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Reexamining the Pacifier

Can Pacifiers Reduce the Risk of SIDS?

By Teri Brown

The American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) recently added new fuel to the ongoing pacifier controversy. The report states:

"Research now indicates an association between pacifier use and a reduced risk of SIDS, which is why the revised statement recommends the use of pacifiers at nap time and bedtime throughout the first year of life."

Jennifer Key, a mother of two from Montevallo, Ala., isn't sure the new report will make her give her 15-week-old son the pacifier any more than she already does. "As a parent, I have gotten to the point where I do what I can to prevent SIDS, but there is just so much you can do before it becomes obsessive," says Key. "I let my boys guide me. My first one hated the pacifier and my second one can take it or leave it. I wouldn't force something on them that they hated or that wasn't important to them."

Dr. DeKun Li, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Region, is on the verge of publishing a paper on pacifiers and SIDS. His study finds pacifier use during sleep reduces the risk of SIDS by as much as 90 percent.

"Pacifier use could be a useful and simple tool as a public health intervention to further prevent SIDS, like changing a baby's sleep position," says Dr. Li. "The discovery that by placing a baby on his or her back during sleep could prevent SIDS, and the subsequent public health intervention through the Back to Sleep campaign, already has led to almost a 50 percent reduction in the incidence of SIDS. This is considered a public health miracle. However, the incidence of SIDS is no longer declining. There is still substantial SIDS risk for infants up to 9 months of age. If pacifier use can further prevent SIDS, then we potentially have another effective public health intervention."

Want to see more?

• SIDS: Facts and Prevention
• To Plug or Not To Plug:The Pacifier Debate
• Tummy Time: On the Back to Sleep, on the Stomach for Play
• Talk about it!

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