Pacifiers may derail breastfeeding
Reuters
March 3
MSNBC.com
"Breastfeeding mothers risk creating “nipple confusion” and other problems for their infant if they provide a pacifier or formula from a bottle, which can derail healthy breastfeeding, a study said Monday. BABIES PROVIDED with pacifiers a few days after birth were at 50 percent higher risk of no longer exclusively breastfeeding a month later, the study published in the journal Pediatrics said.
Study author Cynthia Howard of the University of Rochester, New York, said it was unclear from her study of 700 infants whether the “artificial nipples” presented by pacifiers and bottles made a baby’s mouth no longer conform to mother’s nipple — resulting in pain for the mother and frustration for the baby — or whether mothers of pacified babies expressed less milk." [ This article has a free abstract online: Cynthia R. Howard, Fred M. Howard, Bruce Lanphear, Shirley Eberly, Elisabeth A. deBlieck, David Oakes, and Ruth A. Lawrence
Randomized Clinical Trial of Pacifier Use and Bottle-Feeding or Cupfeeding and Their Effect on Breastfeeding
Pediatrics 2003; 111: 511-518