The pacifier has always had its supporters and detractors, some seeing it as a gag preventing the child from expressing himself when others systematically prescribe it. The English call it outright “Pacifier”. It therefore has strengths that should not be overlooked. The baby’s need to suck goes back to his life in utero, when around the 10th week, he is sometimes surprised by the echo sucking his thumb. 80% of children have a pacifier.
It reassures and soothes the newborn
Suckling meets a physiological need of the newborn. For nine months, in his mother’s womb, he immersed himself in the reassuring rhythm of his heartbeats and his breathing, all in a safe environment. At birth, it is during feedings, snuggled up against his mother, that he finds these sensations. He will then combine suction and appeasement. The pacifier thus teaches him to comfort himself alone and to calm himself, since through it (or with the thumb), he finds a reassuring substitute for his mother, apart from food intake. And when the pacifier (or thumb) and blanket are associated, the toddler then lets himself slide into a space of reverie and creativity …
The pacifier is good for your health!
Associated with other means of prevention, the pacifier would be a factor of protection of the sudden death of the infant. According to a study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2006, one case of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome would be prevented for every 2 babies who have a pacifier. The object would prevent the infant from suffocating if he found himself with his face flat on the mattress. Sucking from a pacifier would even have a small analgesic effect (against pain) because it promotes the secretion of endomorphin, the hormone of well-being. But when the child is lying down, we remove the pacifier clip – the cord of which could strangle him during his sleep – and we put several pacifiers in his bed to allow him to catch one, if he loses the one. that he had in his mouth. Do not forget to regularly check the condition of the nipple because small pieces of rubber can disintegrate.
It should not be systematic …
Just because your baby is crying doesn’t mean you have to give him a pacifier at all costs. We do not confuse: offer the pacifier to meet a need for sucking and put it in his mouth to silence him! Crying for the infant is the royal way to express oneself. We must therefore try to decipher the nature of his cries and ask whether it is us or the pacifier he is asking for. Because the risk would be to create an addiction, with awakenings during the night when it escapes him. Is he hungry? Does he need to be rocked? To be appeased by soft words? If baby keeps the pacifier, it is because he feels this need to suck, if he rejects it, it is because he is looking for something else.
We wean it gently, without pressure
We have never seen an adult with a pacifier in his mouth, that should reassure us, ”remarks the psychologist! Gradually, our child will abandon his pacifier. Both because he will want to fill his mouth with words, but also because he will want to grow up… Leaving diapers is part of this same desire. In principle, this need disappears when entering school because the child will do as the group he then integrates. To help him to part with it, we can gently ask him to put his pacifier down when he talks to us: “You are saying something to me, but I would understand you better if you took off your pacifier”. We congratulate him: “As you are older, you slept without your pacifier during your nap. “We can also give meaning to this stop:” Without your pacifier, it’s easier to play with your friends, to sing in class … “When the sucking continues, ask him to leave the pacifier in the bed by day, he will find her in the evening, finding the right words, without rushing him, while making him participate in this stop.
Does it distort the palate?
“Teats and thumbs, if they are kept too long, eventually cause tooth displacement,” notes Dr Christophe Lequart, dental surgeon *. But with the pacifier, especially if it is an orthodontic model, there is less bone deformation in the jaw than with the thumb, which is harder and wider, which presses more on the palate. However, I advise to make the child lose this habit around 2 or 3 years.
* Spokesman of the UFSBD (French Union for Oral Health): www.ufsbd.fr
Books that can help
“Y en a marre des tototes”, Dr Catherine Dolto and Colline Faure-Poirée. Illustrations by Frédérick Mansot, Gallimard Jeunesse
”Give me back my totottes!”, Fanny Joly, Fred Benaglia, Gallimard Jeunesse
Author: Ève Piorowicz, clinical psychologist,