Is this unhygenic? question about pacifiers?

Question

My daughter (3 months old) is a comfort sucker (breast feed). I have been trying to get her to take a pacifier to give my b***s a break but can not get her to take one (have tried many different types). My Mum suggested a trick she did to get me and my brother to take a pacifier and that is to suck on the pacifier first so that it warms up in your mouth to make it feel more natural. But is this unhygenic? are there germs in my mouth that could make her sick?

Answer 1

No, I wouldn't.  Instead, I would try different pacis!  My son was a fan of Soothie.

Answer 2

A lot of parents do that but its not the most hygenic thing to do.  having said that, I have never heard of anyone giving their child something by doing that..

I like the warm water suggestion but even that may not help.  Some babies just wont take a pacifier.  I hope it works for you.  Good Luck!

Answer 3

try a 'soothie' brand; i would not put it in my mouth, warm water with a lttle milk is what i would try....gl

Answer 4

At 3 months of age there is no way your child is ever going to take a pacifier. She know the difference between your breast and the pacifier so you can do what ever you like to it she will never take it. if you wan to introduce the pacifier you need to do it from day 1. She is probably old enough now to cut out the comfort sucking. It will mean a couple of nights of disrupted sleep when you put her to bed without allowing her to fed to sleep. Trust me though its much easier to stop this habit at 3 months than at 6mths when they are going to be waking every couple of our because they can;'t sooth themselves to sleep and need to be breastfeed. The older a baby gets the harder it is stop bad habit.  As for  sucking the pacifier first you can't make your baby sick from doing this; your breastfeeding her so what ever is in you is also in your breastmilk.  

Answer 5

No it's not unhygenic, anything you put in your body gets to the baby through your breast milk. My mom started my sister eating food by chewing it for her first then giving it to her. It's how moms have prepared food for babies for thousands of years before pureed baby food came out.

Answer 6

You breast feed her, sooo.....she's actually getting everything you put in your mouth anyway!   But I would just run it under hot water....

Answer 7

To warm up the pacifier, boil them. This does two things 1) Warms up the pacifier and 2) Kills the bacteria from the pacifier.

Best Wishes!

Answer 8

it is a practice I see many mothers doing, but would like to stamp out all together. Doing this transfers germs from your mouth to your baby's mouth. These germs can be harmful to your baby.

I would try a 'cherry' shaped pacifier, in my practice I find these are more acceptable to a baby not used to taking a pacifier.

Good luck and great to see someone persist with breast feeding successfully.  

Answer 9

NOOOOOOOO dont do it, it is very dirty, remember that u can pass things like herpies etc through mouth to mouth contact, and so it would only make sence not to pass anything on to ur child, not saying that u are dirty or anything, but its not good.

i keep about 4 of them around with lids, Avant, and he likes them, i breast feed, and my nipples are big so i guess he likes the 'sucker', not sure why i started to call it that, LOL, but he likes his sucker, when he is done feeding he will open his mouth for it.  he used to think that he needed to sit on my boob to 'sooth' himself for about 20-30mins, after he was done, so the sucker saved my nipples.

but for ur queestion, no its not a good thing to suck on it first.

Answer 10

I have had five kids and although we have not had a problem with pacifiers, I do not think you can cause any problems with putting the pacifier in your mouth to warm it up.  Many times if we were out and one of our kids dropped there pacifier on the ground we would clean it by putting it in our mouth first.  Kids put all kinds of things in there mouth I would not worry that this would cause a problem.

Answer 11

That sounds gross. How about giving her some formula in a bottle. I know a lot of moms that do both, breast feed and give formula.

Answer 12

It is recommended that you don't put your baby's pacifiers in your mouth bc of germs.  I would recommend running it under warm water before trying to give it to her.  My daughter is 7 weeks old and refuses a pacifier too.  I'm breastfeeding as well and she loves to be breastfed to sleep.  Well she doesn't seem to happy unless she's breastfeeding...she loves the boob!

Answer 13

Took my son like 3 - 4 months before he stopped spitting out his dummy and finally realised that you can suck on it and it is soothing. I just kept persisting in offering it to him and finally he got the picture. He likes to suck to soothe himself and always takes his dummy when he is tired and needs to sleep.

Putting things in your moth first before you give it to your baby isn't very hygienic. Just google it and you find plenty of reasons not to. The warm water one sounds good though, don't know if it will help. Maybe some of your milk on it might help to start out too. Just persist and she might get the idea.

Good Luck

Answer 14

I had the same issue with my son.  I just kept offering the pacifier to him and finally after a couple months he started taking to it.  Now I am trying to figure out the best way to wean him off of his pacifier, lol.  

As long as you aren't sick I think it's ok to suck on it.  I would normally run warm water on it for a mintue though instead.  

Answer 15

My pediatrician said not to put pacifiers in our mouths because it can increase tooth decay from sugar/ or bacteria in your mouth. Yes, I know it sounds weird to be worried about tooth decay in babies, but apparently it is a problem.

I used to use my little finger for my baby to suck on but eventually she liked to suck on a natural rubber pacifier by natursutten.