pondering pacifiers
Jul. 26th, 2005 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chhotiiJust very recently I have been giving Sophia a pacifier now and then. The word "pacifier" is somewhat a misnomer, I don't give it to her to shut her up; babies should have their needs attended to when they cry, and it doesn't work anyway. I have 3 motivations: 1) the hope that if she gets used to sucking on this kind of rubber nipple, she will start sucking on a bottle; 2) to frustrate her attempts to put things in her mouth that I let her play with with her hands but would prefer that she not mouth; and 3) she really likes the pacifier.
Lots of parents give babies pacifiers all the time, they've been doing it for a long time, and nobody alleges that it does any harm-- other than trouble getting a newborn started with breastfeeding, but we are way past that point now; and possibly crooked teeth, doubtless fixable with braces. Even Dr. Sears, the biggest champion of doing things the hard way to make parenting a more "natural" experience, doesn't seem to object to pacifiers.
Queries in my mind, though:
1. If a baby sucks on a pacifier all day, when do they get to babble? How are they going to practice speech sounds?
2. So babies put things into their mouths to learn about textures and 3D shapes and the properties of materials, I guess. Is anything lost when they can't do that? Like, do babies with pacifiers not grow up to be materials engineers?
3. Babies swallow a lot of air when sucking on pacifiers. Sophia seems old enough to burp herself, but this is generally problematic for babies. Wouldn't pacifiers lead to a crankier baby overall because of the gas?
Lots of parents give babies pacifiers all the time, they've been doing it for a long time, and nobody alleges that it does any harm-- other than trouble getting a newborn started with breastfeeding, but we are way past that point now; and possibly crooked teeth, doubtless fixable with braces. Even Dr. Sears, the biggest champion of doing things the hard way to make parenting a more "natural" experience, doesn't seem to object to pacifiers.
Queries in my mind, though:
1. If a baby sucks on a pacifier all day, when do they get to babble? How are they going to practice speech sounds?
2. So babies put things into their mouths to learn about textures and 3D shapes and the properties of materials, I guess. Is anything lost when they can't do that? Like, do babies with pacifiers not grow up to be materials engineers?
3. Babies swallow a lot of air when sucking on pacifiers. Sophia seems old enough to burp herself, but this is generally problematic for babies. Wouldn't pacifiers lead to a crankier baby overall because of the gas?
