I was the human pacifier for my first daughter, and she never slept. I was blessed with a good sleeper with my son --he did 7 hours at 5 weeks. This new baby seems to be a good little sleeper, but she was early, so I'm waiting to see what happens in a few weeks. Thus far she sleeps great, I can put her in her crib or bassinet and unless she is overtired, she puts herself to sleep. I know things will change in a few weeks, and then around 12 weeks things will really change (this is when their sleep cycles begin to be more like ours). In any case, I was hoping to get this little one to take a pacifier, but she keeps on refusing it. I was also going to try to introduce a bottle this week, but I have a funny feeling she will refuse it too!
How do I get her to take a pacifier and the bottle? With three under 5, I am going to need my sleep, so hubby is going to have to do a nightly feed.
This baby does like to suck on her hands, so maybe I need to just encourage that? But I still want to get her to take a bottle....
I wouldn't push the pacifier. Be glad you don't have the trouble of trying to break that habit!
CONGRATULATIONS on your newest addition!!!
My daughter took a paci right away...my oldest son - rejected it. My youngest son? like my daughter - took it right away...So if your baby is rejecting it? Don't push it.
The bottle? My daughter was bottle fed. Both boys breast fed. Neither had a problem taking the bottle (expressed milk) from their dad...from me? they'd rather have the real thing...so I couldn't be around when they were bottle fed. can't help you there!
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Congrats on the baby!!!
I have 4, all grown up. None of mine would take a pacificer, only one was a thumbsucker, my #2. If she can self sooth don't be concerned. I would also discourage sucking on hands or thumb. It is extremely difficult to break them of this, you can't take away their hands. LOL
I agree with Sherri. I always felt bad my daughter wouldn't take a pacifier almost like I didn't introduce it to her in the right way. Then I heard its actually harder for them to break the habit when they are older. My daughter is 9 months and would rather chew on the other end of the pacifier. I think if your baby wants it they will take it, if not that's ok too.
She's self-soothing, be happy :) She doesn't like the pacifier, not all babies do. My babies were breastfed, my son would not take a pacifier, my daughter did but was done by 5 months, so much for that, lol. But she was 1) premature, 2) a good sleeper, and 3) stayed that way, yay!!
Of course she's going to refuse the bottle, I've never known a BF baby that didn't. Have YOUR HUSBAND offer it, she won't take it from you. Do not be anywhere near her, she will smell you and want you. If he can try during the day around a feeding time when you can leave the house for a bit, all the better. Have the bottle be his thing with her, at least in the beginning, so she knows which she gets from whom.
Congrats and best wishes!
My first son would scream in the car so I really wanted him to take a pacifier. He refused it until he was about four months old. One day he decided to take it and loved it. If you want your baby to take one, keep trying. She might surprise you one day.
For the bottle, wait until she's hungry, and then try offering the bottle first. Make sure it's nice and warm, and it helps if you are using pumped milk.
One thing I had to do sometimes with my son was to nurse for just a minute, and then switch to the bottle. We used the FloVent bottles and my son did not want the 'breast' type nipple, but the other kind. Make sure the flow of milk when you turn it upside down is just right-- not too fast or too slow. No baby wants to work hard for a bottle when the breast is easier.
With the pacifier, I swore we wouldn't use one until I was desperate. We found the playtex ones also worked well for us. I would let him suck on my pinkie for a minute or so, then popped the pacifier in. I think we tried a couple brands. If you can, get one that can be used with a pacifier clip, so it won't get lost/thrown out of stroller. I'd clip it to his shirt.
Honestly, for all I thought that pacifiers were terrible, when he finally took one, I was so happy. I couldn't have been prouder of him if he'd invented air. What a relief!
My first was bottlefed, no paci.
My second breastfed but would only take Dr. brown's bottle, thumb-sucker.
My third, breastfed but would also take any bottle, but particular about paci....many tries to get the right one.
I will say, id take a thumb sucker any day over a paci....i never had to get up in the night to help #2 find her thumb....but would have to help #3 find paci....even last night i had to get her a paci at 3 am (she's 16 months).
Every baby is different as far as if they are particular about bottle/paci. Try a few different types, you'll figure it out....Congrats!!
I was like you, J.. I did NOT want a thumbsucker. My nieces sucked their thumbs til kinder and also stuck their finger up their noses at the same time. I do NOT know why!! LOL! The last thing I wanted was my kids copying them. So I bought many different pacis and kept sticking one in my younger son's mouth until he finally took one.
New infants have a sucking instinct and they really need to suck. I could NOT be the human pacifier either. I really pushed it on him, quite frankly. Both my babies took bottle as well as breast - they didn't care which. I just had my husband give the first couple of bottles (I was sick throwing up and had diarehhea at the same time - I was too sick to nurse and the next morning, the doctor told me not to nurse for a while.)
So, try different nipples and pacis until she takes one.
Good luck!!
Dawn
I think that responses and opinions on this topic are going to run the gamut. Some don't agree with pacifiers, some do. Some think that you should be your child's pacifier, some don't.
It's important to get baby used to a bottle because you can't always be around. You'll need to pump, have a break, or even take a day off. Plus, pumping and using the bottle gives daddy a chance to bond with baby as well.
There are lots of different style bottles out there and different style nipples. I'd look for one that mimics the breast closely. Perhaps post a question here about which bottle mimics the breast most closely. Then try a few of the most popular and see which works out. Same with pacifiers. I had tried the one the hospital gave us, but my son just couldn't get the hang of it. Then I got a NUK and he liked it just fine, but he wanted the second size up instead of the newborn. So try a few and see what works out....don't give up just because she doesn't like the first one.
I wouldn't encourage her to suck on her hands. Why? Because you can't take them away once she's too old to be doing that to soothe herself. You CAN remove the pacifier eventually.
Best of luck, and congratulations on your baby!
⊱♥Christy♥Lee♥⊰
Hi J.,
I think your baby is maybe 2 weeks old? If so, than do not give her a bottle yet. My lactation consultant suggested not giving my son a bottle until he was 6 weeks old to get nursing firmly established. If you give a bottle too early, babies will prefer it since it is much easier for milk to just drip into them than for them to have to actually suck for it. It sounds like she is fine:) Nurse her now and get that well established. I don't think I gave my second son a paci until he was about 4 weeks old. I was concerned about that interfering with nursing also (it didn't but now it interferes with life as he is 2.5 and still goes for it). On the other hand, he doesn't suck his thumb:)
After you get to at least 4 weeks and maybe 6, you need to have daddy give the bottle while you are not there! Babies will not take a bottle if mama is around because they would rather have the boob. Tell daddy that he may need to take his shirt off to give skin to skin contact while giving bottle. Also tell him anything special you do for baby. My son used to like to hold my pinkie finger while he nursed. Once daddy let him do that also, he was willing to take the bottle.
C.
