Pacifier or no?

[leylah]

Hi, my 4 mo daughter Parker has a moderate tongue thrust. She is nursing fine and she is constantly sucking on her thumb and fingers. Should I get her a pacifier? I have read that pacifiers are bad for babies with DS, but then I have also read that they are good for babies with DS. Unfortunately, even though we are in Early Steps, we don't have a speech therapist that we can ask so I was hoping I could get some opinions here. Thanks.

[momofrussell]

I think part of it is personal preference too. EVEN if someone told me that a pacifier would have been good for Russell, I wouldn't have used one. I didn't use them on any of my children only because I personally don't like them. I don't use baby swings either LOL.

But if you are for them, and they say it is good, then I say GO FOR IT...

They say, if you do give a baby a pacifier, make sure they are weaned while still a baby... so they don't get TOO attached.

Good luck!

A.

[jeannette]

MeKyah(ds) started early on sucking her tongue. We tried a pacifier when she was in the hospital to strenghten her sucking motion. She used it on occasions but never much at all. She chose her tongues over the pacifier. She is now 10months and still suck her tongue but mostly when she's sleepy.


Jeannette

[donnita]

Cassandra used a pacifier up until she was 18 months old. I don't think it hurt or really helped any with tongue thrust, but it sure kept her quiet in church!

Donnita

[meghans_mom]

i was an anti pacifier mom and when Meghan was 6 weeks old she had her EI eval...and both the people who came said GO and get that kid a pacifier it's so good for her!
so i did, and i don't think it helped...and then it took forever to get the stupid thing away from her (we only used it at bedtime/naptime).
but maybe it did help, I really have no idea :-)

ask your other therapists what they think...the 2 who saw MM originally were a SpEd and PT...but have worked w/ our kids for 25-30 yrs each, so I totally trusted their judgement (still do, LOL!)
laurie

[laurasnowbird]

I am not an advocate of pacifiers, and never used them with any of my kids. That was mainly a personal preference, I just don't like them at all!

Moving on to more objective opinions, there have been numerous studies that have linked pacifier use to increased risk of ear infections.

www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/children/09/05/ear.infections/

Of course we know that our kids are at increased risk of ear infections because of the DS, in fact the link below lists the risk factors.
www.drpaul.com/library/15SEP2000.html

The original study that published the results was this:

Journal Article Citation:
Niemela M., et al. Pacifier as a risk factor for acute otitis media: a randomized controlled trial of parental counseling. Pediatrics 2000 Sep 106(3): 483-88.

This is another study on the same subject:'

www.everybody.co.nz/research/child_pacifiers.htm

All things considered, there are lots of ways to get our kids oral-motor stimulation, and it seems that pacifier increases their already elevated risk of ear infection.

There are bottles that help to reduce the tongue thrust, but it sounds like you are breast-feeding. (?) Let me know if you want more info about the bottles.

Good luck! Laura

[leylah]

Thanks for the input. I don't really like them too much either and didn't use one with my son, I just was interested to see if anyone had any real positive stories for using them. I've pretty much figured that she's getting something out of sucking on her fingers (anywhere from 1-8 of them at once!), and it's much less likely she will loose any of those fingers, which I couldn't say for a pacifier. Thanks, I think we will go without and feel good about it!

[momofrussell]

Wow, no one ever told us that a paci would be good or NOT good for Russell. It is so interesting the opinions of our therapists LOL!

A.

[shellk]

Binky's as we call them have never been something that my kids have liked..Kourtney is a thumb sucker that we are trying to break and I actually have and ultrasound pic of her in the belly sucking her thumb LOL..Gross as ut sounds she has gone through 2 thumb nails and now she only sucks her thumb when she is sleepy..If she will take one then I would give it to her.



Michele

[christie]

CHRISTOPHER is 11 and way back when in his EI years OMG one of the first things our Speech Therapist said was NOOOOOOO Pacifiers Hmmm well he was already using one Chris loved it at night time and nap time, only times he wanted it. K, I will be honest with your guys here, we were Closet Pacifier users LOL What can I tell you I needed my sleep Chris was just like Kodi OMG he had 3 as she did and did the exact same thing, was really very cute He would suck on one and have one in each hand and bop himself on the nose first with the right hand and then with the left hand till he fell a sleep. I kid you not Kodi did the exact same thing Kodi gave up her pacifiers on her own BUT till this day she will tell you a long story as to how she lost them, Hmmmm Chris on the other hand we had to take them away he was getting to old and to be very honest because his speech was not that great I was starting to feel guilty because I let him use one One night I just said to Colin we have to take it away, actually was soo sad he would ask for it sooo nicely but he got off and only took a few days till he gave up asking.

All I can say is Chris has been to many many private speech therapist and they ALL said NOOOOO to pacifiers, Hmmmm

Just wanted to add that most recently I have had Chris for a complete work up at a DS Clinic and the Doc there says back when Chris was born the reccomendation was speech therapy but today he pushes oral motor more then speech and he also says he would tell a new mom to push sticking fingers and such in the childs mouth from the get go. Sooo things and ideas change all the time.

Did the pacifier hurt or help Chris, who the heck knows, just wanted to share and Man does it feel good to get our secret out LOLOL

CC ~

[meghans_mom]

not that it matters either way, and like i said -- we only used the paci at bedtime/naps but Meghan NEVER had an ear infection until she was almost 2 years old!
-L.

[MaggiesMom]

I used pacis with both my children because I have a friend who's teenager still sucks her thumb! I didn't want to fight that battle.

We have a ST who says it's not unusal for adults to wake up with wet thumbs who were thumb suckers as children! LOL I thought that was a little wild. But, interesting.

My therory is it's easier to throw out the paci than a kid's thumb. It worked for Matthew and when ever my dh decides HE can live without Maggie's paci at night, she'll lose hers too. He is the one that has to put her to bed, so he doesn't want to deal with it. I say get over it! LOL

Anyway, I nursed Maggie till she was two because EVERYONE told me it was the best thing for her. Her ST also said that any mouth exercise we can get her to do would be great. So why not pacis?

I know everyone has their "Thing" about thumbs or pacis. I say do what you are comfortable with!

Take care.

Robin M