Getting 10-Day Old to Take a Paci

Nope pacifier is not the answer with this problem.
He has reflux because he is a nervous/ newly born wreck.
You must calm down and relax and keep his little environment as calm and quiet and relaxed as you can.

No arguing, no loud tv or stereo or people or car radios.
Some soft meditaion music or those sound machines that make sounds of the ocean or rain will do wonders for him.

It will stop eventually.

dont give him a pacifier you will spend too much time trying to break him of it. instead hold him soothe him. children dont need somethign in thier mouth at all times. neither of my kids ever took a pacifier and they did fine.

M. mother to 8 and 1 yr old precious boys

My son was EBF and had reflux as well. He would scream from 5 or 6 in the evening until 12 or 1am. It was torture for everyone. We put him on Zantac and that did help so he'd only scream until 9 or 10. The one thing I learned was that I couldn't comfort nurse. He'd puke everything up and I'd have to start all over. I single-side nursed no more than every two hours and usually tried to wait 3 unless he was upset. The hind-milk is thicker and so if you feed on just one side, they get more hind milk and it doesn't come up quite as easily. You can also try block feeding where you feed two or three times in a row on one side before switching to the other side. He grew out of it by 9 months but really didn't scream much after we FINALLY found a pacifier he'd take at 3 months. Until then we had really wrinkly pinky fingers :) We ended up using the cheapest pacifier on the wall and they don't make it any more, you can only find them left on ebay and amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Newborn-Center-Rubber-Pacifi...

Hang in there! And don't put cereal in the bottle. It's bad for their digestive systems. If it gets bad enough that someone suggests cereal, check out "Simply Thick" it's the only tasteless digestible thickener available for breastfed babies.

Oh, wearing him in a sling at all times may help as well. There are holds that bring their knees up in their stomach that can help with pain and just being close will help with comforting.

Oh, I hear ya. This happened to me with my fist, 10 years ago and is happening with our sweet little surprise who is 2 1/2 months old right now. They nurse and nurse to soothe them, but can't take that much milk. We also did the angle sleeping and stopped short of medication when, as a new mother, I had a baby boy who projectile vomitted because all he did was nurse! None of my babies took binkies right away at a young age, but around 6 weeks, did. I understand the notion of not wanting to start the pacifier habit. However, when you are the pacifier, it can be frustrating to you and when the baby is taking in way too much milk, frustrating to the baby. If he doesn't seem to mind the spitting up and you don't mind cleaning it up, then you can wait it out until the baby eventually develops his own soothing ways to calm himself down. If he is unable to, or you are getting more anxious about the spit-up, just keep trying the binkies until he decidedes he will take them. He may never take one or he may one day take both. You just never know. That is what we did and my babies eventually took both pacifiers and a bottle. This allowed me a break every once in a while and my daughter can go to sleep on her own, without having me nurse her to sleep. This is what worked for US and you'll hopefully find what works for you. *I hope no one will slam this post for an opinion. We were able to get rid of the pacifiers once they were no longer needed to soothe a "baby". My children are absolutely fabulous sleepers and at ages 10, 9 and 7 are no worse for the wear for taking binkies as babies.
Good luck!

My mother in law is an L&D nurse and she recommended putting Sweet-ease (the liquid that they give babies in the hospital after circs and such) on the nipple of the pacifier. The nice thing about sweet-ease is that it doesn't spike the babies blood suager. However, if you don't have access to the product (try calling your pediatrician for a sample) dipping the nipple in sugar water (5%) also works. Heat 2 Tbsp of water and stir in 1tsp of table sugar (I think I did my math right) and you will have your 5% sugar water. You don't want to do this too often but it will do the trick until the little guy gets the nack of the pacifier.

As for the actual pacifier - we used the nubbie premie pacifier (our poor son had a purple pacifier for months) that we got from the hosptial - he really liked the plug nipple. Now we use the playtex silicon ortho pacifiers. Hope that helps and enjoy your new little angel!
-L.

Hi N.....my daughter also used me as a pacifier. She did not have reflux though. I tried EVERYTHING to get her to take a paci and she refused. She is now 11 months old and still will not take one! She also refused a bottle. Even though it had breastmilk in the bottle. She hated the plastic nipple. I think that is why she hated the paci also. She would get mad and spit it out. I think she knew it wasn't the "real thing". I don't have any advice for you, just wanted to let you know that some babies just won't take a paci no matter what you do. Good luck and congrats on your new baby!

Is he fussy with the reflux? If not, then it is just a laundry problem, and no need to push the paci on him. Just keep plenty of burp rags nearby to clean up the mess.
R.

Just curious but why start a pacifer habit that can take months/years to break at a later date? If he doesn't like them then don't use them! All babies do the sucking motion thing as a comfort for them, they don't have to have something in their mouths more than their own tongue, but what do I know, I'm 57.

I agree about not pushing, however I have 3 kids all breastfed. Oldest didn't want paci or bottle. Now she has a hard time falling asleep on her own. She's 6 1/2~ Second did use paci and she currently pacifies herself into falling asleep in her own ways- she's 5 And my 3rd didn't like paci either and he has a hard time falling asleep on his own. He's 3. My middle gave it up on her own. I wouldn't worry to much about the weaning process. It's a comfort and who cares. If you really want him to take it,(because it sure did help me in my experiences) I like the idea of expressing breast milk and putting it on there, and also while you gently hold it in place caress his cheek with your finger as he will think it's your breast. You may need different sizes to try with too. Try to be proportionate with your nipple. Good luck.

my son is 3 months and still rejects his paci. I have found that he is more willing to take it at certain times, like when I get him out of the bath and every once in awhile when he is very tired. We just keep trying because we see how soothing it is for him when he does take it.

don't give it to him, breastfed babies sometimes just don't like anything other than mom.
Let him find his own comfort, babies don't always need a pacifier. that is a manmade item that has been pushed too much.

I tried so many different pacifiers before I went to what I remember from when I was younger and babysitting. We ended up with the Gerber Nuk's. The first time I tried it with my daughter she loved it. We allowed her to have it until she was almost 18 months and then we slowly started cutting the tip off until she didn't like it anymore - which worked in a few days. I just feel if you're going to give a pacifier you need an idea for weening too :-) Good luck!

I wouldn't push the paci if he's not interested but if you truly want him to have a paci you can try dipping the nipple in some expressed breast milk. This is what the nurses did with one of my twins when he was in the NICU becuase he was on a strict feeding schedule and would get fussy before his next feeding. Good Luck.

Please consider going to see April Dunnington in Centerville. She's a chiropractor and has had great success with reflux in babies. She also helped our baby who was pretty colicky. Her number is ###-###-####. I recommend her highly! Good luck.

Hi N.,

Congrats on the new edition! First, I have found the best paci to be is the gerber for newborns..they are completely round. This was great when my daughter was an infant because some of the other paci's would turn around and cover her nostrils. I hated that! These are also easy for them to suck on. EVERY time I would put the paci in her mouth I would use the opposite hand to rub behind her ear...for some reason this makes them suck and is good when breast feeding too. The nurse in the hospital taught this to me when trying to get her latched and it worked like magic. It took awhile for her to learn to take it on her own, but has helped sooooo many times when she was upset. It is also great when they are a little more mobile and want to put things in their mouth that they shouldn't. Lastly, and I only did this twice out of desperation, is put a tiny ammount of sugar on the tip....this was when I just couldn't take the crying anymore! A lot of older people did this back in the day....and it of course works because who wouldn't like it...but I wouldn't do it too often. Good luck!

i breastfed both of my babies. and neither of them took a paci. they just hated them. never took a bottle either. so maybe they just prefered the breast. my son nursed a TON an then would spit up a lot, but it never seemed to bother him like reflux does. i know with my 2nd i waited much to long to introduce them so that was a problem.

BUT
there was this video we watched called"the happiest babay on the block". it was super helpful for the infant stage. i'm not 100% behind the philosophy, but it gives you some Great tools for calming a fussy baby.
one of his suggestions is a paci. but he mentions that babies need to be trained to use them.
they dont know how to keep this non-milk giving object in. so when you give your infant son a paci you cant expect him to just suck away like on your breast.

his advice is to NOT keep pushing it in. but rather to lightly press down on the top of the paci... like you are going to push it out of his mouth. he will react by sucking harder to keep it in, and you can train him and make him stronger by playing this game.

i have done it with other children whom i watch and it has really helped.

worth a try anyway.