Introduce a pacifier? Yes or no?

Pacifier, dummy or whatever you may call this little rubber helper, its usage is still widely controversial among parents, relatives, friends, friends of friends and even between doctors ...

Let's dig in and found out the holly truth and get our sanity back!

From pressure of parents, in-laws, relatives, doctors, or other well intentioned friends, neighbors and even some complete strangers (yes I know!), everyone has an opinion on it.

We know, having a baby can sometimes be challenging. Wheter you were planning on starting #sleeptraining your baby and let her/him suck to sooth herself or simply take a break and get other stuff done while your baby is peacefully sucking away. Don't feel guilty, #parenting is hard and taking good decisions even harder. So yes, we were saying: the pacifier...shall we give it a try?

The #pacifier has been around for way longer than you may think. Indeed the very first appareance of look-alike object was found during an archeological dig of a 3,000 year-old site in Italy! We assume that #parents were shaping some small animal figures themselves from any material available such as corn cobs, knotted rags dipped in honey or brandy, wooden beads, ivory, coral, or even animal bones. Eventually they will pierce a hole from which baby could suck some poppy seeds, any sugary liquid or hand-expressed breastmilk. Don't ask us about food hygiene and proper consevation here, babies were much stronger back then!

So interesting right? But how did the modern rubbery ones then arrived in our baby's #diaper bags, side bed table and pretty much all over the shops?

As manufacturing became prevalent at the beginning of the 20th century, companies started looking at other raw materials to replicate this tiny rocky comforters. The use of rubber had back then also raised some concerns among parents because of sulfuric and lead-based additives which have been removed (from what is being said publicly) from the creation process which eventually lead manufacturers to get more creative and explore more options. They then started to imitate the shape of a nipple and added some other 'cool' features such a ring, necklace, colours, small prints and you know them all.

It was only around the 1980’s that dental issues and other health related concerns started to rise among parents. Some doctors indeed reported that the use of pacifier increases the risk of middle ear infections or might lead to dental problems while some other only discourage its use after the age of 4 years old. Before 2 years old your baby's pearly whites should remain intact before they start falling off.

Well you get it it is at the end of the day a very personal choice and what seems to work best for you and your family.

As an exclusive #breastfeeding mother for my 3 children, I have never used the pacifier and always breatsfed each of my babies on demand which didn't even rise the question of having to use an alternative. Don't get me wrong it was and can still be challenging at times, but hey that's a life choice so let's keep rocking it! :)