- Many parents are really worried about using a pacifier but babies really need to suck. That reflex is calming and relaxing to them so you're gonna have to make a choice about what that might be and you won't even know your baby for a little while and how much your baby really needs to suck. This is kind of an example of parents trying to parent a newborn baby as if they were two years old. You may have to work on taking the pacifier away if you do use one but wait and see what your baby really needs. So babies are gonna suck something, the breast, the pacifier, a finger, or a thumb. Some of those things are all gonna come into play so what's the choice? Pacifiers, not my favorite thing, because they can be tied into malocclusion, change of the palette, ear infections, et cetera. But it might be what really works for your baby and we don't want you to feel guilty about that. If you get a chance for a shower while your partner's holding the baby and bouncing on the yoga ball and letting him have a pacifier, that's probably what you need to do. But don't just put it in any old time when they don't seem to need it because it wouldn't be necessary. If you wanna take the pacifier away a little later, then do so. Baby will be okay with it. It might be a few fussy days but people do creative things. They gather up the pacifiers, wrap them up, tie them with a bow and mail them to some friend who's gonna have a baby. Or they put it on the pillow in the morning with a little ceremony saying it's for nite-nite time, we'll put pacie on the pillow. So you can be creative and you can take the pacifier away whenever you wanna stop using it. After all, a pacifier might be a lot easier to take away than a thumb, which may last for years.