Now, first off, let me say that I fully realize that I loved this article solely because it makes me feel better about my two-year-old still sucking his pacifier. This morning, I saw this article on Yahoo News about children who use pacifiers. The article states if you clean your child’s pacifier by sucking on it and returning it to the child, you are building up their immune systems. At 18 months, those children were less likely to have asthma or eczema.
I have been told my our pediatrician to try to wean Mayhem off the pacifier. That was about 8 months ago. Since then, it seems that he has been MORE attached to the pacifier than he was previously. I, of course, blame myself for allowing him to have the pacifier when he was sick throughout most of the winter in order to comfort him. Now, when I tell him, “Leave it in the crib.” I get a scrunched up face, a ‘no’, or blatant disregard. When Daddy tells him to put it in the crib, of course he puts it right in there.
With my first child, I would have found this article disgusting. Little J wasn’t very interested in pacifiers, and still prefers sucking his thumb. That is an entirely separate article, and topic! I know that soon, I will have to get Mayhem completely off the pacifier- but for now, I’ll just enjoy the fact that there is a BENEFIT to pacifiers!
Did your children use pacifiers? Does this article surprise you?
laderamom 