Pacifier Use and Breast-Feeding

Rates of exclusive breast-feeding were similar among infants who were offered pacifiers and those who were not.

Pacifiers are associated with reduced risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Therefore, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) now recommends that parents should consider introducing pacifiers to infants at nap time and bedtime; for breast-fed infants, the AAP recommends delaying pacifier use until breast-feeding is well established. To determine whether pacifier use influences breast-feeding, researchers randomized 1021 full-term, healthy infants in Argentina to a pacifier or no-pacifier group at age 2 weeks. Breast-feeding was well established in all infants, and all mothers intended to breast-feed for at least 3 months. Parents in the pacifier group received six pacifiers and a written pacifier guide. Parents in the no-pacifier group r…

Reviewing Author

Howard Bauchner, MD

Disclosures

Grant / research supportHuman Resources and Services Administration; NIH; NIH-NHLBI; USDA; GlaxoSmithKline

Editorial boardsArchives of Disease in Childhood (Editor-in-Chief)

Howard Bauchner, MD

Disclosures

Grant / research supportHuman Resources and Services Administration; NIH; NIH-NHLBI; USDA; GlaxoSmithKline

Editorial boardsArchives of Disease in Childhood (Editor-in-Chief)