Pacifier risks and benfits
By Marie HuntMommy MD Staff Writer
The use of pacifiers and their effect on infants is the subject of several recent studies. Many parents use the plastic and rubber or latex tools to soothe their young infant, and as the child develops, the object may continue to be used by the child for soothing themselves. Several studies have shown that there are some benefits to pacifier use as well as some risks.
The results of study on the effects of pacifier use on breastfeeding were released by the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2001. The study showed that there was a definite link between daily pacifier use and an early cessation of breastfeeding or other breastfeeding problems, while there was no association between finger sucking and breastfeeding problems. Because researchers have found a strong link between nursing and lower risk of SIDS, as well as other benefits, nursing is highly recommended; therefore, the findings of this study on the effects of pacifier use has raised some concerns. Further research is needed to determine if there are other factors affecting the results, such as the connection found between daily pacifier use and low breastfeeding confidence levels in the mothers.
Researchers in a separate study recommend the use of pacifiers to help infants transition from waking to sleep, stating that it reduces the risk of SIDS. Many parents maintain that their infant has difficulty falling asleep without the aid of a pacifier. However, the use of pacifiers over the age of 12 to 18 months may cause other problems such as overbites and otitis media, or ear infections.
References
Abigail Marter, Janyce Cagan Agruss. 2007. Pacifiers: An Update on Use and Misuse. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing 12 (4), 278–285.
Vogel, BL Hutchison, EA Mitchell. 2001. The impact of pacifier use on breastfeeding: A prospective cohort study. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 37 (1), 58–63.
Labels: News
1 Comments:
I used to work in the infant room of a daycare. Gradually I noticed that although it wasn't true in every single case, most bottle-fed babies chose pacifiers, and most breastfed babies chose thumbs or fingers (this is among babies who wanted to suck on something--many babies didn't). So far, my breastfed babies are 5 for 5: I offered pacifiers to all five, and all five tried and rejected them. Three of the five have gone on to thumbs; the other two don't suck on anything.
I wonder if this might be relevant to the study. If, perhaps, babies who took pacifiers and then had breastfeeding problems were also offered bottles, and those babies preferred the bottle/pacifier over breast/thumb, and that's why they rejected breastfeeding.
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