Help! I'm a new mom with a 9 week old and she will not nap/calm down unless its with a pacifier. The problem is as soon as the pacifier drops out of her mouth she is so agitated and wired. No matter what i try weather is holding her tight, rocking her or usng a swing or vibrating chair nothing works until i put the pacifier back in her mouth. Once again the problem is I can't get her to fall asleep because she is sucking on the pacifier and as soon as it falls out she is so agitated!! Does any one have any ideas as what I can do. Help!! OH...and she is not hungry, I feed her to make sure and most of the time she nurses but won't fall asleep again until I put the paci back in her mouth...not even my breast will lull her to sleep!
If she is satisfied with the paci, I wouldn't say that it is hunger. Is she swaddled? You may try that. As far as keeping the paci in, sorry, I don't have any paci experience.
Oh, thought of something else. Try using your finger instead of the paci (nail against the tongue), then you can see when she is relaxed and asleep and gently remove your finger. This will at least get her sleeping without the shock of the paci dropping out.
She's either hungry or has strong urges to suckle. Just feed her and keep stuffing the paci back in. She'll be doing something different next week.
Neither 1 of my boys where big paci fans, but did want them when they where tired and wanted to go to sleep! But by the time they where both 3-4 months old both of them where totally off of it, they just didn't care for it anymore so I took all of them and thru them out! Now the bottle was something else for both of them, and that was my struggle! I had finally got my oldest off of it and my sister had watch both of them for a weekend and didn't see I had put bottles in there for my youngest so he had a sippy cup for the whole weekend and didn't cry for a bottle the whole weekend so when we got home we thru out all of the bottles! But if your little 1 needs her paci, then let her have her paci, she will grow out of it! Believe me!
A lot of parents have a problem with the paci. My own experience is that I let my children use it but I did not offer it to them, I would only give it to them when they really wanted it and only then. I would not give it to them all day or anything like that, just like when they were tired. I worked with them about learning to put it in their mouth themselves and that helped. If you don't give it to them all of the time, they will get rid of it on their own usually. If they don't, it is much easier to take it away when you don't give it to them all of the time. It sounds like your little one just needs that little bit of sucking for security and when they learn how to put it in their mouth theirself, it really helps.
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Feed her.
In an infant... "growth-spurts' are every 3 weeks. She is 9 weeks old now... and that is a growth-spurt time. They get hungrier and need to feed more often. ALWAYS feed on-demand. Not on a schedule.
Feed on-demand, 24/7, day and night.
all the best,
Susan
Your baby is in the "Fourth Trimester" and will need time to adjust to the new lights, sounds and sensations of the world. Plus her own internal sensations – the digestive process is new, powerful, and uncomfortable for many infants. Babies need LOTS of holding/snuggling/cuddling/rocking/jiggling during their first three or four months in the world. They do not arrive with the ability to soothe themselves – that's mama's job until they get a bit older and gradually adapt and learn new routines.
Your daughter may reach a state of even greater neediness over the next few weeks as her system gradually tunes into the sensations around and inside her, but then that gradually declines, and for many babies, is finished by around three months.
How to cope? Most moms get good results from wearing their babies in a sling or wrap that hold the baby close to the body. That gives the baby the sense of security she needs, and leaves your hands free.
I hope you'll get the book The Happiest Baby on the Block, by Dr. Harvey Karp. He'll describe the steps you can take to turn on your baby's "relaxation response" so that she'll feel greater comfort and less sense of anxiety and separation. You can see him demonstrate his magical approach in these and related videos:
How-to's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6KnVPUdEgQ&feature=re...
Enhanced sleep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk5MUOMecHI&NR=1
Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0TtxO-ocY&feature=re...
I don't think you can expect a 9 week old to soothe OR calm herself down.
