# Can a baby suck on a pinky (or pacifier) too much?



## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

My 2 month-old seems to adore my little pinky finger in his mouth when he's done nursing or to help him fall asleep. Sometimes he fusses when on the breast -- seems bothered that there's milk coming out when he just wants to suck darn it! -- and I pop my pinky in and he's blissfully happy. If he's having a fussy feeding (e.g., if he is worked up and hungry because for some reason I couldn't nurse him right away, e.g., when we get home from a car ride), this technique also works to calm him down enough to nurse well.

Yes I know a happy baby isn't the usual reason for posting a question lol, but I wonder... is there any "danger" in doing this, or should he be comforting himself on the breast all the time (he does do this, just also prefers the pinky sometimes). Is there anything I should watch for, in terms of his love affair with my pinky finger?!

TIA.


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## KoalaMommy (Apr 7, 2004)

I'm beginning to thinks so! DD was a paci addict. At first she was doing fine, but in the last 2.5 months she only gained 1lb. the paci wasn't the only problem, but I think her excessive need for it should have been a warning to me that there was a problem. I've taken it away now and we're dealing with the adjustment. Read what Kellymom.com has to say about paci use.


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## Momtwice (Nov 21, 2001)

Don't know about pinkies, but this article suggests that if overused, pacifiers can lead to slow growth, low milk supply, thrush and ear infections.

http://breastfeed.com/resources/articles/plugornot.htm


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## Oklahoma Mama (Feb 12, 2003)

In my pre-baby life I worked as a Speech Therapist. From that point of view pacifiers don't harm oral-motor skills unless they are used longer than approximately 10 months. Both of my boys used pacifiers on and off, usually just for the going to sleep time. My oldest stopped using a pacifier at 10 months and my youngest stopped using one around 5 months. They rarely used them so they didn't miss them much.

Personally, I think the best thing to do is switch things around. Let him have your pinky sometimes, let him nurse to sleep other times, etc.


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## mum2 4 (Feb 20, 2004)

Good old Dr Spock had a sensible idea about pacifier use- up to about 4 months baby's suck needs are really high so paci after nursing ( not instead of) was good. Finger even better. After that it can become a hard habit to break so suggestion is to substitute something else when changing diaper, riding in car etc. By then handling milk flow and drifting off to sleep at breast for most feeeds is good too. We were concerned about prolonged thumb sucking as both dh and I had nasty memories about our parents efforts to stop this form of comfort for us. ( splints on Dad's arms; awful tasting STOP painted on my thumb). This kind of paci use worked well with 3 of our 4 and they were gone by 6 months. Our 7 week premie did not begin to use one until he was 31 days old and began to thumb suck when I tried to ditch the paci at 6 months.By 11 months he was finished with it and did not go back to thumb.
We had much the same expereince with our preadoptive foster babies who sometimes stayed for 6-9 months as their medical or legal issues were resolved. They were bottle fed.
The only caution in those first 4 months is to be aware of growth spurt times and not substitute growing paci use for the extra bf times needed to boost your supply ( 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months)Also if you nurse a shorter time on side 1 and let baby fill up on side 2 so milk has dwindled when he is ready for sleepytime nursing, he will get all the extra rich hind milk you made...


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