Would you use a pacifier for your baby, or have you?

United States
November 23, 2009 12:32pm CST
I am 5 months pregnant and my husband and I were discussing this issue yesterday. I believe that pacifiers are fine to use or not use, because people who have used them turn out just fine, and people who did not use them turned out fine as well. I feel that sometimes a baby just likes to do the sucking motion for comfort, and that is perfectly acceptable. What do you think? Did you use a pacifier as a baby, or did you use one on your baby?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@grkelly (1206)
• Malta
28 Mar 10
It depends on the baby. My daughter did not want it at first but then she just couldnt stay without it. Now she is older than 2yrs and she still takes it to lull off to sleep while holding her favorite soft toy. It is nothing wrong to use it, as it comforst the baby. The only disadvantage is that sometimes the teeth may suffer a bit after prolonged use.
@Sir_bobby88 (8231)
• Singapore
28 Mar 10
No i would not use a pacifier for a baby because they will be over dependent on it to stay calm.
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
23 Nov 09
Hi, k. I would have to ask my aunts if I used to use a pacifier in my mouth as a baby. I would not remember this. I used pacifiers on all three of my kids. Their teeth came out perfect. It helps so much when they baby is still a newborn. It keeps the baby quiet at many times that it is needed. It really helped me a lot, especially with the whining and crying! I had to make sure that I took them all off of the pacifier by two years old. They did not want to give it up, and it was hard not letting them have it.. And they all have outgrown it... I just took my daughter off of it several months back, and she is doing fine without it.. She has her fussy moments, but she is able to do without her pacifier.
• United States
23 Nov 09
With my oldest daughter I used a pacifier and it worked miracles calming her down! It was one thing I made sure we had before we left the house. With my younger daughter she never really cared whether she had it or didn't so she never used one as much. I see no reason why not to try it and see if your baby likes it or not.
@chulce (1537)
• United States
23 Nov 09
Congratulations on the little one! Yes, I used a pacifier as a child and I used one with each of my children, however, I limited the use of the pacifier up until they were about 1 1/2 years old. One thing that I found out is that any longer than that use does result in some teeth positioning issues. I met a woman whose 4 year old was still sucking a pacifier and a huge gap between her two front teeth from it. The dentist had warned her about this but she still felt it necessary to allow her daugher to do so. I feel if you limit the amount of use, give the pacifier as a soothing method when you feel it is necessary, that is fine. Sometimes there isn't anything else that will work to calm an infant and as you stated the suckling of the pacifer does help to sooth them. Good Luck!
@Wahma60 (108)
• Philippines
28 Mar 10
All of my 5 children used pacifiers when they were less than 1 year old. Everything turned out well. None of them sucked thumbs.