http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9785345/site/newsweek/ wrote:
Big Binky Brouhaha
A new study that says pacifiers help prevent crib death reignites an old debate. Parents and doctors take sides.
By Claudia Kalb
Oct. 31, 2005 issue - It's hard to hate baby pictures, especially your own, but Janna Bosshardt could never stand the ones that showed her as a toddler with a pacifier in her mouth. There she is, 3½ years old, a piece of plastic where the adorable smile should be. So when Bosshardt, now 33, started having her own children, she vowed to avoid the Binkys. "I didn't want to get any of my kids hooked," she says. Her first two, Zach and Brad, did fine without them. Then came Cale, an Olympic-level screamer. "A pacifier was the only thing that would calm him down," says Boss-hardt. "It was for his sanity and mine."
It's a pointed debate, one as old as, well, the thumb: are pacifiers good or bad for babies? They certainly aren't new—generations of children have sucked on devices made out of everything from cloth to silver—but they're more popular than ever. They've earned a vocabulary of their own (soothers, dummies, Binkys), spawned a minor fashion industry (glow-in-the-dark and "mood" pacifiers that change colors) and even made their way into pop culture—TV's Maggie Simpson, the eternal 1-year-old, has been sucking on hers for more than a decade. Now the American Academy of Pediatrics is weighing in, saying pacifiers may help protect babies against sudden infant death syndrome. In new recommendations issued this month, the AAP advises parents to consider using a pacifier at naptime and bedtime. Predictably, the recommendation—which will likely boost the $50 million-plus pacifier industry—has lit up online parenting bulletin boards, where "pacis" are always a controversial topic. And it has also provoked consternation from breast-feeding advocates and even some AAP pediatricians. But the link between pacifier use and SIDS is compelling, says Dr. John Kattwinkel, head of the AAP's task force on SIDS, and "to not call this to the public's attention would be irresponsible."
Nobody knows precisely what causes SIDS or why pacifiers might help. Researchers believe the syndrome, which strikes in the first six months of life, is connected to a baby's ability to arouse himself during times of stress—when his nose is blocked by a pillow, for example. Doctors say pacifiers could work by preventing babies from falling into dangerous deep sleep. Or, because the devices push the tongue forward, they may keep airways more open. Whatever the reason, pacifiers lower the risk of SIDS by almost two thirds, says Dr. Fern Hauck, of the University of Virginia Health System, who conducted a review of the literature.
Not everyone is convinced. Dr. Law-rence Gartner, head of the AAP's com-mittee on breast-feeding, questions the strength of the studies, which are retrospective and rely on parents' recall about their past use of pacifiers. And, he says, there are downsides to pacifiers. The devices pick up bacteria from germy surfaces and kids who use them are more prone to ear and respiratory infections. And pacifiers can be habit-forming—message boards are full of advice on how to use "cold turkey" tactics on "paci junkies." Above all, Gartner and others worry that pacifiers may interfere with breast-feeding, which has important health benefits for babies. The AAP advises parents to wait a month before introducing pacifiers to breast-fed babies to be sure babies are used to nursing. But breast-fed babies, who already wake frequently during the night to nurse, don't need pacifiers, says R.N. Marsha Walker, of the National Alliance for Breastfeed-ing Advocacy, who worries that the AAP recommendation is unnecessarily broad.
While the experts argue over the data, parents like Margo Toledano, who says her son's pacifier keeps him calm, quickly learn what it means to choose sides in the great Binky debate. One day, a stranger in the grocery store said, "Cute baby," then pulled the pacifier out of her son's mouth. "You can take the pacifier out, but I'm going to put it right back in," says Toledano. In the world of modern parenting, it seems, those are fighting words.
With Ben Whitford
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
A new study that says pacifiers help prevent crib death reignites an old debate. Parents and doctors take sides.
By Claudia Kalb
Oct. 31, 2005 issue - It's hard to hate baby pictures, especially your own, but Janna Bosshardt could never stand the ones that showed her as a toddler with a pacifier in her mouth. There she is, 3½ years old, a piece of plastic where the adorable smile should be. So when Bosshardt, now 33, started having her own children, she vowed to avoid the Binkys. "I didn't want to get any of my kids hooked," she says. Her first two, Zach and Brad, did fine without them. Then came Cale, an Olympic-level screamer. "A pacifier was the only thing that would calm him down," says Boss-hardt. "It was for his sanity and mine."
It's a pointed debate, one as old as, well, the thumb: are pacifiers good or bad for babies? They certainly aren't new—generations of children have sucked on devices made out of everything from cloth to silver—but they're more popular than ever. They've earned a vocabulary of their own (soothers, dummies, Binkys), spawned a minor fashion industry (glow-in-the-dark and "mood" pacifiers that change colors) and even made their way into pop culture—TV's Maggie Simpson, the eternal 1-year-old, has been sucking on hers for more than a decade. Now the American Academy of Pediatrics is weighing in, saying pacifiers may help protect babies against sudden infant death syndrome. In new recommendations issued this month, the AAP advises parents to consider using a pacifier at naptime and bedtime. Predictably, the recommendation—which will likely boost the $50 million-plus pacifier industry—has lit up online parenting bulletin boards, where "pacis" are always a controversial topic. And it has also provoked consternation from breast-feeding advocates and even some AAP pediatricians. But the link between pacifier use and SIDS is compelling, says Dr. John Kattwinkel, head of the AAP's task force on SIDS, and "to not call this to the public's attention would be irresponsible."
Nobody knows precisely what causes SIDS or why pacifiers might help. Researchers believe the syndrome, which strikes in the first six months of life, is connected to a baby's ability to arouse himself during times of stress—when his nose is blocked by a pillow, for example. Doctors say pacifiers could work by preventing babies from falling into dangerous deep sleep. Or, because the devices push the tongue forward, they may keep airways more open. Whatever the reason, pacifiers lower the risk of SIDS by almost two thirds, says Dr. Fern Hauck, of the University of Virginia Health System, who conducted a review of the literature.
Not everyone is convinced. Dr. Law-rence Gartner, head of the AAP's com-mittee on breast-feeding, questions the strength of the studies, which are retrospective and rely on parents' recall about their past use of pacifiers. And, he says, there are downsides to pacifiers. The devices pick up bacteria from germy surfaces and kids who use them are more prone to ear and respiratory infections. And pacifiers can be habit-forming—message boards are full of advice on how to use "cold turkey" tactics on "paci junkies." Above all, Gartner and others worry that pacifiers may interfere with breast-feeding, which has important health benefits for babies. The AAP advises parents to wait a month before introducing pacifiers to breast-fed babies to be sure babies are used to nursing. But breast-fed babies, who already wake frequently during the night to nurse, don't need pacifiers, says R.N. Marsha Walker, of the National Alliance for Breastfeed-ing Advocacy, who worries that the AAP recommendation is unnecessarily broad.
While the experts argue over the data, parents like Margo Toledano, who says her son's pacifier keeps him calm, quickly learn what it means to choose sides in the great Binky debate. One day, a stranger in the grocery store said, "Cute baby," then pulled the pacifier out of her son's mouth. "You can take the pacifier out, but I'm going to put it right back in," says Toledano. In the world of modern parenting, it seems, those are fighting words.
With Ben Whitford
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
Parents, did your children use pacifiers? Was the peace worth the trouble of breaking them from it later? Do you plan to use one with your future kids, hearing the AAP statistic that they may reduce the chance of SIDS by 66%?
Edited, Tue Oct 25 13:19:53 2005 by xythex
