The who, when, and why of pacifier use

Mitev, Kaloyan, Frewin, Kelsey L., Augustinova, Maria, Niedenthal, Paula M., Rychlowska, Magdalena and Vanderwert, Ross E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2280-8401 2025. The who, when, and why of pacifier use. Pediatric Research 97 , pp. 2282-2287. 10.1038/s41390-024-03540-6

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (762kB)

Abstract

Background Social and familial consequences of pacifier use remain poorly understood. The present study attempts to shed more light on the characteristics of parents using pacifiers with their infants and to explore how pacifier use affects perceptions of infant emotionality, maternal stress, and parental efficacy. Methods The study sample consisted of 428 mothers (range: 17–49 years) of infants (0–36 months) who completed a comprehensive questionnaire assessing infant and parent characteristics as well as parenting practices and pacifier use. We compared attitudes toward pacifiers, parenting stress, children’s levels of reactivity and self-regulation, and maternal efficacy among Pacifier Users, Never-Users, and families that Tried-Pacifiers. Results The reported results reveal benefits of pacifier use for the family relationships, namely reduced parenting stress (p = 0.018), better parent-child dynamics (p < 0.001), and more positive perceptions of child’s affectivity (p = 0.006), which are all important aspects of infant development. Conclusion Our findings highlight developmental benefits of pacifier use, a practice that is known to have both positive and negative long-term consequences for healthy child development. It is, therefore, important for health professionals to have discussions about the pros and cons of pacifier use with parents.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Psychology Research Institutes & Centres > Cardiff University Centre for Human Development Science (CHDS)
Publisher:	Springer Nature
ISSN:	0031-3998
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 July 2024
Date of Acceptance:	14 June 2024
Last Modified:	21 Aug 2025 10:46
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/170354

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item