Choosing what age to give your baby a pacifier is a balancing act. Introduce the pacifier too early, and you could interfere with breast-feeding or cause your baby to gain weight too slowly. Introduce it too late, and your baby may refuse it entirely. Although pacifiers are not necessary, they do help soothe babies, offering comfort in many situations and possibly reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, according to the Babycare Advice website.
Introducing a Pacifier Too Early
Introducing a pacifier too early can interfere with breast-feeding. Because the way your baby sucks on a pacifier is different from the way he needs to suck on a breast to get milk, you should not introduce a pacifier until after breast-feeding is well established. For most babies, this is after he is at least 1 month old.
If you are bottle-feeding your baby, then you can introduce a pacifier earlier. However, you should still wait until your baby is gaining weight well. Sucking on a pacifier can use valuable calories that your baby needs, and it can extend time too long between feedings for a newborn. Talk to your pediatrician about the right time to introduce a pacifier to your bottle-fed baby.
Introducing a Pacifier Too Late
Not all babies need pacifiers, so it's not necessary to introduce a pacifier at all. However, if your baby has a strong need for non-nutritive sucking, then a pacifier can help prevent overfeeding if he's bottle-fed and help prevent nipple soreness if you're breast-feeding. If you wait too long to introduce the pacifier, he might start sucking on his thumb instead, or he might simply refuse the pacifier and insist on the breast or a bottle. According to Dr. B.D. Schmitt, author of "Your Child's Health," you should introduce a pacifier before your baby is 2 months old if you want to prevent thumb sucking.
Peak Age for Pacifier Use
Most babies have the strongest need to suck between the ages of 1 month old and 4 months old. After that age, the need to suck gradually decreases. Even during the peak age for non-nutritive sucking, don't use the pacifier as a first response every time your child cries. Never use a pacifier as a substitute for feeding when your baby is hungry and find other ways of soothing your baby so he isn't dependent on the pacifier.
Best Age to Wean from the Pacifier
Extended pacifier use can interfere with speech development and can cause overbite. Using a pacifier is also associated with a higher risk of ear infections in late infancy. For these reasons, most experts recommend that you stop pacifier use when your baby is between 6 and 12 months old. However, if your child has become very attached to the pacifier, you may need to wait till he is older and able to choose to give up the pacifier.
