Will Pacifiers Ruin Baby's Sleep?
Pacifier, binky, bubba…whatever you may call them, I’m sure you – like many other parents – have thought this question before: Are pacifiers okay for my baby to use?
I absolutely used pacifiers with my littles when they were babies. They were super helpful in getting them to sleep. But make no mistake, pacifiers are a sleep prop. So, does that make them bad? Not necessarily. Here’s what you should know.
The “bad”
Now, I don't want you to get caught up in the negatives, but I do want you to have the full picture. (And, by the way, these negatives go for thumb sucking as well.)
Pacifiers can cause problems with breastfeeding.
The reason this usually occurs is because sometimes we misread feeding cues and give our little a pacifier instead. When this goes on, mom’s milk supply can be impacted negatively. So we want to make sure when baby is giving you feeding cues, you’re feeding them.
Pacifiers can lead to poor lip resting posture. The optimal resting posture for a mouth is to have the tongue up against the roof of the mouth with the mouth closed and lips together. Pacifiers hold the lips apart and can hold the tongue down, which can impact mouth and lip posture over time.
Pacifiers can impact language development. Here’s why this happens: Imagine you’re reading a book with your baby, and you say, “Oh look, I see the cow.” If they’ve got a pacifier in their mouth, your little might respond with, “Mmmm.” They’re not able to respond with words (or animal sounds, in this case). With pacifiers, there are fewer opportunities to respond with actual talk or language. Even if their response was just “wow” or “moo,” that's still an opportunity to say something.
Pacifiers are a sleep prop. Yes, pacifiers can absolutely help your little calm down and get to sleep, but if they use it for sleep too often, it can actually make sleep more difficult in the long run. Sleep props are anything external that a little one needs to fall asleep (like feeding, rocking, holding, and so on). If the pacifier falls out of their mouth at all during sleep, their brains register that something’s different, and they wake up – and aren’t able to get back to sleep without it. See the problem?
Keep in mind, a lot of the negative effects of pacifiers come from prolonged use. So here’s the good news…
The “good”
Pacifiers aren’t all bad though! The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents consider offering pacifiers to infants one month or older so that they can establish feeding first at the onset of sleep to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Pacifiers can help babies produce serotonin. There are some studies that have found that a baby’s body will produce serotonin when they suck on a pacifier, which helps regulate breathing and sleep.
Pacifiers have also been studied and recommended for pain relief – usually in the NICU.
Pacifiers can help with GI issues. For some families, they’re a necessary tool for giving baby some comfort. When babies suck on pacifiers, their bodies make extra saliva, which can help if they happen to have reflux, GI, or digestion issues.
And so, for a family that has a really uncomfortable baby or a baby who needs sleep, using a pacifier is totally okay. Pacifiers can be helpful and nobody should feel like a failure if they give their baby a pacifier.
The addicting
If your little regularly uses a pacifier, you’ve probably noticed they’re a bit addicted to it, right? Weaning your little off a pacifier can be a real challenge; it’s a hard habit to break for some kids. Well, the brain is designed to reward us; and pacifiers (or thumb sucking) send all of these good-feeling hormones to our little’s brain and it becomes a motivation and cycle.
So, your little’s, uh, let’s just say it – addicted – to their pacifier (or thumb), and it’s affecting their sleep…now what? You can start the weaning process by limiting your little’s pacifier use during the day. Work on (slowly) phasing it out completely during the day, and only offer it at naptime and bedtime. Then, once that is going well, you can eventually phase it out of naptime and then bedtime.
And if your little one is really struggling with sleep – with or without the pacifier – we can help! Schedule a FREE 15-minute phone consultation with us now! (Or drop us your questions on Instagram – @healthylittlesleepers!)
All this amazing info came from our Healthy Little Village Expert Series! We’re tapping experts to share their wealth of knowledge with our HLS community and we’ve got another great talk happening this month!