Sucking is a soothing thing for most babies so many mums use pacifiers from birth. This is soothing and comforting for baby and can work really well in calming a fussy baby/child. While there is definately a place for these, too many babies, once started on using pacifiers become difficult to settle without.
There is no point in introducing a pacifier as an aid to sleep, if the baby is going to wake when it falls out, and demand that a parent return this to their mouth. By all means use a pacifier to calm baby but, baby should learn to fall asleep without this in place. When a child has developed the manipulation and co-ordination to find and replace the pacifier by himself/herself and has no problems doing so it becomes less of an issue.
Pacifiers should be regularly sterilised, and sucking a pacifier which has fallen on the pavement, before returning it to your child's mouth, is not a clean, hygienic or healthy thing to do. Nor should pacifiers be dipped in foodstufs such as honey, soup, chocolate or in fact any foods to provide "tasters". There are teaspoons for this! Introducing sugary foods to baby starts an early interest in sweet and not savoury foods and can dammage developing teeth.
If you feel you need to use a pacifier use it with some thought. It will reduce crying and help calm a fussy child but, allowing dependancy to develop encourages poor sleep associations and will not improve sleep habits.
If you need help to improve your child's sleep habits:- contact Dream-Angus.com
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