December 2010 Moms
Disadvantages of using a pacifier
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Problems with paci use.
I often have read about paci use as benificial in reducing the risk of SIDS. I just read this article about the problems that can be associated with it as well. I thought the article was interesting so I thought I would share.
Entire article can be found here. https://www.babycenter.ca/baby/dailycare/dummies&pacifiers/
Disadvantages of using a pacifier
- Increased ear infections - there is a proven link between prolonged dummy use and middle ear infections It's thought that sucking on a dummy increases the chance of an infection back-tracking from the mouth into the Eustachian tube (the air-filled passage connecting the middle ear with the back of the throat) Limit dummy use to settling your baby for sleep only, to avoid such problems
- Link to stomach and other infections - dummy use has been associated with a higher risk of symptoms such as vomiting, fever, diarrhoea, and colic
- Long-term dummy use can lead to dental problems - the British Dental Health Foundation (2005) discourages the use of dummies or thumb-sucking as both can result in problems as the teeth grow and develop, particularly if your child is still using this as a comfort when their permanent teeth are coming through.
- Speech problems - using a dummy prevents babies from babbling, which is an important step in learning to talk, and discourages toddlers from chatting, which they need to do to develop their language skills
- Using a dummy on a daily basis interferes with breastfeeding - there is strong evidence that women who use pacifiers are more likely to wean their babies off the breast earlier than breastfeeding mothers who don't use pacifiers on a daily basis Dummy use is linked to breastfeeding exclusively for a shorter amount of time and a lack of milk when the baby is one month old
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Re: Problems with paci use.
What I seem to be getting from this article, reading inbetween the lines I guess, is to use the pacifier appropriately. Not necessarily that the pacifier is bad.
Use it for sleep, keep it clean and don't let them have it ALL THE TIME. Also, with the speech and dental issues, that stems from long term use. Most things I've read state that they would like you to take away the pacifier by 6 months and most definetly by 1 year.
I agree with this. DD was hooked on her paci, and we had a really hard time taking it away from her. That being said, she ONLY got it at nap time and bed time. She used it to fall asleep, but didn't keep it in her mouth the whole time she was sleeping. We weren't able to finally break her of the paci for good until her 2 year molars were finished coming in. The night before her 2nd birthday, it "broke", she snuggled it and the next day she threw it away. That was the end of that.
We asked our pedi about her using the paci for so long. She said the way we were using it was fine. She also said that babies who are that attached to their pacifiers are babies who just need something for comfort. If it wasn't the paci, it would likely have been her thumb or blanket or something else. I thin kit was just karma biting me in the butt. I always said, "my baby will NEVER have a pacifier". By the time she reached a year and we had tried taking it away numerous times, I said eff it. She was talking already, her teeth were perfect and I figured there were worse things to deal with than a pacifier.