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Is a Pacifier Good for Your Kid: Benefits and Risks

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Is a Pacifier Good for Your Kid

  • Babies typically have a strong sucking reflex.
  • The association of sucking to obtain nutrition gives some babies a compulsive need to use their mouth for sucking between feedings.
  • Some babies even suck on their thumbs and toes.
  • The activity can often have a soothing effect on a baby, and that is where pacifiers come in.
  • Made of rubber, silicone, or plastic, these nipple substitutes keep a baby’s mouth active and help avoid distress.
  • However, before you give your baby a pacifier, it is important to know the risks and benefits of the object, and how you can wean it away in the future.
    Let’s look at this in detail:

Benefits of a Pacifier

There are several benefits of adding a pacifier to your baby’s daily routine. They include:

  1. Pacifiers are known to soothe babies, who are at the greatest ease sucking on something during their suckling phase.
  2. They can help your baby go to sleep. If a baby has trouble settling down, a pacifier can help.
  3. They provide a distraction that can make distressing experiences such as blood tests or shots easier for the baby.
  4. Sucking on pacifiers at night before sleeping might help reduce the chances of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
  5. Pacifiers help ease discomfort during flights, making the time easier for the baby and parents.
  6. They are disposable, making it easy to break the habit by simply getting rid of them.

Risks of a Pacifier

Some risks of having your baby suck on a pacifier include:

  1. The baby becomes dependent on the pacifier. This is especially difficult if the baby uses the pacifier to fall asleep, as the baby could wake up and cry if the pacifier falls out.
  2. Prolonged use of a pacifier can cause dental problems such as misaligned teeth.
  3. Prolonged usage has been linked with middle ear infections.
  4. Introducing a pacifier too early may disrupt breastfeeding as a baby might be more used to a pacifier.

Tips on Pacifier Use

You need to be careful about your baby’s dependence on a pacifier. Here are tips you need to keep in mind:

  1. Do not use the pacifier as your first and only choice to keep your baby calm.
  2. Find a dishwasher-safe variety of pacifiers and keep it safe.
  3. Do not add sweeteners to the pacifier.
  4. Replace pacifiers if they seem to be falling apart.

Taking the Pacifier Away

  • The risks of pacifiers become more prominent as a baby grows.
  • Most kids give up pacifiers between the ages of 2 and 4, while some need help in breaking away from the habit.
  • You need to make sure your child gives up the pacifier as naturally as possible.
  • Use positive reinforcement to help your child realize that they are doing the right thing by giving up pacifier use.