What are the best and safest baby pacifiers?

Babies Best Friend (and sometimes Moms, too!)!

A pacifier can quickly become your newborns best friend. When a baby is born, one of it’s first natural inclinations is to suck. This helps them with feeding, whether breast or bottle fed. It also brings them comfort. When your baby will take a pacifier, it brings them the same comfort as the sucking motion of feeding. Here is where the pacifier becomes Mom’s friend, too. Because the pacifier comforts your newborn, it’s often a tool that allows them to sleep longer periods of time. Although, it’s important to note that that same pacifier can become a crutch if your newborn is allowed to continue it’s use through toddlerhood.

Safety is alway a parents first concern. A pacifier that is attached to a clip on holder, while your child sleeps, is a hazard. Your child could become rapped in the cord and choke. Always, remove these when your baby is sleeping. When your baby is awake, the pacifier clips are a great way to keep the pacifier clean and off the floor!

Choosing an age appropriate pacifier is very important, as well. Pacifiers come in sizes. They begin with newborn sizes and come in later and larger sizes as your infant grows. Be aware and check the sizes on the packaging. Sizes will be on the front, outside portion of your pacifier. Usually in the top right or left hand corners. Buying one too large or too small will frustrate your baby and will not serve the very purpose that you bought it for.

Also, if you are breast feeding, look for pacifiers that are shaped like a natural nipple. Some pacifiers are designed to go with certain bottle nipples and can confuse and hinder your babies ability to latch onto your breast. Once again, this defeats the entire reason of a pacifier purchase.

Another thing to consider carefully, is what the pacifier is made of. Many people, including infants, have a natural allergy to silicone or latex. After testing these out on your baby, make sure to check the inside of the baby’s mouth. If they are allergic, you will see red welts or possibly just some swelling. Switch pacifiers immediately.

After choosing a style and model of pacifier, be sure to stick with it. Changing pacifiers is confusing to your child and may cause nighttime upsets. And we all know how that ends up for Mom or Dad! When our kids had pacifiers, we purchased three or four, of the same kind, at one time. If one was lost or being “bathed” we had a substitute and the baby didn’t know the difference!

Finally, after choosing the pacifier that best suits yours and your babies needs, make sure that you thoroughly wash and sterilize your baby’s pacifier every day. They are a germ magnet. They are constantly moist and are usually on the floor at least once a day. You can scrub them with soap and water and rinse in hot water, to ensure that your baby’s buddy is relatively germ free.

Again, I’d like to note that should your newborn be allowed to have their “buddy” through out being a toddler, you run the risk of having a hard time with taking it away. Also, it’s becoming more and more clear that long term pacifier use can also cause palette deformities. Who ever said parenting was easy, right?