A practical pacifier substitute. The cheap, easy, and ever-present pacifier substitute: your pinky finger. If you find yourself in the position of wanting to soothe your baby by giving him something to suck on other than your breast, you can always use your (clean) little finger.
Sucking a pacifier while sleeping may lower your baby's risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Neither are perfect: Pacifiers can increase the risk of ear infections, but thumb-sucking can add germs to your baby's mouth. Thumbs are lower maintenance, because babies know how to find them in the dark.
The main reason to prefer finger and thumb-sucking over a pacifier is that your infant doesn't need you to continuously put their thumb in their mouth whenever they need it.
If not try to use minimal soothing to settle baby back down without the pacifier. Often jiggling the crib (so baby's head jiggles lightly) or gently patting baby's back like a tom tom are good non-invasive techniques.
Once babies reach the four-six month mark, they begin to develop some ability to self-soothe. Before this in the newborn stage, babies' circadian rhythms, which help them sleep longer stretches at night, haven't developed yet, and they also do not have the ability to self-regulate.
Although pacifiers are great for newborns, I recommend pulling that pacifier completely away from sleep by about four months old, if your goal is to help your baby sleep more independently.
If you find yourself in the position of wanting to soothe your baby by giving him something to suck on other than your breast, you can always use your (clean) little finger.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Practice recommend reducing or stopping pacifiers early, since there is research that pacifier use beyond 12 months of age has the potential to increase the risk of ear infections in some children.
Once a baby has discovered their hands, they often become their new favorite playthings, and putting them in their mouth is a form of self-exploration. When your young baby explores their hands, they are discovering that their hands belong to them and are under their control. It's a great sign of development.
Before he is nine to 10 months old, a baby usually can't use a pacifier independently. So if junior falls asleep with a soother in his mouth, there's a good chance he'll cry when it falls out at midnight (and again at 2 a.m., and again at 5…) and won't be able to get back to sleep until you find it for him.
Another way to encourage self-calming is to allow your baby to get pleasure from self-initiated actions. For example, if you see your baby sucking his hand, don't remove his hand from his mouth – he's not teething, hungry or going to be a thumb-sucker simply because he's self-soothing.
The palmar grasp reflex — which allows your baby to close her fingers around an object placed in her palm — is one of several newborn reflexes that appear at birth. It's the reason why, when you put your finger or a small toy into her hand, she'll make a fist around it and hold on tightly.
Dental problems: Sucking on a pacifier (or a thumb) can cause a child's teeth to be misaligned. “It's a valid concern, but not until the child is between 2 and 4 years old,” Dr. Mudd says. To avoid dental drama, try to wean kiddos off the pacifier by their fourth birthday.
The main side effect of pacifier weaning will be disrupted sleep. You can expect the sleep schedule shake-up to last anywhere from a couple days to a week. The length of pacifier withdrawal depends on how reliant your baby was on their binky for soothing at bedtime.
The goal of the CIO method is to let baby fuss and cry on her own until she eventually wears herself out and falls asleep on her own. In the beginning, you may end up having to let baby cry it out for 45 minutes to an hour before she goes to sleep, though it varies from baby to baby.
Some babies learn to self-soothe naturally as they get older. However, in other cases, parents or caregivers try to encourage the behavior through various techniques. Many approaches exist for encouraging babies to self-soothe, ranging from the extinction method, or “cry it out” (CIO), to more gradual approaches.
At what age can you let a baby cry it out? The short answer: 5 - 6 months or older. Since younger babies aren't always capable of consistently falling asleep independently, we recommend waiting until your baby is at least 5 months old before using a cry it out method at bedtime.
Older research has described infant smiles during sleep as reflex-like. Studies suggest that smiles during active sleep are generated in the cerebral cortex, the outer part of the brain. Researchers believe spontaneous smiles that occur during sleep may help develop the muscles used to smile.
Babies love eye contact and interaction with their caregivers. Grabbing your face may be a way for your baby to establish a connection with you and strengthen the bond between you two. Responding with a smile, gentle touch, or soothing words can further reinforce this connection.
Check how your baby is sucking
If he latches on well and takes long, drawn out pulls, then he's likely hungry and actually eating. But if his sucking motion is shorter and shallower, then he's probably sucking for comfort. You can also check whether he's swallowing the milk.