Is frequent dummy replacement at 15 weeks normal or a dependency?

[Rafrafxo]

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice/reassurance about my 15-week-old.

Over the last week and a half she’s started doing something new with her pacifier—she’ll pull it out herself and then cry for it, so I have to keep putting it back in. When she’s falling asleep for naps, she also likes to hold/touch the pacifier while sucking it.

At bedtime she goes down around 8:30pm with the pacifier, then I do a top-up feed at 10pm and she falls asleep feeding and usually stays asleep without the pacifier after that.

The part that’s worrying me is overnight. Last night she woke at 4am fussing (eyes kind of open and closing), rooting and sucking on my hand, so I gave the pacifier and she went back to sleep until 5:30am. After that, she kept waking every ~10 minutes needing the pacifier replaced until 7am.

She also sometimes gets frustrated when trying to fall asleep—turning her head side to side, flailing her arms, spitting out the pacifier and then crying for it again.

I guess I’m wondering:

• Is this normal for this age?
• Is this a phase or am I creating a dependency on the pacifier?
• Anyone who went through something similardid it get better if you just stuck with it?

Any advice or similar experiences would really help, I’m probably overthinking it but last night really threw me!

You need more dummies. Buy three or four and arrange around the cot so she can find them when she's flailing. Dummies reduce the risk of SIDS so I wouldn't stop it

I don’t think anything is normal or abnormal with a pacifier, it depends on what do you “train” them to do with your response.

We had to remove the pacifier at 8 weeks as he developed eczema and he’s, he cried for England for one night but, we couldn’t have his skin peeling under it so it was what it was. He missed it dearly for a night and found his thumb a week later, by the time he was one he was not sucking his thumb anymore.

i have seen 5 years olds with pacifiers and lots of children who never used them so it depends on you. I can assure you that pacifiers didn’t exist before rubber processing was invented.

After that, she kept waking every ~10 minutes needing the pacifier replaced until 7am.

Was she hungry? Could be a growth spurt and need more in the small hours.
I always offered small feed if they kept spitting out the dummy

Maybe give her a muslin or comforter to snuggle against her face or rub it in her hand to create another sleep association and something to do with her hands that isn't yank the dummy out

The head side to side an flailing arms could be learning to self soothe or sometimes the head side to side can just be hunger... or tiredness.. lol

When our baby started doing this it was causing more problems than helping so we went cold turkey but that was at 7/8 months

How long did it take for baby to forget about the pacifier when you went cold turkey?

Immediate, I was very surprised!

Have you tried giving her milk when she's doing it repeatedly in a short time?

9 hours is a long time for a 15 week baby to go without a feed. She was likely hungry and frustrated she was sucking without any milk.

I agree with earlier poster saying put lots of dummies in her cot so she can reach them if you are concerned but I would always offer a feed first.

Sounds like she’s hungry. She’s spitting it out because it’s not producing milk and crying “for it” because she’s hungry. She’s crying for the milk producing version, not the dummy.

what happens if you feed her? Does she go back down and stop fussing? Are you breastfeeding? It’s normal to ramp up night feeds before a growth spurt as this is what stimulates milk supply.

dummies for us were a life saver, and as pp said they can prevent Sid’s so I would keep going with it personally. Much, much harder to remove a thumb.

Your baby sounds hungry. Is there a reason you’re not feeding her more often?

She's hungry and frustrated.