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Pacifier Falling Out – What can we do?

Question: “My daughter turned 8 weeks yesterday. Slowly but surely, we’ve fallen into the trap of sitting next to her bassinet for three hours a night because of her pacifier falling out.
After her bottle, she will cry and cry for her pacifier. We give it to her, it pops out after less than 2 seconds, and then the cycle starts again. She is fine after other wake ups; this is just the initial going to sleep period where we struggle with this. We are losing our minds. This can’t go on, but what choice do we have?”

For many parenting problems, there is no “one good answer“. Hence, our “7 Answers” series…

Top 7 Answers:

1. Tracy Loiselle We went through this very thing as well. Our son liked the WubbaNub because of his other pacifier falling out. With the WubbaNub, he could use his arm to push it back into his mouth. We also did paci training (see #4). While he was sucking it, I would flick it out a little. This got him to learn to suck it in before he lost it. I believe I picked that up from the Happiest Baby on the Block — those 5 S’s really worked for us.

2. Cathie Jones Not going to lie, I seriously considered taping it to her face. (Just on one side, I’m not completely insane…yet…)

3. Andrea Mitchell Olivier Stop doing that. Let her learn to self soothe [not CIO, just stop replacing it]. It’s hard at first, but she’ll get the hang of it.

4. Mary Halm The right pacifier made a huge difference for us. MAM brand pacifiers satisfied our daughter’s need to suck and she was able to keep them much better than any others. Also, the Summer Infant SwaddleMe blankets were game changers. 

5. Justin Heidi Durant To keep the pacifier from falling out, we were told that infants must “learn how” to keep it in their mouth  — there is a little reverse psychology involved. When they are sucking on it well/mostly awake gently try and tug it out/take it away. Most of the time their instinct will kick in and they will suck it right back in. Keep doing it throughout the day and for several days until they get the hang of it. Worked wonders for our little guy. They will never figure it out if you keep putting it back in for them. Best of luck! 

6. Megan McGraw I second the MAM pacifier. We have tried 3 different types of pacifiers because we personally decided that we would prefer a pacifier over her thumb. The MAM was her favorite by far. Like a previous poster said, it’s a little flatter and has some texture for the tongue to hold on to. The MAM was what my lactation consultant recommended and it has been great for us.

7. Rachel May Gordon WubbaNub is a life saver!

See all the answers here.

Comments

  1. Avatar of Haley Hill

    We have a 6 week old and we LOVE our Wubnub bc it lays on her chest so if it starts to pop out it is right there for her to get it back in!

  2. Avatar of Meredith

    My sons likes Nuks pacis. They stay is his mouth a lot better and aren’t designed to fall out when baby’s mouth opens like the Soothie pacis they give out in the hospital.

  3. Avatar of A

    My LO who’s 6 months old now used to take a pacifier, but now he just spits it out. He seems tired of a pacifier now. Maybe it’s due to teething too?

  4. Avatar of Andrea

    My daughter River Sophia is one in half of a month old she turns her head while she sleeps pacifier falls out and she’s laying on her stomach what can me and my fiance do to keep it in her mouth while she sleeps don’t wanna leave her crying til she does fall asleep.

    Thank You Andrea♡.

  5. Avatar of Samantha Bushika

    My two month old uses her paci all day long and when in her swings or on bed in bassinet it comes out and within seconds she is screaming like she is in pain, we know she is not, but we go running. It is our fault because that’s what we did from jump. If we don’t go to her she will scream at the top of her lungs. She never tires she will scream for hours, she doesn’t self soothe and she doesn’t fall asleep, she just screams… Until she gets her paci. I have put it in her mouth 100 times in a day.

  6. Avatar of Arielle Pressley

    I have a seven month old son who still loves the pacifier at night. Sometimes he likes to “accidentally” take it out and play with it. For a little while, I used the swaddle me because he had also learned how to roll over and would not sleep on his back at all. All that tummy time he hated as a tiny baby… Now he prefers it!?!?!?!
    To help with the pacifier not being pulled out of his mouth, I put his socks on his hands. It doesn’t hurt him no keeps him from grabbing the pacifier from his mouth, making it easier to put him to bed.

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