Please settle this debate between me and my husband.Can a baby be addicted to their

K

kala

New member
pacifier? Our little girl is 8 weeks old and fusses if we take the pacifier out of her mouth.This is after she has had a bottle,been changed and everything. The minute we put the pacifier in.....baam quiet!! He says she is too young to be addicted to anything.He wants to give it to her when she is happy...I say only to give it to her when she is cranky. What do you think?
 
Yes she's "addicted"

Babies will suck on anything, if you put a clean dry finger in the mouth she will also suck that.
Only give her a dummy when she is crying and you have exhausted all options and if she is tired and you want her to have one at nap time. My daughter is 16 months and i've just started the weaning off the dummy, It's hard but i feel she doesn't need it anymore and my eldest gad it until she was three!!! wayyy too long.
 
Yes, listen to the previous post. Babies have a natural need to suck. Don't deny their need. It helps them self soothe and calm themselves down. And it's pretty simple to cut down on pacifier use later on.
 
My son wants his pacifier only when he is sleepy. He will WAIL until we give it to him and then go right to sleep. It will fall out of his mouth but he won't need it the rest of the night. I don't know about being addicted to it but it is a comforting thing for babies to suck. I wouldn't give it to her when she is happy. A pacifier is supposed to help pacify/soothe not just to suck on continuously.
 
Let her have her pacifier...she's 8 weeks old! I wouldn't worry about being addicted to somethign like a pacifier for a LONG time! Babies have a need to suck and a pacifier fulfills that need...plus pacifiers are easier to get kids off of later than say a thumb.
 
Babies have a natural need to suck...let her have the pacifier. She's only 8 weeks old. If she was 8 MONTHS old, then I'd day use it sparingly.
 
Pacifier use is a personal issue. Babies have the need to suck and the pacifier allows them to suck on something other than their hand. I wouldn't call a child "addicted"to the pacifier, but it becomes a habit. Some children are easy to wean off of them and others are not. When my grandson was born recently, the hospital sent home information indicating that it is now thought that use of a pacifier at night helps prevent SIDS deaths. My daughter was dead set against giving the new baby a pacifier (her older son never used one) After many sleepless nights, he gets one now.
 
If being addicted to something means it soothes you and makes you happy (ie cigs, alcool, pacifier...) , then yes, technically she probably IS addicted to it. But it's normal at that age. It's a phase, they get LOADS of comfort from suckling !

I let my girl have one, even though originally I was against the idea. She started sucking her thumb instead, and that is something you can't take away later. I give it to her usually if she is cranky, when she is happy now she babbles and sticks other stuff in her mouth, like everything she can reach !!! When she was younger, she took it a lot more. Make sure it's an orthodontic one suited to her age.
 
I don't think at 8 weeks she's addicted but according to Freud she could have problems later in life with the constant need to put things in her mouth.
 
I don't think she is addicted... I know that newborns find the sucking of the pacifier very soothing and relaxing.

You can give it to her when she needs the pacifier- and believe me she will let you know :)
 
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