Reply To: Pacifier place in pyramid?

[Emma H]

Hi Anastasia,

I love that you are here too!

It’s great that you have figured out that your little one finds the pacifier soothing during the fussy period, and it helps him fall asleep.

Regarding your question about whether I recommend taking it out while helping him fall asleep – there are two times when I would consider this.

The first situation is if your little one spits out the pacifier on going to sleep, making it challenging to fall asleep. The second situation is if he spits it out during sleep, and this causes him to wake up more than expected at this age.

If this is happening with your little one, you can try this technique:

1. When your baby is tired, let him suck on the pacifier while you complete the pre-sleep routine.

2. At the end of the pre-sleep routine, lay him in his crib with the pacifier still in his mouth.

3. Then, use the settling pyramid to help him fall asleep.

4. Just before he drifts off to sleep, gently remove the pacifier by placing your little finger between the pacifier and the corner of his mouth. This breaks the seal and allows you to pop the pacifier out of his mouth.

5. For some babies, this works, and they fall asleep without the pacifier. But for other babies, this may cause them to stir more (at which point you use the settling pyramid to help them fall asleep), and for others, it causes them to wake up fully.

If you try this technique a few times and your little one continues to wake then you have a few options:

Option 1: Continue to use the pacifier and pop it back into his mouth when needed. With this option, there may be a point where you don’t have the energy to do this anymore, as it happens too frequently. And you may decide to remove the pacifier completely or just use it at the start of your baby’s pre-sleep routine.

Option 2—Continue to use the pacifier for the fussy times during the day and at the start of the pre-sleep routine, but stop using it for sleep. In this situation, you would use the pacifier at the start of the pre-sleep routine but remove it just before you lay him in the crib. Then, use the settling pyramid to help him learn to fall asleep without the pacifier.

If you wish to continue using the pacifier, I wouldn’t worry about popping it back in when it falls out during deep sleep. By not popping it back in you’re giving him the chance to learn to link cycles without it. This will be easier for him to achieve at the beginning of the night because he will be starting to have longer stretches of sleep at the start of the night very soon (if not already), and we don’t want to become reliant on the pacifier to link sleep cycles.

I hope this helps!

Emma

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by  Emma H.