Literacy news
Use of dummies condemned for breast-fed babies
2 Jun 2006
Dummies, the controversial accessories that divide parents and professionals, are bad for babies who breastfeed and should be avoided, a comprehensive study has concluded. Experts who reviewed 10 years of research found that the pacifier reduced or even eliminated a baby's desire to suck on its mother's breast.
That meant that parents should be advised against the use of a dummy, said researchers at the Joanna Briggs Institute in South Australia. The popularity of pacifiers was revived last year by a study that suggested they cut the risk of cot death. Researchers in California said the bulky handle of the dummy could keep bedding away from the baby's face and reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (Sids).
The latest review, published in this week's Nursing Standard, also found that dummies reduced the risk of Sids, as incidence among babies who did not use a dummy were up to five times that of babies who did. But it concluded that because the overall risk of the condition was low, dummies should still be avoided. It added: "The innate sucking reflex of the infant is satisfied by the pacifier, decreasing or eliminating the desire for contact with the nipple and breast."
The likelihood of babies developing dental problems could not be established because not enough research had been done, it said. Although dummies are unpopular with speech and language therapists, the British Dental Association said they could be better than thumb-sucking because they were eventually thrown away, while children might continue to suck their thumbs until much later.
Colin Brook, a spokesman for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, said: "There is no reason why babies should be given a dummy, but [if they must be] dummies should not be introduced until babies are at least a month old."
An Italian study published in 2004 found that babies who were bottle-fed, who sucked their thumb or a dummy, were twice as likely to have crooked teeth as breast-fed infants.
(By Amy Iggulden, The Telegraph, 2 June 2006)
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