Pacifier question

this one has slipped under my radar for some reason....

I plan to breastfeed and am aware that nipple confusion is why some people
don't want their babies to use pacifiers....but are there any other reasons
a paci is not ideal? I just assumed everyone used them to comfort crying
babies...until coming here and being pregnant and seeing other views.

I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short birth
plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
the baby formula in the hospital (no!), if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) and
if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?) I know some don't want their kid
using a paci for dental reasons too...

?? I hadn't planned on having a ton of pacis around, but hadn't thought
anything about giving my baby one sometimes--but don't want to do it if it
will hurt breastfeeding. But what do you do when they cry in public and
aren't hungry, when usually a paci helps?

I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short
birth
plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
the baby formula in the hospital (no!), if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) and
if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?) I know some don't want their kid
using a paci for dental reasons too...

I don't know how much truth there is in this but I have heard that if you
bathe them within 24 hours of giving birth it can affect their skin. I was
told this bit of info by my sister who is a nurse after she had her first
baby. My brother's child was bathed fairly shortly after birth and she
ended up with shocking excema. Never saw this on any of their other kids
and I'm not sure whether they were bathed early on or left for a day.

Not sure whether there was a correlation or not. What's other mother's
experience on this? It doesn't make too much sense to me.

On Sun, 04 Apr 2004 04:10:20 GMT, "Jill" wrote:

this one has slipped under my radar for some reason....

I plan to breastfeed and am aware that nipple confusion is why some people
don't want their babies to use pacifiers....but are there any other reasons
a paci is not ideal? I just assumed everyone used them to comfort crying
babies...until coming here and being pregnant and seeing other views.

I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short birth
plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
the baby formula in the hospital (no!), if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) and
if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?) I know some don't want their kid
using a paci for dental reasons too...

?? I hadn't planned on having a ton of pacis around, but hadn't thought
anything about giving my baby one sometimes--but don't want to do it if it
will hurt breastfeeding. But what do you do when they cry in public and
aren't hungry, when usually a paci helps?

It very much depends on the baby. Some babies are like my older son
who could take or leave a pacifier but tended to use the breast to
comfort suck. Others might be like my second son who would spit my
boob out of his mouth and complain if he just wanted to comfort suck
so he became very attached to his pacifier. Or they might be like my
daughter who gagged like I was trying to choke her when I'd offer her
a pacifier and started sucking her thumb as soon as she had the
coordination to get it into her mouth. Or they might just refuse a
pacifier altogether and not be into comfort sucking at all. The only
one of mine who had any trouble breastfeeding was #1 but that was
probably just as much because we were both new to it and my nipples
were fairly flat. By the time he was 3 months old he flatly refused
bottles and a pacifier in favour of "the real thing". My sister's
daughters both refused pacifiers and she spent a lot of her second
daughter's first 3 months with her little finger in my niece's mouth.

Sorry, I think I'm rambling.....The point I think is that not all
breastfeeders find pacifiers so bad. I think however that using them
means that you can't count on LAM for birth control but I think you
said you weren't going to anyway so it may not faze you.

--
Cheryl
Mum to Shrimp (11 Mar 99), Thud (4 Oct 00)
and Mischief (30 Jul 02)

On Sun, 4 Apr 2004 16:48:00 +1200, "rangitotogirl"
wrote:




I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short
birth
plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
the baby formula in the hospital (no!), if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) and
if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?) I know some don't want their kid
using a paci for dental reasons too...

I don't know how much truth there is in this but I have heard that if you
bathe them within 24 hours of giving birth it can affect their skin. I was
told this bit of info by my sister who is a nurse after she had her first
baby. My brother's child was bathed fairly shortly after birth and she
ended up with shocking excema. Never saw this on any of their other kids
and I'm not sure whether they were bathed early on or left for a day.

Not sure whether there was a correlation or not. What's other mother's
experience on this? It doesn't make too much sense to me.

My 3 were born at different hospitals around the city for various
reasons. All of them were bathed after they were 24 hours old. I
don't know why with the first one, the other two were probably due to
requiring oxygen. If it was to do with eczema I would be more worried
by the fact that all the hospitals use J&J baby wash, that's the stuff
that triggered my older son's eczema.


--
Cheryl
Mum to Shrimp (11 Mar 99), Thud (4 Oct 00)
and Mischief (30 Jul 02)

"Jill" wrote in message
om...
this one has slipped under my radar for some reason....

I plan to breastfeed and am aware that nipple confusion is why some people
don't want their babies to use pacifiers....but are there any other
reasons
a paci is not ideal? I just assumed everyone used them to comfort crying
babies...until coming here and being pregnant and seeing other views.

I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short
birth
plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
the baby formula in the hospital (no!), if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) and
if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?) I know some don't want their kid
using a paci for dental reasons too...

?? I hadn't planned on having a ton of pacis around, but hadn't thought
anything about giving my baby one sometimes--but don't want to do it if it
will hurt breastfeeding. But what do you do when they cry in public and
aren't hungry, when usually a paci helps?



I would suggest saying a definite *no* to a pacifier (dummy) in hospital. I
introduced one to DD at around 8 weeks after bf was well established and it
saved my nipples from constant comfort sucking. She would always spit it
out if she was hungry and wanted real boobie.
She still uses a dummy now when going to sleep, and it has been a lifesaver
in that department. Its automatic - ask for a dummy, head off to bed, fall
asleep within minutes.
The other reason I do like using a dummy is that I was a thumb sucker ....
and it took me 6 years to decide that I wan't a baby anymore and didn't need
it (and I remember it was so hard to give up because it was alwasy in arms
reach lol!)
HTH
Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004

I don't like pacifiers for several reasons, aside from
the possible nipple confusion:

-- I think toddlers with pacifiers look silly, and I didn't
want to have to deal with breaking the habit later on.

-- With babies, if they rely on the pacifier for comfort and
it falls out of their mouth, they can't necessarily get it
back on their own (contrasting with thumb suckers, who can
presumably find their own thumb earlier than a kid can retrieve
a pacifier that's, say, fallen out of the crib).

-- Kids put their hands in their mouths anyway, so those
germs are moot. Pacifiers would seem likely to introduce
additional germs. I didn't want to have to worry about
keeping them clean. (Imagine: You're traveling, you're in
the airport, kid really needs to suck on something, the only
pacifier you've got, or the last clean one lands on the floor...)

So, I offered DS my pinky or my breast for comfort sucking
hoping that he would eventually find his own thumb. He
sticks his hands in his mouth when he's teething (2yo molars
seem to be on the way now), but never got into thumb sucking.
Lots of comfort nursing early on, though.

--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
Scheherazade, stillborn at 20 weeks, 3/2/04

"Jill" wrote in message
om...
| this one has slipped under my radar for some reason....
|
| I plan to breastfeed and am aware that nipple confusion is why some people
| don't want their babies to use pacifiers....but are there any other
reasons
| a paci is not ideal? I just assumed everyone used them to comfort crying
| babies...until coming here and being pregnant and seeing other views.
|
| I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short
birth
| plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
| the baby formula in the hospital (no!), if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) and
| if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?) I know some don't want their kid
| using a paci for dental reasons too...
|
| ?? I hadn't planned on having a ton of pacis around, but hadn't thought
| anything about giving my baby one sometimes--but don't want to do it if it
| will hurt breastfeeding. But what do you do when they cry in public and
| aren't hungry, when usually a paci helps?

IMO I wouldn't introduce a pacifier ever. Your baby will find a way to self
sooth. My DH and my mother got my daughter hooked on a pacifier and I HATE
it (I should have put my foot down). She used to suck her thumb and I really
wish she would again. She is now reliant upon her pacifier to fall asleep
and if she wakes up and it has fallen out she cries until it is put back in.
You would think at 11 months she could find it and put it in herself but she
just gets so worked up at night I have to go in and get her back to sleep.
JMO.

Nadene

Jill wrote:

this one has slipped under my radar for some reason....

I plan to breastfeed and am aware that nipple confusion is why some people
don't want their babies to use pacifiers....but are there any other reasons
a paci is not ideal? I just assumed everyone used them to comfort crying
babies...until coming here and being pregnant and seeing other views.

I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short birth
plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
the baby formula in the hospital (no!), if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) and
if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?) I know some don't want their kid
using a paci for dental reasons too...

?? I hadn't planned on having a ton of pacis around, but hadn't thought
anything about giving my baby one sometimes--but don't want to do it if it
will hurt breastfeeding. But what do you do when they cry in public and
aren't hungry, when usually a paci helps?

They are a double-edged sword, IMO. Yes, they will give you relief when
they are crying but they are also a pain. Searching the house for the
stupid things! Argh! I have twin 2 1/2 yo's and they use them now only
for sleeping. But before, OMG, I had 12 of them in rotation because
they would drop them and I couldn't find them. Also, they each needed
3; one for the mouth and one in each hand.

Currently when they wake up, the soothers go into a "soother bag." I've
hung a mesh see-through bag out of their reach in their room. I lift
each child up and they place their soother into the bag. It gives them
comfort that they can see them at anytime.

With Isabella, I am going to try to not use one because I don't want to
deal with the hassle later. If she cries in public, I pick her up and
hold her. If she continues to cry, I sit down and nurse her. If she
cries in the car as it is moving, I will let her cry for a little bit or
pull over and soothe her. It is much easier.

--
Brigitte aa #2145
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/i/isabellazora/

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

?? I hadn't planned on having a ton of pacis around, but hadn't thought
anything about giving my baby one sometimes--but don't want to do it if it
will hurt breastfeeding. But what do you do when they cry in public and
aren't hungry, when usually a paci helps?


Usually nursing helps too, even if they're not hungry. So does carrying or
holding them without nursing. So the situations in which only a paci will do
are really relatively rare.

But don't overthink this. :-) You're not a Bad Mother if your baby happens to
really like the plug and you appreciate the break! It's probably best to avoid
using one for the first few weeks, until you know you aren't having any
problems with breastfeeding, but plenty of babies do get pacifiers starting Day
One and nevertheless do not experience nipple confusion.

As for your hospital plan, what you want to do is tell them not to separate you
and your baby for any reason -- and if an emergency requires that you be
separated, send your DH or other labor support person with the baby. Don't let
a nurse take the baby to the nursery "so you can sleep". That way, the nurses
are unlikely to give the baby anything or do anything to the baby without your
knowledge and consent. It's one thing if they recommend trying a pacifier and
you decide to do it; it's another thing entirely if they just automatically
stick one in without checking with you.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 3yo
EDD #2 6/8/04

"Jill" wrote in message
om...
this one has slipped under my radar for some reason....

I plan to breastfeed and am aware that nipple confusion is why some people
don't want their babies to use pacifiers....but are there any other
reasons
a paci is not ideal? I just assumed everyone used them to comfort crying
babies...until coming here and being pregnant and seeing other views.

I ask because I have never considered it--and I am writing up a short
birth
plan and the hospital wants to know my instructions on if it's ok to give
the baby formula in the hospital (no!), I said yes if Im having problems
or something is totally wrong that they are unable to get breast milk from
me.
if it's ok to bathe her (yes?) I said yes to this as I figured it was one
less bath I would have to do in the first 6 or so years
and
if it's ok to give her a paci or not (?)
The hospital never asked this one.

I know some don't want their kid
using a paci for dental reasons too...
I have read on websites (you would have to go looking) that it makes no
differance to suckinga paci to sucking a thumb. My dentist also agrees with
this.

With my first child I waited out almost 3 months before giving in. For some
stupid reason I didn't want her having one. She did suck her thumb so I
wanted to get rid of that habit and interduced a paci. She got rid of it
about 2 years of age without any problems.

My second child had a dummy almost straight away from birth and never had a
problem with it. If he carn't find it he uses's his thumb.

Neither of my children had nipple confusion with paci's, breast' feeding or
bottles.



?? I hadn't planned on having a ton of pacis around, but hadn't thought
anything about giving my baby one sometimes--but don't want to do it if it
will hurt breastfeeding. But what do you do when they cry in public and
aren't hungry, when usually a paci helps?

When they were little and cryed in public it didn't bother me to much as I
used a paci. If anything I think more people comment on the "look at the
crying baby" or "she must be hungry" etc rather then "look at the paci in
her mouth" Even now people seem to comment more about my kids if they are
loud or noisy than in a quiet one sleeping in pram with a paci.

Of all the people I know everyone uses' or has used a paci at sometime or
another.

Nic