Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Hello and welcome to a Wonder Care podcast. My name is Sheena Mitchell and I am a pharmacist, mum of three and here to guide you through all of your family health care needs.
[00:00:19] This week I'm going to be talking all about the very controversial topic of soothers. It's no wonder that it's controversial. Every time you look at the Internet, there's a different article or study or something being thrown in your face telling you that yes, you absolutely should, or no, you definitely should not. As parents, we are already riddled with guilt. No matter what our decision is, we manage to make ourselves feel bad even when we're doing right. So I wanted to throw my authority as a healthcare professional, being a community pharmacist and also a mother of three children into the mix to try and piece all of that information and narrative together into one common sense approach with lots of information and tips about soother use so that you can ditch the guilt and know that you're doing the right thing, regardless of your choice. At the time of recording, I had a poll running on Instagram, so you can follow me on Instagram at Wondercare underscore irl and the poll asked, did you ever use a soother with your baby? Within a couple of hours, I had over 300 responses and the resounding answer was 91%. Yes, you have. Obviously that leaves 9% of you who haven't. And no doubt over the next 24 hours while that poll remains up, will get a lot more answers and it could change dramatically. In essence, a lot of parents do choose to use soothers. In the next poll, I asked anyone who voted no that they didn't use soothers what their reasons were. I got loads of responses. So thank you so much to everyone who took the time to respond. Some of you just said you tried, but your baby actually wouldn't take it. Some of you had babies who had found their thumb pretty much at birth. They were probably sucking their thumb in Utro. How cute. A lot of you had concerns about it being a bad habit and how it might impact your child's dental development or dental health. Many of you responded to say that you had either been warned or had concerns about how it would impact your breastfeeding journey. People also had concerns over speech development and a lot of people actually just wrote in to say that another family member, like their husband or their mother, had just said, no, soothers are awful. Avoid them. So that was why the no PEople voted nO. I then went ON to ask people if you did give your ChIld a SOother. So that's that 91% of you, did you actually have any CoNceRNs about it? So, yes, it's amazing because there was a lot of concerns. So even though parents had chosen to give their child a soother, they worried and felt guilty about it a lot. Some people just worried about how the HELL they were going to try and stop their CHIld from relying on a SOother. Some were worried that their kids would have booked teeth. Other people were worried about the soother breaking in their ChIld's mouth. Some mums reflected that concern about breastfeeding and nipple confusion, et cetera. And some were worried about ear infections and then other practical things like their reliance on it. So if a baby drops it at nighttime, what happens? They were worried about that, to be honest. Most of the responses were relating to dental, speech or hygiene issues and also a big fear of how you were going to stop your child using it. So during this episode, I am going to talk through all of those concerns. I thought a really useful place to start was to find out what the hospitals are telling us now. So if you are in a children's hospital or maternity hospital, there is standard advice that is given out. This can be seen in a document that was produced by Chi in 2017. It was due to be reviewed in 2020, but it looks like COVID would have stopped that because I couldn't find an updated version. So the first bit of advice is a solid, good bit, and I really do agree with this. If you're choosing a soother, make sure you choose a silicone one which is BPA free. It's important not to choose a latex soother if at all possible, because some children will develop a sensitivity to latex. I would also go with a reputable brand because the silicone that is in the soother that you're using needs to be food grade silicone. This is going to limit any chance of it breaking down in your baby's mouth and also from harboring infection. The next bit of advice that they give is to hold off. Don't give the soother for the initial four weeks of breastfeeding. So I'm going to dive straight into breastfeeding here. It is established and known that if you offer your baby a soother instead of a feed, that will impact your breast milk supply. There is no arguing with that. And it's an important thing to realize, because the last thing you want in the early days is to be struggling with the bad supply. However, as a mom who breastfed all three of my children and gave all three of my children a soother within the first few days. I actually think that common sense can prevail here. If your baby is upset and they're unsettled, and some babies just love sucking, it's a natural instinct for them. So yes, of course, if your baby is upset and you're a breastfeeding mum, always offer them your boob first. Always offer them a feed. Let them feed for a regular length of time, say 1530 minutes, depending on the baby. And if you just cannot get them to stop sucking, if they just constantly want that calming, soothing effect of suckling, then that is where a soother comes in. Absolutely golden. It can give your nipples a break, it can give you a bit of a rest, and it can let someone else hold the baby close and use the soother. It can be time for skin to skin with your partner. It can be anything. And of course, if your baby becomes unsettled again, then yes, do offer the breast as much as you can. But babies are not always going to be hungry when they want to suck. So my advice balancing the healthcare information and hands on parenting, and I have spoken to the fantastic Nicola Oburn, lactation consultant on this as well, during a recent podcast. Use your common sense, offer the breast and if your baby just wants to suck, but not necessarily feed, then absolutely let them suck on a soother if you want to. If you have any difficulties latching your baby on in those early days, then it might be worth staying away from the soother for a little while. Ensure that you get help and support to make sure that your baby is latching correctly onto your breast. And if all of that is okay and you just have an enthusiast, then go forth with your soother and don't beat yourself up about it. The next thing on that document recommends that you use an orthodontic soother. And this is a good idea. Orthodontic soothers are shaped differently to a traditional big, round, bulb type soother. They help to enable regular oral development. So the development of the gums and tongue and the way that your baby's throat is working, they help to support all of that rather than have a negative impact on it. And while I'm on orthodontic, I'm going to cover that whole dental fear.
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[00:08:18] There has, of course, been links between dental carries, which are things like cavities and stuff like that, and also gum issues associated with the use of soothers. But actually, the majority of new resources that are available, including the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, say that it is not actually a problem up until the age of five. So, in essence, when your child still have their baby teeth, the impact of a soother is very, very negligible on their development. So, in essence, worries about booked teeth or the formation of your child's oral structure and jaw are not a concern unless your child is using their soother into their older years. So, five and over. There is another aspect there that I mentioned about the dental health, and that includes things like damage and infection within the mouth and cavities and that kind of thing. And yes, again, that is a risk of soother use. However, there are ways to mitigate or get rid of that risk. Soothers should be cleaned and sterilized just like you would with a baby bottle. Using dirty soothers is what will cause problems with hygiene in the mouth. Using a clean soother will not. It's also important to replace your child's soother frequently, and this is recommended about every four weeks. There's a few reasons for this. One of them is hygiene, just to make sure that it is clean. And another one is to ensure the integrity of the soother is safe for your baby to use. So that means that the silicone material is not going to start breaking down or getting any little cracks or tears in it, which may allow bacteria to enter and cause an opportunity for infection. Soothers which are not clean can absolutely be colonized by microorganisms. These include Candida albicans, Streptococcus pneumonia, hemophilis influenzae and more. However, just keep them clean. So wash them regularly and sterilize them maybe once a day. When you're sterilizing your bottles, just fling them in. And if your baby's a little bit older and you're not using formula anymore so you're not sterilizing, then I would still recommend getting even some of those sterilizer bags that you can pop in the microwave. You can just fling the soothers in there. This is just a practical way that you don't have to keep a big, huge, bulky sterilizer machine on your counter, because when you're finished with the sterilizer for the bottles, you really just don't want to see the sterilizer anymore. So a good way to overcome that and still be able to sterilize your soothers is to just have one of those reusable microwavable bags. Dr. Brown's do them, other companies do them. I'll pop up a link online on my Instagram. But in essence, just fling the soothers into the microwavable bag and do that every couple of days. That, in addition to regular washing, will help to make sure that your baby soother is safe. The next thing on that chi information sheet is actually a positive thing. I think more and more people are starting to know about this. The use of a soother can actually reduce the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome. Okay, so this is a really big deal. We know that sudden infant death syndrome, which is also known as SIDS, is where a baby will tragically die with no known cause. And it's just horrifying. Tosh.
[00:11:53] Yeah. Really, really difficult.
[00:11:56] By using a soother during nap time and sleep time, it's thought that your baby doesn't fall into such a deep sleep that they can forget to breathe. By constantly sucking, they're keeping some little level of consciousness. And it's thought that that and also the position of their tongue in the mouth when they're sucking on a soother can help to reduce the impact of SIDs. So the benefit of using a soother during naps and sleep to help protect against SIDS is actually so well established that the American Academy of Pediatrics does actually recommend that parents give pacifiers, as they call them, in the states, at naps and bedtime. So I just wanted to highlight that, because often soothers get a very bad reputation. And there are actually pros. And the last item that was brought up in that document was its impact on reflux. So, actually, we know that soothers can help babies who suffer with reflux because they are swallowing more. And this actually helps to encourage gastric emptying. So your stomach emptying, which can help with digestive issues. So it's just good to know about that as well. Okay, so aside from the information that you will receive in the hospital, which I've covered, I think it's important to note that actually, it has been proven that soothers can help to alleviate pain and discomfort in babies. This has even been established. Now, when they're doing procedures or minor surgeries, they will actually use soothers as a mild analgesic. So that's pretty cool. They can also help babies who are premature or who are having a little operation or procedure, and they're fasting so that they're not able to feed, but that we don't want babies to lose that sucking reflex. So, say, for example, if you have a very premature baby who is being fed in alternative ways, such as feeding tubes, then the use of a soother can actually train them up so that they gain the muscle experience and they develop their natural soaking reflex so that when they're ready to transition onto oral food, their body is strong enough and capable of doing it. So soothers can be really helpful for preemie babies, and as I said, also for those babies who may be awaiting surgery and fasting or not able to take feeds in the regular way. In terms of speech, a lot of people are obviously concerned about delays and impact of soother use on speech, and I think that's fair enough. I would try to restrict the use of a soother for sleep time, or if at all possible, just use it as a real comfort for when a baby or child is upset. Any issue that could ever happen from a speech delay or a problem with speech as a result of a soother is really just from, I suppose, constant use. And if you have any concerns, you might just have that conversation in the household. Well, maybe we start talking about giving our soother to the soother fairy, which came to our house in our case. But I know a lot of soother fairies hang around in certain forests where there are soother trees, so you can always google where your local soother tree is. But for us, we just were able to leave our soothers outside our bedroom, and the fairy came along and took them and very kindly left a little toy. So that was amazing. We also didn't do a lot of negative talk when it came about time to say goodbye to the soother. So we maybe made some gentle suggestions and we talked about how we had heard of other people who got really cool little stickers and toys and stuff when they gave their soother to the soother fairy. And we just kind of let that lie and left that with them. And then within a week or two, generally, they all came back to us and they had this idea, and it was amazing. They said, hey, I think there might be a soother fairy and I should leave my soother out. So letting children come up with the idea themselves is always a good idea. And it's fun planting those very not so subtle seeds, and eventually they will give them up. They're not going to be going to university with a soother in the mouth. Realistically, don't be stressing. You can assess your soother journey at any stage if you feel like the cons are starting to outweigh the pros, and you can start just maybe planting seeds of your own. So my last bit of advice on this is to just make sure that you're checking your soothers regularly for any cracks or tears or damage. If you're taking your soother out the sterilizer or something, or if you've just washed it and it's been on the rack beside the sink drying, then just do shake excess water off it before giving it to your baby. So, all in all, I think the summary is that the use of a soother is safe if you mitigate any of the risks associated with soother use. I have to confess, I'm pretty sure my youngest child used to find soothers that, like, I had lost, that had been down the back of a handbag somewhere, and when he was like two, he'd come out of my room. Tada. They feel like this monkey old soother. So look, you do your best. That's all you can do. You do not need to feel guilty all the time. We are all imperfect and I think that's fair enough. So this is one of those situations where, yes, there are some negatives, but yes, you can avoid them. And actually there is a significant number of positives as well. Parents choice that it's what it should always be about and every baby is different. You might not have used a soother on your first child, and you might really feel that you need one on the second child. That does not make you a failure. That just makes your children wonderful little individuals and ultimately you do whatever is best for your family. I really hope I have addressed all of your concerns and that you have found it really helpful. And if you did, I would be so grateful if you could review this podcast on Apple Podcasts by just typing in a little review and also give us a little rate on Spotify. Thank you so much for listening and I'll talk to you again soon.
