Although not all babies take to pacifiers, pacifiers are generally a great source of comfort for most babies. In any case, if you do choose to get a pacifier for your baby, there are a couple of safety tips that you need to consider.

Don’t Accessorize
Baby product manufacturers have been producing pacifiers with its safety features in mind. The worst mistake that any parent could do would be to accessorize pacifiers or buy ones that have been modified or accessorized.

Examples of these decorated pacifiers are those with decorative stick on jewels or dangling attachments on the pacifier guard or handle. Pacifiers of this kind being sold by merchants have already been recalled but some parents might still attempt to do the decorating themselves. Decorations on a pacifier could become detached and may become choking hazards.

Never Attach on Baby
Parents can sometimes find it cumbersome for pacifiers to fall off easily from babies’ mouths. Thus, they are sometimes tempted to attach them on their babies with either a pin, a plastic chain, or a string. Resist the urge to do this. Your baby could find a way to open a regular pin and get injured or worse, he might just ingest a detached pin. A string or ribbon on the other hand could become entangled and could strangle your baby.

Check the Pieces
There are one piece and multiple piece pacifiers that can be assembled. Regardless of whatever the type or model of pacifier you get, make sure that you always check that the pieces are firmly attached. You should test the nipple in particular by tugging at it. A teething baby might suck too aggressively and detach the nipple, thus making it a choking hazard. Watch out for recalled models especially among multiple piece pacifiers.

Do Not Make Your Own
Pacifiers have been carefully studied and designed by experts with baby considerations in mind. Therefore, never attempt to make your own pacifier, improvise one, or reconfigure old nipples or pacifier parts into another pacifier. Your creation might not hold together well enough, and you may thus end up with a bunch of choking hazards. Store sold pacifiers have been carefully designed and tested to withstand repeated sucking and biting and should therefore be the only items that can be safely used.

Steer Clear of Liquid-Filled Pacifiers
Although it happens rarely with liquid-filled pacifiers, still, your baby could bite through the nipple and get all the liquid out. You should also avoid coating pacifiers with sugar, honey or anything sweet. This would encourage your baby to gnaw harder on a pacifier and may bite through it or develop an attachment for it.

Buy Standard Size
Standard-sized pacifiers usually have a stopper or shield that is more than one inch across an average baby’s mouth. This is to prevent your baby from ingesting the whole pacifier and choking on it. The shield however should have small holes on each side to allow moisture out and air onto your baby’s skin.

[tags]How to choose baby pacifier, pacifier, baby pacifier, pacifier video, choosing baby pacifier, how to choose baby pacifiers, pacifier clip, the pacifier, infant pacifier[/tags]

If you're new here, please subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!