When to start using pacifier
Baby Friendly: When To Use Pacifiers (Courtney Barnes, MD)
And it's not so much that pacifiers are bad,
because actually, pacifiers decrease the risk
for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,
so we want moms to use pacifiers with their babies.
But initially we want moms that are planning
to breastfeed, to nurse as much as possible,
because it's that frequent nursing
that brings in a really good milk supply.
And so, babies are sort of built to cluster feed.
They eat frequently, and a couple times in a row,
for a little while, and then they'll take a little break
and that's normal, but moms, they're tired,
they're emotional, and women just always feel like
if something's going wrong,
it must be their fault.
That's just, I think, how mothers are.
And so it's really about saying no,
your body is doing what it's supposed to,
your baby is doing what your baby is supposed to,
and this frequent nursing is to bring in
a really great milk supply.
And so the pacifiers can sometimes
get in the way of that.
So we, really, for our term babies that are healthy,
we try to avoid pacifiers until breastfeeding
is going well and then we do encourage their use.
(lively music)
