Babies are born with the need to suckle, and a pacifier can help fill that need. But will using a pacifier have long-term effects for your toddler if he continues to use one?

Headlines linking ear infections to pacifier use might cause concern for some parents. A study a few years ago in the journal Pediatrics, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), reported a study that followed pacifier use and the incidence of ear infections among two groups of Finnish children younger than 18 months of age. In the group where pacifier use was decreased by 21 percent, ear infections were 29 percent lower than the group in which children used a pacifier continuously.

Does that mean that you should wean your child away from pacifiers? "It's my feeling that a child who has a greater amount of pacifier use is more likely to get an ear infection. But that doesn't mean that you can't use a pacifier some of the time," says Dr. Ronald Eriksen, a Carol Stream, Ill. pediatrician. "Sometimes, it can be helpful to both a toddler and his or her parents. If you're just finishing making dinner and you're holding off crying for 15 minutes, there's no problem with giving a child a pacifier. But, I do encourage parents to wean their children off a pacifier by about 18 months of age."

Orthodontist John Murphy of Glen Ellyn, Ill., recommends that parents give their child an orthodontic pacifier. "Nature is very forgiving up to a certain age," Murphy says. "An orthodontically correct pacifier, like Nuk, will allow a baby or toddler to replicate the suckling response. These pacifiers can be used as old as age 2 without creating a detrimental environment for tooth development. A thumb can be worse than a pacifier over the longer term. But, even after age 5, orthodontics can do a lot to correct problems. If a child needs a pacifier for support, and an orthodontic one like Nuk is used, parents should feel comfortable in using it with their child."

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