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Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:43:28 EDT |
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Lucy has asked about pacifiers in the hospital and what their possible
effects on breastfeeding babies might be. Wolf and Glass in their book "Feeding
and Swallowing Disorders in Infancy" discuss this issue and I think this might
be where you read about the potential problems with the Nuk pacifier. They
describe this type of artificial nipple and pacifier as contributing to problems
with the central grooving of the tongue and possible interference with
normal sucking mechanics. They go on to say that pacifiers with balls at the tip
should be avoided for infants with many types of feeding problems.
There are several pacifiers on the market that are vanilla scented and made
for both preterm and term infants. The Gumdrop pacifier by Hawaii Medical is
vanilla scented as well as the Soothie pacifier by First Years. It is
interesting to read what parents say in their evaluations of these pacifiers. Most
state how wonderful they are and that their baby will only accept that
pacifier and no other. This leads me to believe that these babies may have had their
first experience with addiction. These vanilla scented pacifiers are usually
bought by the handful so that the baby is never without one. Once baby
becomes addicted to sucking on this pacifier, one wonders where breastfeeding
comes in. When Ross Products peddled their vanilla scented pacifiers to hospitals
I wound up with numerous babies have sucking difficulties at the breast. I
resorted to having the mother bathe her chest with vanilla scented soap to
recreate the olfactory environment the baby seemed dependent upon. One clever
baby laughed at my attempts to fool him into breastfeeding by recreating his
favorite smell. I had the mother drink glasses of milk with vanilla flavoring
poured into them to cause her milk to taste like vanilla. It worked quite well
and the father called me telling me the whole house smelled like vanilla!
Some hospitals do not provide pacifiers to any babies. They advise mothers
ahead of time to bring their own pacifier if they think they want the baby to
have one. Other hospitals have policies that state a nurse or lactation
consultant will observe the next breastfeeding after pacifier use to assure that
the pacifier has not interfered with the baby's ability to transfer colostrum.
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA
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