*Without* Sabotaging Breastfeeding
Jul 07 '01
The Bottom Line Keep it as a last alternative... if you have gone through one mother, two breasts and at least ten fingers, I think you deserve a break!
We all see these cute little babies... in the nursery after birth, in strollers, everywhere... plugged up with a pacifier and unplugged from mom. They are quiet. They seem content. But are they?
Pacifiers are like anything else... great when used in moderation, right? Wrong. A baby wants to suck. A baby *needs* to suck. And when you are breastfeeding a baby, that sucking, although it seems constant in the beginning, serves a purpose: it helps you produce more milk and keeps you and your baby connected.
When you use a pacifier, there are so many things that can happen (and this is not from an occasional thing, mind you, but from constantly relying on a pacifier)... when a baby cries, he knows his mother is coming to comfort him -- until he gets this rubber thing in his mouth, and after that response quite a few times, he will get the idea that crying does not equal comfort and there goes the mother-baby trust and connection.
In addition to that (which I think is pretty harsh), it may cause your baby to become allergic to rubber or silicone, it may create unnatural muscle development in the mouth, and it stimulates incorrect parts of the mouth. Granted, there are more reasons, which you can research, but for me, this is more than enough.
The easiest thing to do -- don't buy a pacifier at all. Then, you won't be tempted to use it. Babies are not babies forever, and my dears, this [sucking] too shall pass.
The only way to use a pacifier safely (and most breastfed babies don't like them anyway) is to keep it as a last alternative when then mother/breasts/fingers are worn out. And if you have gone through one mother, two breasts and at least ten fingers, I think you deserve a break!
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Epinions.com ID:
thebestfedbaby
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Member: Summer McFarland
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
WAHM to three beautiful girls, web designer, ecommerce owner, AP with loving discipline advocate.
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