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To Plug or Not To Plug
The Pacifier Debate
By Roxanne Willems Snopek
In cultures where attachment parenting is the norm, pacifiers and mother substitutes are much less common -- and so are fussy babies. It's simple, explains Dr. Auerbach. "Babies whose needs are met quickly do not cry much." But in other cultures, women have far more community support than most North American mothers do. The intense closeness between mother and baby is celebrated instead of tolerated, and extended breastfeeding is assumed.
Everything else aside, babies need to be held. Whether or not their sucking needs are satisfied at the breast or the pacifier, their emotional needs demand contact with loving parents. Mothers are sometimes warned against "spoiling" their babies by holding them too much, or nursing them too often. "Wrong!" says Dr. Auerbach. "It's impossible to give a baby too much attention."
The desire for closeness isn't only felt by babies, as many mothers find. The need to be needed is part of what bonds parents to their children, and being indispensable is not a weight, it's a reward. "I spent hours rocking Celina, holding her while she sucked her soother," recalls Knelson. "She had to be close to me."
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding reminds mothers not to sell themselves short: "While a pacifier can sometimes substitute for mother's breast, it is never a substitute for mother."
Want to see more?
- Read more about the impact of pacifiers on breastfeeding in Breastfeed.com articles Understanding Nipple Confusion
- Read more about the impact of pacifiers on breastfeeding in Breastfeed.com articles Starting out Right
- Get Dr. Sears' opinion on pacifiers.
- Join the great pacifier debate on Breastfeed.com's MomsTalk Discussion Board
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