My 5 month old child does not sleep much...?

Question

.. she is a tiny bomb of activity and refuses to sleep for more than 6 hrs in a day of 24!! What I want to ask is, whether a pacifier is safe to use?? I am being told that the pacifier causes gas troubles in the baby's stomach and also induces rised and uneven teeth. Is there any reliable source of info' or website, where I can verify about the safety of pacifiers?? Thank you all...

Answer 1

Hi there, That is a disturbing lack of sleep in 24 hours. At 5 months your baby should be sleeping approx 16 hours in 24. Pacifiers are fine but it may be too late to introduce one. Sleep training sounds more appropriate. I have trained both my Daughter and Son with amazing results. Sleep is learned. They need to learn to sleep without any parental help. If you are interested see, www.silentnights.org or read the baby whisperer. www.babywhisperer.com. It is much easier to sleep train a baby in a cot than a toddler in a bed. It may not be for you and everyone has there own ideas, but it is SO nice getting a good nights sleep yourself and they baby is much happier too!!!Good Luck

Answer 2

It's fine to use pacifiers... it's actually recommended by some doctors. The reason that it can mess up teeth is because some parents don't ween their kids of them soon enough... the shouldn't have a binky after a year old or if they have more than four teeth but a lot of parents just let them have it. Seriously I see 3 year olds walking around with pacifiers in their mouths. As long as you don't let it get out of hand, it should be fine. I got my daughter off of a pacifier at 3 months old because it's a lot easier to do it when they are young and not dependent on it but if your daughter is not sleeping than it's worth a shot. Check Pampers.com, they have tons of articles about parenting and they are really reliable.

Answer 3

I don't recommend using a pacifier. They are a nasty troublesome habit to start and break. Using a pacifier isn't going to help your child sleep longer.

Children this age should start to learn how to soothe them selfs. without a bottle or pacifier.

My daughter is four months old and she doesn't sleep that much either. The longest time she sleeps is at night where she goes to be at 8 and is up at 6 30. But I feed her cereal before bed to keep her full.

Have you started your baby on cereal? If not I recommend you do because it may help baby sleep longer.

But as for naps, the longest my baby sleeps is an hour or so. And only maybe three times a day.

Pacifiers are very hard to break and it will cause you trouble in the end if you start now.

Answer 4

Our dentist told us pacifiers were fine, it's thumb-sucking that messes up their teeth or their pallet. But the sucking instinct is generally strongest in a brand new baby, and I can't really see how a pacifier would help you at this point if she hasn't used one up until now. Unless she's sucking on other things and you want to replace those other things with a soother, why would you create that habit? It won't make her sleep any longer. She's old enough to start on solid foods if you haven't done that already, which might fill up her tummy enough to let her sleep longer. My son was similar as a baby (yes he used a soother, yes we were those horrible people already mentioned because both kids had soothers until they were three, and no there is no damage to their teeth. We broke the habit just fine, thank you.) Not that this is necessarily the case for you, but he has ADHD and we've since learned that his sleep patterns were very typical for children with ADHD. Other than that, each kid is unique and there isn't a "rule" that says every child requires the same amount of sleep. Good luck.

Answer 5

Pacifiers are fine for kids, just try to use it sparingly. Luckily my baby only used it for a month or so and wasn't interested anymore. I know it helped settle him down at night, or if we were out and he was getting cranky because he was sleepy. The catch is if the baby gets used to sleeping with the pacifier and that's the only thing that works, when he spits it out while he's sleeping he will wake up screaming for it and only you will be able to go pick it up and put it back in again. So, use it if it helps but beware that there is such a thing as "too much" on that front. Also you can check babycenter.com's bulletin boards for help from other moms with similar issues--that site has always been real helpful for me. Good luck!

Answer 6

i also have a 5 month old who refuses to sleep during the day. i use a pacifier when he is cranky and put him in his crib. i turn on his mobile, and a light show and in 20 mins he is sound asleep.

with the pacifier interfeering in tooth development... i cant agree with this. my 9 year old used a binky and his teeth are fine. it never gave him gas or a tummy ache. i strongly recommend using one for your daughter. they have a craving to suck and bite and a pacifier is a safe way that they can do it. another upside is that binkys have been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS

Answer 7

my 7 month old uses a pacifier only when she is going to sleep, it helps to calm her. she doesnt have any gas problems and it will only effect the teeth if they use it beyond their first year, since they dont have any or have just a few teeth. Sorry, dont know any websites.

Answer 8

Some doctors have told me/my friends that pacifiers can be good for them actually or at least that the negative effects aren't a sure thing. They won't necessarily have those problems. I say try it, and see how it goes. My mom said that's about how my brother and I slept (rather, didn't sleep) for years. I feel for you. Good luck.

Answer 9

my daughter never liked a "plug" or pacifier, she found her thumb and that was that. they say a pacifier helps against SIDS as they concentrate on sucking and have something to do. i dunno my baby slept all night until recently she is teething so im up 5 and 6 times a nite some nites. i guess your baby will get comfortable with a sleep pattern

Answer 10

my daughter has been using a binky since birth, and she's 2 1/2 years old now, but she not like some kids who use them all day and whatnot, she only sometimes uses it to go to sleep, we leave it on the head of her bed and if she feels that she wants it she'll grab it..But i would say give it a shot it calms my daughter down, and the side effects i haven't seen in many children, including me and my husband..