My daughter is almost 3 yrs now, but just before she was born I checked out
all that garbage in the bottle, nipple & pacifier aisles.  As I recall, the
latex items had on their package that the item needed to be discarded &
replaced after 3 mos.  Now I am sure that this makes you buy more of their
product :-(  , but I thought I remembered something that the saliva (?),
breaks the material down?  Does this sound right?  I work with a lot of WIC
moms, & I always get strange looks when this is brought up.  I'm sure many
parents re-use nipples (artificial, that is!) and pacifiers for subsequent
children, or even pick them up from relatives or garage sales!! :-P

Sandy Arnold, BS, IBCLC
Bloomington, IN