As far as pacifiers are concerned, they are a must for families with babies. No matter in daily life or traveling, how can pacifiers be less necessary to calm babies down? However, there are rumours in the Jianghu that pacifiers may have many disadvantages: for example, pacifiers are easy to make babies "addicted" and hard to give up, and in serious cases, they can also lead to baby tooth deformities, otitis media, and even lead to slow speech or expression disorders. Can you still use pacifier happily?
In fact, we have all heard that what exists is reasonable. The pacifier has been used for so many years, which has its own rationality. Whether it plays a good or bad role depends on how we use it. Master the correct opening method of the pacifier, and you won't have to struggle.
The pacifier, as its name implies, is used to soothe the baby's mood. Our human beings have the strongest appetite from birth to the age of 2. Especially babies before the age of 1 often use their small mouths to suck or oral contact to explore strange things. When a baby lives in his mother's womb, he is used to sucking his fingers for comfort. Sucking is a baby's instinctive need. As long as you can catch something, your baby will put it in his mouth, which can make him feel comforted, happy and safe. A scientific and reasonable response to the baby's needs in this period can enable the baby to get enough sense of security and establish basic trust in people. This is where pacifiers work.
At the same time, babies in the "mouth desire period" often have the habit of sucking their fingers. Excessive finger sucking can easily affect the development of baby's hot teeth, and even lead to tooth deformation. Moreover, baby's frequent finger sucking can easily bring germs into the mouth. The pacifier can not only meet the baby's sucking needs, but also effectively prevent bacteria from entering the mouth.
Therefore, the general application time of pacifier is usually between 4-6 weeks after the baby is born and 2 years old. Babies aged 4-6 weeks can already eat breast milk, and have initially formed a stable breastfeeding habit. At this time, the use of pacifiers by mothers can help babies get used to breathing with their noses, thus exercising their sucking and swallowing abilities. When the baby is upset, pacifying the pacifier is naturally very useful. During the baby's tooth eruption period, pacifier can also relieve the baby's discomfort.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies stop using bottles at the age of one year, and completely stop using bottles at the age of 18 months, which is conducive to preventing dental caries. Similarly, parents should pay attention to reducing the use frequency of pacifiers, and gradually stop using pacifiers when they are about 2 years old.
What is the need to use pacifiers? The answer is simple: when the baby needs it. Most of the time, we use pacifiers not because the baby needs them, but because the parents need them. When the baby is crying, many parents habitually use pacifiers for the purpose of calming the baby as soon as possible. In the long run, the baby is accustomed to using pacifiers instead of needing to use them, thus gradually becoming "addicted". When it is necessary to quit pacifiers, it will be very difficult.
In fact, it is not particularly difficult to judge. When the baby is full of food and drink, not cold and not hot, and the little fart is fresh, and the mother's embrace and kiss are enough, the baby is still crying, which indicates that the baby really needs oral sucking for comfort. Then use a pacifier for your baby. However, if parents can distract the baby's attention in other ways, it means that the baby does not really need to use a pacifier.
The obvious and extreme situation is that for premature infants or babies with low birth weight, the use of pacifiers to achieve sucking comfort may help the baby's weight gain. When the baby's weight reaches the normal level, it is time to stop using pacifiers. For healthy babies, if the mother finds that the use of pacifier affects the baby's feeding of breast milk or formula milk, she should give up immediately.
