Baby Spitting Pacifier Out at Night

I went through the same thing when my son was 5-6 mos. old. He couldn't find it/get it back in on his own...so it was up to Daddy and me and it happened several times a night. I asked the doctor and he said "break the habit now...it will be easier than when he gets older!" He was right. It was only a couple nights and he cried at first for a short while, but was so tired...he would fall back to sleep quickly. I see now that my doctor was right. The older kids (and adults!) get...the harder it is to break a habit.

Good luck

My son is a paci addict. He is almost 2 and (little does he know) will soon be working toward losing the paci. For now, though, he wakes up every morning about 6ish and looks for a paci in his crib. I figure either I can go give him one so he goes back to sleep, or we can let him stay awake and jabber, waking everybody else up and we can ALL get up at 6ish! :) I choose the former.

Now, I realize that doesn't help you at this point, getting up multiple times. If you choose to take it away, she'll be fine but you'll have a few rough nights. Or you can choose to keep going in and giving it to her and she'll be fine that way too. It's up to you but it can be done. She may be able to find it on her own sooner than you think, too. Put a couple in her bed by her hands (bright colors that contrast with the bedding) and she'll learn to find it herself soon.

~L.

I say take it away now while you can. I remember my eighteen month old niece spending the night at my house, and having to wake up a few times with her to find the pacifier for her in the dark and put it back in so she could fall back to sleep. That's just crazy. Maybe that's why I never gave them to any of my 3 kids when I had them. She is young enough to take it away now. She'll completely forget about it in a day or 2 and find another way to self sooth herself. Good luck!!!!

I think it's a pretty common routine for little ones that sleep with a pacifier. Our twin boys slept with a pacifier - and we did the same dance of running back in their room at 2:00am to give them their pacifiers for many, many, MANY months.

I would try letting her sleep without it and see if she can learn to get back to sleep on her own. It can't hurt, and it might save you lots of sleep in the future. And, if it doesn't work, you can always go back to giving her the pacifier.

We also ended-up putting about 8 pacifiers in each of their cribs. That way - it was easier for them to find one when they woke-up. You could try that too.

Sucking is a need in some babies. Around this age, she might be able to find her thumb, if that is acceptable to you. If you help her find her thumb, she will be able to self soothe. Until she does, expect some rough nights, especially if you go cold-turkey. Then you will know if it is truly a need, or just the easiest way for her to self-soothe. Good luck, I feel for your lack of sleep. I had 2 children that I let suck their thumbs, and the 3rd one didn't want a paci or a thumb, believe it or not, he would suck his tongue! I thought that was so funny, I took video of it!

I totally had that problem with my son who is now almost three months old. He still sleeps with his pacifier but he now he does it tightly swaddled in his car seat. The swaddling keeps him from flinging his arms around and bonking himself in the face and also if I wrap it just right the pacifier rests slightly inside the wrapping and he's less likely to drop it but he can still spit it out if he no longer wants it. The car seat kind of adds to the swaddle by cradling his body. Before we started doing this he was waking up every two hours and taking forever to go back to sleep because I would have to fetch his pacifier for him multiple times, now he's sleeping for six hour stretches most of the time and I'm even able to put him down when he's still partly awake.

I'm not sure what I would do in your situation, but I can tell you that I've read (and my best friend's doctor confirmed) that it's generally considered easiest to break the pacifier habit around or before 6 months old. If you try to break the habit after 6 months, it's going to be a lot harder. I'm guessing maybe it has something to do with object permanence, longer memory, stronger will, etc.

all 3 of mine didn't "spit" out their suckeys... But they would fall out from not being held in by the sleeping angels gums...
It is what we called the suckey tango... It really sucked having to get up to replug them...
We always had our munchkins in our room in a cradle by my side of the bed until they started rolling. I didn't have to get out of bed... Just reach over and pop it back in.

Try it without it and see if she can sleep without it... But you may find that YOU get more sleep even with you getting up and repluging her thru out the night.

Good luck and congrats on the lil one

Both of my kids did have pacifiers. With my last child (now 14 months)it became an issue like this for me too. Only she was 5 months old. I think you could get rid of it now or only offer it as he goes to sleep then not go back in for seconds. Once it is out it is out. Now, you will have to let him learn to self sooth. Let him fuss it out for 10 minutes (this will feel like an eternity) but set a timer and wait - he very well may fall back asleep on his own. You could also not put it back in but reposition him (turn him on his side or onto his back) and leave the room.
I would try this for at least three nights and then reasess the situation. Old habits die hard. But I have heard over and over that after three hard nights they can be broken of it.