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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