Some babies, newborns, and even toddlers are simply inconsolable without their pacifiers. Others won’t take a pacifier, no matter what. Which situation is better? On the one hand, you have a trusty pacifier that you can easily give a baby to calm him quickly. On the other, you have a child who will never pitch a fit when a pacifier can’t be located or when, as you must eventually do, you take the pacifier away for good.
What Part Do Pacifiers Play in Infant Child Development?
Infant babies have an innate, physical need to suck. It’s a reflex that continues long after feeding sessions are over, when the breast and bottle aren’t readily available. That’s why so many normal babies turn to pacifiers or thumb-sucking during their first weeks of life. They are naturally soothed and comforted by the act of sucking.
In general, pediatricians don’t think there’s anything wrong with pacifier use during babies' development years, but many caution parents to minimize thumb-sucking whenever possible. This is because thumb-sucking is a more difficult habit to break and often continues years after most children are weaned from pacifiers.
Baby Pediatrician: Pacifiers Prevent Thumb-Sucking
Dr. Spock himself was a proponent of pacifier use, but only for a short period of time, and only as a means of avoiding thumb-sucking. In Dr. Spock on Parenting, he advised parents to use the pacifier only until age 3 or 4 months. At that point, he said, the sucking reflex weakens naturally, and weaning from the pacifier is easy.
Unfortunately, he observed, by that time it’s more difficult for the parents to give up the pacifier. "A pacifier satisfies the sucking instinct in the earliest months. Most babies are willing to gradually give up the pacifier at 3 or 4 months; but by that time most mothers are so dependent on it as a soother that they keep popping it back in the baby’s mouth each time she spits it out or whimpers."
Pacifiers Do Not Inhibit Development In Baby
Whatever side of the fence you fall on, the underlying debate about pacifier usage hinges on whether or not the pacifier is harmful to the baby in the long run. Will it cause "nipple confusion" and create problems during feedings? Will it cause or promote speech and dental problems?
In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a study that linked pacifier use to a decrease in breastfeeding--but with a surprising twist. Their findings indicated that pacifier use had no effect on the breastfeeding success in the first three months. They did, however, find clear evidence of decreased long-term breastfeeding due to pacifier use.
According to the AAP, "These data do not support a common belief that pacifier use leads to ‘nipple confusion,’ which causes the infant to learn improper breastfeeding suckling techniques. Instead, the authors found that the reason for shorter and less breastfeeding is likely linked to mothers who chose to use pacifiers. Those mothers tended to breastfeed their infants less frequently, and were more likely to consider breastfeeding to be inconvenient and to complain of inadequate milk supplies."
The authors of the study did not recommend that mothers discontinue pacifier use; instead, they recommended increased parental education about the benefits of breastfeeding.
Dental Health: Children Under 3 Not Harmed By Pacifiers
Kimberly A. Loos, DDS, offers further words of comfort for parents who appreciate the peace and quiet that pacifiers can give, but who worry that pacifiers may cause permanent harm. "Using a pacifier during the early years of child development generally does not permanently alter the position of the teeth or jaws," says Loos.
Loos does caution parents about the potential risk factors associated with long-term use. "Occasionally," she says, "the upper jaw (maxilla) can become somewhat deformed causing the upper teeth to be malaligned. The amount of deformation will most likely be based on the amount of time the child is sucking on the pacifier. Most deformations are self-correcting, especially if the habit ceases before eruption of the permanent incisors."
In addition to potential dental problems, some parents shun pacifiers for aesthetic reasons. They simply don’t want to see their children sucking on pacifiers all day long, and they don’t care for pacifier talk—when children try to talk around a pacifier.
If you decide to use pacifiers, talk with your dentist and pediatrician to find the right pacifier for your child. And make sure you begin weaning from the pacifier when they tell you it’s time, usually between 2 and 3 years.
Keeping Baby Calm While Weaning
As most parents have experienced, weaning a child off the pacifier can be tricky business! Because the pacifier fills an emotional need for the child, a parent should use caution and sensitivity during the weaning process. Parents who "lose" their children’s pacifiers in the hopes of breaking the habit cold turkey may find it more difficult than they had bargained for. Other, more gradual, strategies may work better for both parent and child.
When a child begins preschool, peer pressure alone may be enough to stop the habit, at least during the daytime. At this point, some parents find it easy to restrict pacifier use to naptime and bedtime. For many children, pacifiers work much like a security blanket. They provide the emotional and psychological benefits the child needs in order to conquer a task—in this case, going to sleep. While the long-term goal is to enable the child to go to bed and fall asleep without the use of the pacifier, gradual weaning is usually accomplished without significant difficulty.
Jazmin Kriesler, a mother of two, says one of her daughters used a pacifier for several years. "After she was asleep," says Kriesler, "I would go in and take away the pacifier." That way, she allowed her child to experience the comfort from the pacifier, but she minimized the time that the pacifier was actually in her mouth.
Encouraging Growth: Babies Can Help With Weaning
Another tactic involves talking with the child about the pacifier and explaining that, soon, he or she will be too old for it. This worked well for Ruth Collins, whose oldest boy, then 3, was having a difficult time giving up his pacifier. Together, they set a date to throw away all the pacifiers in the house. She asked her son to gather the pacifiers and throw all of them into the garbage can. When he wanted his pacifier back at bedtime, she reminded him about how grown up he was, that he had thrown the baby pacifiers away.
Remember, when your dentist or pediatrician tells you it’s time to get rid of the pacifier, do it. There are harmful side effects involved with waiting too long to wean a child from pacifier use. Pacifiers should do one thing and one thing only: pacify a child until her next feeding or soothe the child emotionally through an important part of his day.
Jennifer Hartman is a freelance writer living in North Carolina. She has been published in many children's magazines and newspapers as well as women's health magazines.
This article was first published in Carolina Parent Magazine (Raleigh, NC.) and Carolina Parent Online, January, 2002.