn't worry.  As far as sleeping until 7:00, I don't know.  It sounds like his clock is set at 6:00, but if you get an extra 30-minutes of sleep out of it, I would probably keep doing it.  But that's just me!  I really think you should keep doing what you're doing! 
Melissa

[Diego's Mama]

Pacifiers are not necessarily evil.  There's a period until six or seven months when they can be very problematic as baby can't put them in on their own.  Personally, I'd teach your son to learn to put it in by himself and always keep one in the same corner of his crib.

There will be many, many periods to come of teething, sep. anxiety, etc. where having the pacifier will be a blessing.  I truly wouldn't worry about it now.  Many babies suck their thumbs and fingers, not much difference between that and a pacifier.  Reserve it for sleep as you have ... he won't get hooked on having it all the time that way.