Pacifiers for Weight Loss?

[Little Sherri]

I've long used a pacifier while sleeping, but I'm too self-conscious to use one, in front of my wife or anyone else, when I'm awake. (I acclimated to sleeping with one because it stopped me from clicking my teeth, which used to drive her nuts, so, it's to her benefit as well as mine.) 

However, I've had a thought... could a pacifier be a weight loss device? I can be pretty strict during the day, but I tend to succumb to late night snacking, and that got me wondering if there could be some interplay there, like chewing gum, or ice, or sipping water can help people curb cravings. So I thought I would put it out into the ether and see if anyone else her has tried it. I'd have to get over the feeling that I'd look absurd, although I'm sure I look absurd when I'm sleeping, and I seem to have gotten over that...

[Thetlus]

I've only ever dabbled with them while awake and very sparingly. I can't say much definitive for curbing snacking and helping with weight loss but I don't see why it couldn't help for that as long as the effort is put in. After all, part of a pacifier's original purpose was to calm and distract a child/baby from other actions and thoughts.

[LGGrace]

I mainly use a pacifier when I'm awake. I have tried sleeping with a pacifier, but due to my deviated septum, I have a hard time sleeping with one and usually end up spitting it out.

I can't say much on craving for food, but I was hoping that pacifiers would curve my vaping habit. I quit smoking over three years ago but have not been able to quite vaping. Sadly it doesn't help as much as I would like. Maybe if someone came out with favored ones would help better or a nicotine pouch in a pacifier. That may cause problems though in public since I have such a bad oral fixation.

[LilRugrat]

When I use my paci at night to sleep, I keep it in my mouth all night. I don't use my paci as much as I would like at night because I have this irrational worry of getting some sort of paci rash. I would use it everynight.

I have had days when I kept my paci in my mouth nearly all day. I guess I just really needed it. I found I ate less those days (I am a snacker), so I do think having a paci in would help with lessening your snack intake. One of the main reasons I don't use my paci durning the day when I am home is because I never know when someone is going to swing by and I would be afraid I would forget to hide the paci. And really the irrational worry of getting a paci rash is pretty strong. 

[Little Sherri]

On 4/20/2024 at 4:14 PM, LilRugrat said:

I don't use my paci as much as I would like at night because I have this irrational worry of getting some sort of paci rash. I would use it everynight.

I've been using mine every night for a bit more than 5 years, and I haven't gotten a rash from it, although I will say that paci rash is a real thing - my younger daughter was more or less never without her pacifier for roughly the first two years of her life, and she had perpetual dermatitis on her cheeks as a result. But she was a rash-prone baby and she drooled a lot and, being a baby, was not prone to worrying about it or wiping her cheeks off - that was our job. I don't use one a lot during the day (although I just popped one in right now while I'm typing this), but during the day, I don't drool around it. At night, I do drool a bit, but I wash the paci and my face first thing every morning, and it has yet to irritate my skin. 

 

On 4/20/2024 at 4:14 PM, LilRugrat said:

because I never know when someone is going to swing by and I would be afraid I would forget to hide the paci.

This is a real thing as well - I started using a paci clip religiously after a couple of instances: I lost a pacifier sleeping at my friend's place in their guest bedroom, when we got up and had to leave right now for an event. I was over there later in the week and made up an excuse that I'd lost a sock, in order to conduct a grid search of the bedroom, and I found my paci under the bed by the headboard - but I had been sleeping badly, imagining his wife finding it if she swapped out the bed linens. I also left one sitting on my desk in my office while I went out for lunch... and came home to my daughter printing off a stack of resumes up there, while my pacifier sat on my desk next to my laptop. And once I had it with me while I was cleaning up in preparation for a visit from my in-laws, running around the house doing 20 things at once, carrying cleaner and paper towels and the vacuum and a duster, I sat down to a well-deserved cup of tea and a glance at the newspaper... the doorbell rang and my in-laws came in... and then it hit my like lightning that I'd put my paci down somewhere. I did a frantic "ha ha, nothing going on here!" scan of the obvious places, did not find it, then eventually located it on my bedside table, which was not where I'd left it - all I knew was that I'd last had it on the main floor. My wife had found it somewhere and deposited in its final resting place. SO, yeah, clip your paci for safety! 

[NannaAnnabelle]

I occasionally use one as I sleep if I can remember to get it cleaned and prepped. I've sometimes tried it during the day while at home to try to curb my smoking when my stress level is too high and it does seem to work well. The problem for me is if my paci's are out of site they're usually out of mind so it's not something I regularly do.

[Lisera]

I always fall asleep with one and will use one during the day and sometimes at work, depending on how I'm feeling