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Home › Articles › Development › A Hard Habit to Break

A Hard Habit to Break

Part Three

Pacify the Pacifier Habit

By April E. Clark

Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  

Results from a study of 200 children ages 12 months or younger show that 36 percent of the pacifier users had ear infections, compared with 23 percent of the non-pacifier users. According to the AGD, otitis media can surface when viruses from nose and throat infections move from the eustachian (auditory) tube to the middle ear.

"It may be best to consider restricting the pacifier to be used only for the baby's first 10 months," Dr. Smith says. "The pacifier comes in contact with many microorganisms and may be a vehicle through which the unsanitary bacteria and viruses enter the child's oral cavity."

Dr. Ross Black, a family physician and clinical professor of family medicine at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, agrees that pacifiers involve a clear hygiene issue. "Whether you have multiple kids at home or kids at daycare, there is a tendency of passing the pacifier back and forth and exchanging germs," he says. "It's always better to wean children from pacifiers when they are younger because there will be swapping involved once they are around other kids in a daycare or school situation."

Dr. Smith agrees that the earlier the better for pacifier weaning. "The bottom line is that if your child is continuously battling middle ear infections, you may have an alternative to surgery or antibiotics to stop this problem, which would be to remove the pacifier."

According to the AGD, pacifiers date back to "at least the 15th century when mothers found that the sucking device helped quiet their crying babies." The AGD also reports that sucking is a normal aspect of fetal and neonatal child development. Newborns have strong, instinctual urges to suck for the first six months of their lives, but afterwards, pacifiers become habit-forming.

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A Hard Habit to Break by Anonymous on 10/04/2009 08:03PM

hard habit to break?! the song meaning is apparent. It's about someone who took their love for granted, and by the time he realized how much he cared for her and that he could not live without her it was too late, and even though she found someone else he still is attached to her and is trying to let her go or in this case break the habit. -cesar de jesus

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