As a new parent, one of your highest priorities is to comfort your baby. You may find that a pacifier can be a good solution. There advantages beyond soothing for using a pacifier. It’s easier to break the habit vs. thumb sucking and can lower the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
Be careful not to be overly dependent on the pacifier. If you want to avoid “binky battles”, stop using it just before your child’s first birthday. The website for Baby Center Expert Advice provides a great article on how to help your child give up their pacifier!
The trouble with pacifiers is the harm they can cause to developing teeth. Normal use within the first few years won’t cause any long-term dental problems. Continued use can be worrisome, as it can cause teeth to misalign or come in crooked. The longer your child uses a pacifier, the bigger chance it has on affecting their teeth!
Long term pacifier sucking can specifically cause:
– Top front teeth to slant
– Bottom front teeth to tilt in
– Upper and lower jaw misalignment
– Narrowed roof of your mouth (side to side)
For those babies who are sucking their thumbs, pacifiers can be used as a replacement to help kick the bad habit. Thumb sucking can go on for continuous years and cause long-term dental problems. Paediatricians are advising not to remove the thumb until it can be replaced with a pacifier.
It’s good to know we can rely on a pacifier to help soothe a baby. Just make sure you don’t rely on it long-term, especially after baby teeth have fallen out! Let’s avoid causing dental problems from a young age.
– Dr. Jay Rabinovich