Is it ok for a baby to sleep with a pacifier?

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If you are a parent of a baby or a young child, you might be wondering about pacifiers. As a sleep consultant, I get questions like &#;is it okay for a baby to sleep with a pacifier?&#; and &#;when should my baby STOP sleeping with a pacifier&#; all the time!

There&#;s SO much conflicting information out there that it can feel overwhelming!

In this blog article, I will be talking about why pacifiers are so fantastic, when you should introduce it to your little one, and when you should get rid of it. I will also be sharing an amazing insight from my pediatric dentist, Dr. Lori Goldenberg.

Are pacifiers good or bad for sleep?

Generally speaking, I&#;m a HUGE advocate of introducing a pacifier to a baby. Here&#;s why:

Pacifiers help calm fussy babies

Pacifiers are great for newborn babies because they help these little babies calm and sooth by activating their &#;calming reflex&#;.  This reflex is triggered when a baby sucks on a pacifier, their thumb, a bottle or a breast. The repetitive sucking motion helps to stimulate the nerves in the roof of the mouth, which sends signals to the brain to release calming hormones such as serotonin and endorphins.  

This calming effect can be particularly helpful for newborns, who are adjusting to life outside of the womb and may feel overwhelmed by new sensations and experiences.  When a newborn feels relaxed and destressed, it&#;s much easier for them to fall sleep peacefully.

This is why introducing a pacifier to a newborn first thing is a good option for calming a fussy baby!

The use of a pacifier helps reduce the risk of SIDS

The use of a pacifier is also known to decrease the risk of SIDS.  Pacifiers do this by promoting a safe sleeping position on their backs and by reducing the likelihood of accidental suffocation or choking.

When a baby falls asleep with a pacifier in their mouth, their tongue is positioned forward, which helps to keep their airway open. This position also encourages the baby to breathe through their nose, which is believed to be a safer way of breathing during sleep.

Additionally, pacifiers may also discourage the baby from rolling over onto their stomach, which is a known risk factor for SIDS.    

Pacifiers are wonderful sleep tools for older babies and toddlers

The benefits of pacifiers are not only for younger babies. The pacifier continues to be a wonderful sleep tool for older babies and toddlers because it&#;s inherently calming and soothing. Pacifiers can provide comfort and a sense of security to a child. Sucking on a pacifier can help soothe a baby or toddler, and the familiar sensation can help them relax and fall asleep more easily.

The main time a pacifier can become a sleep problem

While pacifiers are usually wonderful sleep tools for newborn babies, older infants and toddlers, they can sometimes create big sleep problems with younger infants.

When you have a younger infant who:

• heavily relies on their pacifier to fall asleep,
• is aware of when their pacifier falls out of their mouth;
• and they don&#;t yet have the fine motor skills to put it back in their mouths on their own,

you could be faced with LOTS of unnecessary night wakings.

This is exactly what happened with Eliana when she turned 4 months old and went through the 4 month sleep regression. At this point, she was putting herself to sleep completely on her own with the pacifier. Except that she started waking up as soon as she realized it fell out of her mouth, relying on me to reinsert it&#;which was every 90 minutes ALL NIGHT LONG.

This left me NO choice but to remove the pacifier from bedtime and nighttime and teach her how to fall asleep without it (which is VERY possible when need be!)

**If you and your baby are both &#;falling on your face&#; exhausted, possibly because you&#;re stuck reinserting that pacifier ALL NIGHT LONG, and you&#;re feeling ready to get your baby sleeping amazingly&#;but you have no idea where to start, check out my free sleep masterclass here (or click the image below to sign up)**.

Is it okay for a toddler to sleep with a pacifier?

Generally speaking, if your little one is over 12 months of age and is using a pacifier for sleep, it is ABSOLUTELY okay for your baby to sleep with a pacifier.

In fact, I don&#;t recommend eliminating pacifier use from the sleep equation until your child is at least 3 years of age. This is because toddlers often can&#;t understand (or care to understand) why this big change is happening. And they&#;re NOT going to be happy about it!

As a result, taking a pacifier away from a toddler can be a bumpy ride and REALLY impact their night sleep. This is especially the case when you&#;re taking away something that they rely so heavily on to fall asleep.

With older children (developmentally and emotionally), this transition is often easier. Not only are they mature enough to understand what you&#;re explaining to them, they can often be incentivized with rewards charts. This allows the transition to go MUCH more smoothly for this age range.

That being said, we obviously don&#;t want to be compromising your kid&#;s teeth. Always speak to your dentist and listen to their personalized advice for your little one&#;s.

The story of my two girls and their pacifiers

Lori has been our dentist since Emunah was just 2 years-old. When she was 3 years-old, we got rid of her pacifiers at her dental checkup and she got a toy in exchange. Everything, for the most part, went seamlessly.

We had the same plan for Eliana, who&#;s just 2 years younger than Emunah. But when it was time to take Eliana to the dentist, I had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that she wasn&#;t ready for this transition just yet.

See, Eliana as a 3-year-old was still very much a toddler. She was still throwing lots of temper tantrums, was very impulsive, and didn&#;t seem to understand the concept of a rewards chart. I knew that taking away her pacifier at this stage would be VERY challenging.

I took Eliana to Lori, explained my fears, and asked if it&#;s possible to keep the pacifier for another six months. Lori saw that her teeth were fine and that we could keep the pacifier for longer. Phew.

Because in that 6 month period, Eliana developed and matured quite a bit. She graduated that toddler phase and became a true preschooler. When it was time to go back to the dentist 6 months later, she was more ready to give up her pacifier. As a result, this transition went fairly smoothly!

An INCREDIBLY insightful piece of advice from my dentist

When I reminded Lori of this story as she was speaking to my Sleep Bible members, she made a very insightful comment:

&#;If her teeth were fine at age 3 despite using the pacifier, she was likely only using it for sleep. I&#;m assuming you weren&#;t offering it during the day for soothing purposes.&#; She was 100% right. I&#;ve always made a concerted effort to keep the pacifier in my baby&#;s crib as a sleep tool only. And because I limited her pacifier usage to sleep only, it meant Eliana could sleep with it for longer without compromising her teeth!

To sum things up

To answer the question &#;is it okay for a baby to sleep with a pacifier?&#;, the answer is absolutely YES. The pacifier is a wonderful sleep tool for newborns, infants and toddlers. As long as your little one doesn&#;t overuse the pacifier during the day, you&#;re good!

If there is any advice I can give you to maximize your little one&#;s pacifier usage without compromising teeth, it&#;s to limit pacifier usage for sleep purposes only. If your child is using the pacifier more frequently, chances are that it will begin affecting your little one&#;s teeth well before he turns 3. This means you&#;ll have to get rid of it sooner anyways!

Even though there are tons of children who get rid of their pacifiers by age 2, it&#;s often a VERY challenging process. It&#;s usually a much less bumpy process if you can keep their pacifier until age 3-3.5 without compromising their teeth.

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Come join my FREE Facebook community group where you can get your sleep questions answered by experts, get access to free sleep tips and regular Q&As, and where you can connect with other sleep-loving parents of little ones! If you have a newborn, baby, toddler or preschooler and you want to learn more about establishing healthy sleep habits for your little one, I&#;d love to help! Can&#;t wait to personally connect with you there &#; 

Other articles and resources on baby and child sleep

The truth about your teething baby and their sleep
Why settling for mediocre or &#;good enough&#; sleep could backfire
The latest research studies on the safety of sleep training
How to know when your baby is ready to drop night feeds
Day-night confusion- how to teach your newborn when it&#;s daytime and when it&#;s nighttime

As a new parent, you are faced with an avalanche of questions and decisions that you probably have never thought of before. All of these decisions feel far weightier because they directly affect your newborn baby.

Adding to the confusion is the myriad of parenting methods, theories, books, and well-meaning Facebook friends who always seem to have all of the answers.

One of the areas of intense confusion is the pacifier, which is also known as a &#;dummy.&#; Infants are born with a powerful need to suck. Even in the womb, babies have been observed sucking on their fingers and toes. As such, pacifiers, in one form or another, have been around for thousands of years. The modern form of the pacifier was first introduced, however, by a druggist in New York City in (source).

In fact, the use of a pacifier is actually a very hotly-debated topic. This can leave exhausted new parents wondering what&#;s best for their newborn. Some of the questions you might be asking are:

• When can I give my baby a pacifier?

• What are the pros and cons of pacifiers?

• Can babies sleep with a pacifier?

In this post, we will take a detailed look at the above questions and answer them using evidence from scientific studies.

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When is it ok to introduce a pacifier?

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If you are wondering when to introduce a pacifier to your baby, you are probably worried about your child having trouble breastfeeding. The shape of a pacifier is different than the shape of a real nipple and can certainly create confusion for an infant who is trying to learn how to latch onto the breast for milk.

It&#;s simply an issue of muscle memory. According to this article the physical action babies use to suck on a pacifier is different than the physical action to extract milk from the breast. The same can be said for using a bottle. If a mother wants to breastfeed, it&#;s best if the pacifier stays on the shelf while the baby is learning how to get milk from the breast.

• For babies who drink from a bottle:  You can introduce a pacifier at any age.

• For babies who are breastfeeding and don&#;t have any trouble latching:  3-4 weeks.

• For babies who are breastfeeding and DO have trouble latching:  4+ weeks or whenever the baby has mastered breastfeeding.

The key is this: establish a pattern of high-quality breast feeding before you introduce a pacifier.

As a new mother, it&#;s also important that your baby gets lots of milk. However, it is also easy to assume at times that your hungry baby is actually just crying to be soothed - it can be tempting to pop in the pacifier so you can get a much-deserved break! The problem with this is that your baby might be soothing because of the pacifier, but his real need - hunger - isn&#;t being properly met. Be careful, if a pacifier is introduced too early, it may cause you to accidentally cut back on the much-needed milk a baby is asking for.

Remember: Only use a pacifier to soothe - never use it as a means to push off or ignore feeding.

When to start using a pacifier if baby is premature?

It&#;s critical that premature babies begin oral feeding as soon as possible. In , this study found that premature babies who were given a pacifier were the quickest to begin oral feeding. Another interesting observation from this study also discovered that having premature babies listen to lullaby music aided in earlier oral feeding patterns.

Regardless of what was found in the above study, you should always consult your doctor regarding the issue of pacifier introduction with a premature baby.

What are the Pros and Cons of pacifiers?

There are certainly clear advantages and disadvantages to to using a pacifier. Ultimately, it&#;s up to you to decide if you will use a pacifier. The following list can help you make a more informed decision.

What are the pros for using a pacifier?

• It&#;s better than sucking a thumb.  Babies will find a way to suck on something. Introducing a pacifier is actually preferable to the habit of sucking on a thumb or finger. Thumb sucking can lead to dental problems if the sucking doesn&#;t stop before the age of two. It&#;s much easier to remove a pacifier than it is to remove a thumb!

• It can teach a baby to self-soothe.  For parents, one of the most rewarding moments within the first year is when the baby falls asleep on her own. A pacifier can help train your child to soothe without your physical presence. 

• Pacifiers can help with traveling by plane.  Have you ever forcefully yawned when taking off or landing in an airplane to &#;pop&#; your ears? Pacifiers can help achieve the same effect and will protect your infant&#;s delicate ears during takeoff and landing. 

• It can be used as a tool to help soothe your baby.  Sometimes babies are just fussy. You&#;ve gone through your checklist: clean diaper, full belly, plenty of sleep, and your baby is still crying. A pacifier can help simply calm your baby down, which can calm your nerves as well! 

• Pacifiers can help reduce the risk of SIDS.  Multiple studies have shown a correlation between pacifier use and a lower risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) (source). The reasons why pacifiers help reduce the risk of SIDS is still unclear, but research is pretty clear that giving your baby a pacifier at night can help. In fact, there are a number of steps you can take as a parent to help reduce the risk of SIDS. Here is another resource if you would like to learn more about reducing the risk of SIDS - download this ebook for free!
  

What are the disadvantages of using a pacifier?

• A pacifier can interfere with breastfeeding:  As we mentioned earlier, one of the biggest objections to the pacifier is what&#;s known as &#;nipple confusion.&#; For babies who are still learning how to breastfeed, a pacifier can prove to be a significant barrier to learning. 

• A pacifier can create tooth issues:  If your baby is still sucking a pacifier after 24 months, then the continued use can cause teeth to grow in crooked. 

• A pacifier can lead to an increased risk of oral candida:  Candida is a naturally occurring organism in the human mouth but can sometimes grow more than normal. When a pacifier isn&#;t cleaned, it can become infected with microorganisms that can lead to an increase in this condition. If you decide to use a pacifier, make sure to keep it clean!

• It can be difficult to separate the child from a pacifier:  If a child has been using a pacifier to self-soothe for years, it can be difficult for them to separate. 

• A pacifier can increase the risk of ear infections:  According to this study, there is a strong correlation between a higher rate of ear infections and the use of a pacifier. The study concludes that due to other non-measurable contributing factors, a parent doesn&#;t need to limit pacifier use unless their baby begins having ear infections.

Key Takeaway: It&#;s up to you as a parent whether or not to give your child a pacifier. There is no clear right or wrong answer. Follow your instincts, watch and listen to the needs of your baby...and yourself.

Can Babies Sleep with a Pacifier?

Yes, you can safely give your baby a pacifier at bedtime. To make it as safe as possible, though, make sure to follow these guidelines:

• DON&#;T attach a string to the pacifier as this can present a strangling risk.

• DON&#;T give your baby a pacifier at night while he or she is learning how to breastfeed.

• Make sure to keep the pacifier clean using hot water to disinfect. 

• Use the right size of pacifier for your child&#;s age.

• DON&#;T coat the pacifier with anything.

• Only use 1-piece pacifiers.

• Ensure the pacifier has breathing holes in the guard.

 

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