Routine pacifier use in infants: pros and cons

Eidelman, Arthur I.

doi:10.1016/j.jped.2019.06.002

My Editorial "Routine pacifier use in infants: pros and cons," recently published in the March/April 2019 issue of Jornal de Pediatria,¹ highlighted the conflicting recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as opposed to the 10 Steps for Successful Breastfeeding advocated by the World Health Organization/United Nations Children Fund (WHO/UNICEF) regarding pacifier use. As noted, the AAP recommends routine use of pacifiers at sleep time once breastfeeding is established (usually by 3-4 weeks of age)² as opposed to the WHO/UNICEF categorical step 9 of the 10 Steps guideline, which stated: "Give no artificial teats or pacifiers to breastfeeding infants."³

It is important to note that, since my writing of the Editorial, the WHO/UNICEF 10 Steps program has been revised; step 9 now states "Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles, teats and pacifier".⁴

While not endorsing the routine use of pacifiers, this still somewhat unbalanced statement clearly retrenches from the previous categorical ban and is more consistent with the consensus (as noted in my Editorial) that the benefits of routine use of pacifiers in reducing the risk of SIDS and in enhancing a calming effect on infant behavior outweigh- any theoretical unproven risks.

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Please cite this article as: Eidelman AI. Routine pacifier use in infants: pros and cons. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2019;95:622.

References

¹ Eidelman AI. Routine pacifier use in infants: pros and cons. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2019;95:121-3.
² Moon RY. Task force on sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS and other sleep related infant deaths: evidence base for 2016 updated recommendations for a safe infant sleeping environment. Pediatrics. 2016;138, pii: e20162940.
³ Saadwh R, Akre J. Ten steps to successful breastfeeding: a summary of the rationale and scientific evidence. Birth. 1996;23:154-60.
⁴ Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. 10 steps to successful breastfeeding. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_breastfeeding-ten-steps.html [cited 29.05.19].
» https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_breastfeeding-ten-steps.html

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
28 Oct 2019
Date of issue
Sep-Oct 2019

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivative License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited and the work is not changed in any way.

[1] ¹ Eidelman AI. Routine pacifier use in infants: pros and cons. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2019;95:121-3.

[2] ² Moon RY. Task force on sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS and other sleep related infant deaths: evidence base for 2016 updated recommendations for a safe infant sleeping environment. Pediatrics. 2016;138, pii: e20162940.

[3] ³ Saadwh R, Akre J. Ten steps to successful breastfeeding: a summary of the rationale and scientific evidence. Birth. 1996;23:154-60.

[4] ⁴ Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. 10 steps to successful breastfeeding. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_breastfeeding-ten-steps.html [cited 29.05.19].
» https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_breastfeeding-ten-steps.html

Routine pacifier use in infants: pros and cons☆

References

Publication Dates

Routine pacifier use in infants: pros and cons^☆