Despite my in-laws keep telling me to give my baby Clarisse a pacifier, to keep her quiet at times, I have never resort to pacifiers. I do not plan to introduce pacifiers to my baby in the future either.

And personally, I’m kinda pleased my baby Clarisse doesn’t seem to enjoy a pacifier. Granted, I’ve never put in the effort and time to properly introduce pacifiers to her but I did bought a pair of NUK pacifiers a few months ago. My baby has a habit of sleeping while breastfeeding, latching on to my nipple until she falls asleep. If she is not in a deep sleep, whenever I pull out my nipple, she will become alert and demands to latch on again. So I tried to replace my nipple with a pacifier immediately whenever I pull out. Baby Clarisse would eventually wake up after a few seconds sucking on the pacifier. Realising it’s not my nipple and starts to cry.

At times, I would simply give her a pacifier to see if she would like it. She would suck for a while, then pull out the pacifier herself and play around with it as a toy. I gleefully told my father-in-law that baby Clarisse don’t like pacifiers. He suggested I put some gripe water on the pacifier and surely baby would like it. I told him I’d try one day, but that was 3 months ago. I hope he forgot about it as I couldn’t be bothered with it. I would very much prefer my baby not to seek comfort in pacifiers.

Most babies do appear to be quiet, well-behaved and sleeps well on their own with a pacifier. It makes life easy for mothers, I’d have to agree. If you choose to introduce pacifiers to your baby, and if you’re still breastfeeding her, pacifiers can be used without any problem after the early few weeks. Why? According to experts, if you wish to establish a healthy supply of breastmilk for your baby, it is recommended not to give baby a pacifier for at least the first three to four weeks. A breastfed baby provides much-needed stimulation to the breasts in order to build-up a well established supply, usually takes up to six to eight weeks. A good supply of breast milk is important as your newborn needs all the nutrition she could get in the first six weeks of growth spurt.

Below are a few more things you should be aware of:

• Early weaning is a common trait of babies who use pacifiers. A pacifier satisfied the baby’s need to suck. And once you introduce solid food, you might find your baby demands less and less breastfeeding. On the other hand, babies who do not use pacifiers demands breastfeeding all the time, sometimes just to satisty their desire to suck and not because they’re really hungry.
• If your baby decides to wean early and once you stop breastfeeding, it will increase your chances of getting pregnant. Depending on your family planning goal, it could be good or bad. Breastfeeding mother’s who breastfeeds regularly will find it to be a very effective form of birth control.
• If your newborn demands to be breastfed, try not to give her a pacifier instead just to buy some time.
• Long term use of pacifiers could misalign your baby’s teeth. In some cases, it could also affect the shape of your baby’s soft palate, causing speech problems.
• Health wise, a baby who use pacifiers are prone to:
  • Oral yeast/thrush which may be transferred to a mother’s nipples.
  • Increased risks of ear infections, according to some studies.
  • Choking if the pacifier breaks. Accidently strangled if a pacifier is tied around the baby’s neck.
  • Anything that is mouthed by babies should be assured absolutely safe for it’s intended use. Be wary of pacifier safety recalls. Also, if your baby is allergic to latex, switch to silicone-based pacifiers instead.

I’ve never seen a teenager carrying a pacifier, so no matter how people tell you pacifiers can be a hard-to-break habit, your toddler would eventually give it up. Introducing pacifiers to your baby is entirely up to you. The same goes to mother’s who won’t.