- Babies need to suck, it's a biological imperative. They need to suck for food, they also need to suck for comfort which is referred to as non-nutritive sucking. Babies are pretty clever, the can suck on their thumbs, their fingers, their fists, their hands to soothe themselves. But the dilemma comes and these days we tend to wrap babies up and place them on their backs to sleep and babies can't get their hands up to their mouth to help themselves soothe. So a number of parents will rely on pacifiers. Pacifiers can be a little controversial. If you're a breast feeding mom, your lactation professional may ask you to wait a little while before you introduce the pacifier, so that you don't cause some confusion and interfere with the latch. But some babies can do quite well with pacifiers early on.- Thumb sucking and digit sucking, as well as pacifier sucking are very common in children, as we know. However, unfortunately they can effect the alignment of the teeth, how the jaws close, the shape of the palate, and cause many habits later on. We recommend that a child discontinue the habit by age three.- If you're gonna use a pacifier, use the right pacifier. First of all, you want a pacifier such as this. It is made from one piece. When pacifiers have multiple pieces, over time bacteria can grow within these pieces and it's been shown in the research that long term pacifier use may contribute to chronic ear infection.