# 15 months old, all of a sudden using a pacifier? What the.... ??



## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

We never used a pacifier with DD when she was a little baby. For various reason I never liked them, so I never bought them or offered them. When she was a newborn we ended up with two of them. I think they were gifts that came with some sippy cups. Well a long time ago one went missing, and I threw away the other one away, so then we had no pacifiers in the house. Or so I thought.

Fast forward a year later to when DD has figured out how to crawl under the bed, when much to my surprise she comes out sucking on a pacifier!









I have a plastic loving Jack Russell who "stashes" her finds under our bed (plastic easter eggs, bath toys, water bottles, etc). I guess she had that pacifier stashed under there, and then DD found it.

I was grossed out that she was sucking on a pacifier that had been under the bed for a whole year, so I washed it off and gave it back to her out of curiosity. I wanted to see what she would do with it. Low and behold, she was walking around sucking on the thing like it's going out of style!







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I absolutely did want to let her get used to sucking on a pacifier, so I took it and stuffed it under a pillow on the bed to get it out of sight. Well then I nursed her to sleep and the minute I tried to get up to go to the bathroom she started to freak out.. until I remembered the pacifier was stuffed under the pillow. I gave it to her and she rolled over and went back to sleep. That was an hour ago.










We've had major sleep issues. Nothing abnormal for her age, but I have chronic pain issues and side lying all night long to nurse every hour was extremely hard on me. Around a year old I started cutting back on night nursings to about 2-3 times a night. Now here she is sound a sleep, and I can HEAR her sucking on it.

I have mixed emotions about this. On one hand it might be nice at night. But on the other hand, I don't want to encourage something that could potentially reduce her wanting the real thing. I am protective of my nursing relationship because we had major problems in the beginning, although 15 months is certainly long enough to "establish your breastfeeding relationship".

Should I wait for it to fall out, and then make sure it disappears for good this time? Or should I perhaps try letting her have it for a few nights and see if it helps? She is teething right now. One tooth just came through, and another is just breaking the surface. It might feel good on her gums, and part of me doesn't want to begrudge her that.

Is it normal for a happily breastfed 15 month old to all of a sudden show such an interest in artificial nipples?


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## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

I also wanted to add that a few weeks ago at gymboree she latched onto a ball that had nipple-like nubs on it. I thought it was hilarious at the time, and everyone made jokes about how she must have been breastfed.


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## PMolly (Dec 16, 2005)

DS always wants to marathon nurse when teething. I bet it's related to that, but I don't have any real advice to offer. Good Luck


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## karre (Mar 22, 2006)

Honestly, i would love it at night if ds still took a pacifier. I dunno when but he refused it pretty early on and we didn't even start it until about two months.

If you don't want your supply to suffer much but also want to get more shuteye at night, you can let her suck on the pacifier until she is in a deep sleep then take it away from her. keep pacifier handy and then when she nurses at night let her nurse until she has emptied both breasts (or whatever you usually do at night. you can use breast compression just to be sure they are empty though) then when she is mainly sucking for comfort, switch your breast for the pacifier. I used to do that with ds when he was around 4 months but then he started refusing it.

i'd give anything to get a better night's sleep!

good luck


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## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

So last night she slept from 11-ish until 4:20. That's not all together unusual, as she had been sleeping though the night until these two teeth starting coming through. But I'm wondering if the reason she slept through WITH the teething was because of the pacifier.

I have such mixed emotions about this. A pacifier is certainly better then motrin, which is the only other way to get some sleep while she's teething.








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## nighten (Oct 18, 2005)

I would LOVE it if my 14 month old would take a pacifier to help her sleep. She will chew on one on occasion but that's it. She still nurses to sleep and sometimes won't stay asleep when napping unless I'm right next to her, so having a pacifier would make things easier on me, honestly. And it would help her self soothe I think, since she's so reliant on me to soothe her when she's rolling around in her sleep.

I would definitely prefer a paci to motrin, which is what we're having to rely on now for better sleep because of teething, and that sucks.

I don't mind the extra nursing while teething, but it would be really nice to know that I could lay her down after she's nursed, and let her have a paci, and she'd stay asleep for longer than 15 minutes.


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## AugustineM (Mar 21, 2005)

I agree with the couple other PPs -- I think it's great if it helps you get some more sleep and be more comfortable. My DS started taking a paci when he was about a year. He nightweaned about 1 1/2 mostly because of the paci (and, well, I wanted him to!). The paci also helps him nap really well. He's almost 3 and still uses it at night but I don't care at all.

Now my DD is one and I SO wish she would take a paci at night. She wants to be latched on all night long and believe me, I've tried the paci many times. She won't have anything to do with it!


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## eleven (Aug 14, 2004)

My sister introduced a pacifier to her DD at 22 months to try to wean her. My niece nursed until 3 1/2 and my sister finally got her to give up the pacifier at 5.

I'm too nervous to let my kids use one.







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## ryansma (Sep 6, 2006)

Is this still working for you? I am wondering if ds wouldn't take one for at least part of the night b/c we are having the same issues. I tried to give him one we had around the house (he never took one as an infant) but it seems too small. Just wondering how it was working out for you.
April


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## Sydnee (May 1, 2004)

Oh my gosh, SAME thing going on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







DD is almost 14 months, and last month I got a 2.5 month old in my daycare, who has a paci. Well, Alayna is always steaing his, so I started giving her one to play with, and now she LOVES it!!! I am so mixed about it too, it's cute and kinda funny, but she seriously loves that thing!! Ugh, I hate to get her started on one, but it's so nice when she is uber crabby, and has to wait a few minutes to nurse.


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## *Karen* (Jul 28, 2006)

Our nighttime sleep (and my back) got so much better once DS would take a binky. He didn't take one until about 10 months. We ONLY use it at sleep time (naps and nighttime.) I totally understand the reasons not to want to use it, but for us quality sleep was more important. I would do it again in a heartbeat.


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## ecoteat (Mar 3, 2006)

My 13mo just rediscovered hers too! She stopped using them many months ago and just found one this week and loves them again! I'm a little weird about it too, but if I can use it to get her off my lap during naps, then I'm all for it.


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## broodymama (May 3, 2004)

My 11 month old DD had never taken one but DS found one (a babyshower gift when I was pregnant with him) in the bottom of the toybox and right now she has it in her mouth. She's cutting some teeth and is clamping down on the pacifier and yanking it out of her mouth. It's the only time she hasn't been screaming for the last few hours. I don't want her to get used to it but boy, my nipples are glad for the break!







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## RomanGoddess (Mar 16, 2006)

I would let her use the pacifier at night but not during the day for a number of reasons. Children have a tendency to just keep the pacifier in their mouths all day long without taking it out, risking delay in speech development (consider that with thumb sucking, the child has to remove her thumb from her mouth in order to do anything with two hands, thereby preventing the thumb from being in the mouth continuously). It also (I personally find) looks utterly ridiculous to see a 3-year old with pacifier stuck in mouth out of doors.


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## mommainak (May 19, 2007)

My 13 mo has recently grown more "attached" to hers. Maybe because we've gone through a move the past couple weeks, and I'm soon to have another baby ?? Either way, I am mixed about it. She had only used it for sleep and naps (which was a godsend to me since nursing has been painful during pregnancy) but now she often crawls around the house "calling" it. I can distract her pretty well sometimes, and nursing helps to postpone her wanting her "buddy". I'm a pretty anxious person, easy to hold onto guilt, etc., and I try to remind myself that I've done and continue to do absolutely everything I can to comfort her myself. Although I'd like for her to be satisfied with just nursing, holding, and rocking, she just really loves her pacifier. Gosh, I hope she will be willing to trade it for some other attachment when she's not too much older! Maybe when my milk comes in and we nurse more she will abandon her pacifier. BTW, has anyone experienced this? Glad to see this post so I know I'm not alone!







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## kbchavez (Jul 20, 2006)

what about giving her a sippy with water if you're nervous about her getting hooked on the paci? She would have the comfort of having something in her mouth, which would give you a much needed break. I don't think at this point you need to worry about supply issued by not night nursing. I would have given almost anything to have my DS not ask to nurse at night at that age. I was SO EXHAUSTED. When I finally night weaned him at 28 mos., it was such a relief. I still have plenty of milk for day time nursing.


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