Many thanks to all who answered Jan DeCoopman's survey. I thought you might like to know a few facts that we've sorted out so far. people who answered - 31 IBCLCs, 2 student LC, and 1 waiting for test results, 5 CLEs, 5 Childbirth educators, 16 La Leche League Leaders, 16 RNs, 8 BA, 11 BS (of which 7 are BSN), 3 MA, 1 almost MA, 3 MS, 1 MPH, 2 MEd, 2 PhD, 1 NP, 2 Dr., 1 Dentist, 1 pharmacist, 1 nutritionist. This adds up to more than 41 respondents, but some people have 2 or more degrees or jobs. Total years of experience amongst group of 40 - 537!! average years experience - 13.4 Hours worked per week in lactation - 779.5 for group of 35 working with m/b average hours worked per week - 22.27 (Personal note from Pat to the 2 people who are working 60 hours a week - get a life! You can't do it all!) 1 thought pacifiers were rarely beneficial, 10 thought they had both beneficial and negative results, 3 weren't sure and 23 thought pacifiers had a negative effect. Jan will report in with a synopsis of the rest of the info ASAP. The calming techniques listed were remarkably similar. There was pretty much universal agreement that pacifiers aren't needed prior to 4 weeks of age for the healthy full tern newborn and that if given, may cause problems. Jan is discussing whether or not the pacifier is a cause or a marker in her paper. Many of us see it as the cause of problems with suck and supply. This subject certainly needs more research. Pacifiers are pretty ubiquitous in US culture. I didn't really have time to do this, this week, but it has been fascinating. Thanks again. Pat Young in SNJ, USA