Your Must Have Baby Feeding Accessory

Today, I want to talk to you about my all-time favorite baby accessory. This one powerful tool can help you and your baby. I'm going to tell you all the benefits and when and how to use it. Let's jump in. My name is Lindsay, and welcome to the Little Foundations Channel where I help parents and caregivers create healthy habits for their babies from the very start.

I wanted to share with you my all-time favorite baby accessory: a pacifier.

This powerful little tool can help you and your baby. Let me share with you my top 5 favorite ways to use a pacifier.

Alright, number one: This helps you prepare your baby for feeding. Sometimes, when our babies are brand new and a little bit sleepy or they have a hard time with eating, this is a great way to get them ready to start eating. It helps them focus on their oral skills and lets them make that connection with something happening in their mouth that's going to fill up their belly.

This helps them with breastfeeding and bottle-feeding, knowing that we are about to eat. Eating is a natural response for babies, and that sucking reflex is a natural reaction. But for some babies, it's a little bit tricky. Giving them the pacifier can help them get ready to start eating, figuring out how to suck, swallow, and breathe, and coordinate all of that before they start eating.

This also helps you read their cues. Sometimes, when we give our baby a pacifier, they just want a little bit of comfort. They're looking to soothe themselves and cuddle, but maybe they're not ready to start eating yet. But if they're really going to town on their pacifier, then we know they're ready to start eating.

And that takes us to number two: A pacifier helps a baby to self-soothe. Sometimes, in an ultrasound, you'll see your baby sucking on their thumb or their fingers in the womb, and that's a great calming, natural response to help them calm themselves. Sometimes, when they're born, they have a harder time getting their hands to their mouth, and that's where a pacifier can be a great way to help your baby calm themselves.

Whether your baby is really sleepy, stressed, or on an airplane and their ears are hurting, sometimes having the pacifier handy can help them calm themselves. Again, this is a natural response, and they were doing it in the womb. And now, if we offer the pacifier, they can help themselves calm down in those moments of stress.

Alright, number three: This helps with spit-up and reflux. If your baby has been suffering from reflux, there are a lot of things we can do. But one of those things is, after they've spit up or if they appear uncomfortable, we can give them the pacifier. What happens is they're able to swallow and soothe their throat.

When a baby has reflux, their throat really feels like it's on fire a lot of the time. And sometimes, they will arch their back or really appear uncomfortable. By having the pacifier, they're able to swallow multiple times and help settle any of that pain.

And this goes right into number four: A pacifier is a really great way to make sure that you're not overfeeding your baby. Sometimes, after a baby has started to eat, whether at the breast or with a bottle, sometimes they start to get a little bit uncomfortable after they've already had some. And what we can do is stop and take a burp break and see if they need to get settled, maybe burp them and get that gas out. And sometimes, they're a little bit uncomfortable, maybe because of that reflux, or maybe because they're starting to feel full. And again, this is where the pacifier is a great relief for them.

They can still be with you, cuddle, and be in that great feeding position, but maybe they're looking to soothe themselves or soothe any pain that's happening in their throat. And that's where a pacifier comes in handy. So if you're feeding your baby and they start to get really squirmy toward the end, we can stop, take a break, see how they do, see if they burp or if they're still looking for food. If you're not sure if they're still looking for more milk or formula, what we can do is offer them the pacifier and see how they respond. Just like in the beginning, we can see if they're really sucking hard on the pacifier and looking for more milk, or if they're comfortable and they're just looking to soothe themselves. This is a great way to prevent overfeeding, which again causes pain and discomfort in your baby. So, it's a great thing to have a pacifier nearby just to double-check.

Number five is: That actually research has shown that using a pacifier for naps and bedtime reduces the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). And while there are many great things you can do to protect your baby's sleep and give them a safe sleep experience, research shows that using this during nighttime and naps can help reduce the risk of SIDS.

All that to say, some babies will not be interested in a pacifier, and that's okay. We don't want to force it. Sometimes, it's the type of nipple on the pacifier or the specific brand that you have. So, you can try a few. But if your baby does not appear interested, that's okay. We don't need to force it. This is for babies who do feel interested in a pacifier and who do find comfort. We definitely don't want to force anything.

If you're having any trouble with bottle-feeding or breastfeeding, we can take a step back and reassess. Is your baby latching okay? Any problems or pain that you may experience, we want to make sure to get that evaluated by our medical team. We want to make sure that they have a good latch, whether at the breast or on the bottle, and that they're not working too hard to get that milk. We don't want them working extra hard, and babies who are working hard to get a good latch at the breast, bottle, or pacifier can sometimes be burning up those calories that we're trying to get in. So, it's best if we wait and assess. We don't need to introduce multiple pacifiers or try different techniques. It's important to go and speak to your medical team right away if you're experiencing any pain or your baby's having any difficulties with feeding.

And now, a question that a lot of families ask me is, how do I introduce the pacifier but make sure not to create an unhealthy habit later? And yes, I do not want your baby to be a big kid walking around with a pacifier. But we can set some boundaries now to make sure that doesn't happen. At about one year, your baby will not have that connection to needing to suck to soothe themselves. They'll be able to soothe themselves in other ways.

So, if your baby feels comfortable and they look happy, they're not in any pain and not in a stressful situation, it's a good reason to not have that pacifier out. We can have it for bedtime or those stressful moments if there's any discomfort or anything that's bothering them. But we don't need to have it when we're playing. If your baby is happy, we want them to be able to put toys in their mouth, talk, babble, and explore the world without having a pacifier. So again, we can always keep it nearby, but as your baby gets more comfortable, we'll keep it just for bedtime and naps.

Please let me know what you think. Let me know what you call your pacifier. Is it a paci or a binky or a bobo or something else?

Let me know in the comments below, and reach out if you need anything. You're doing a great job, and for more baby tips, check this.

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