Consider the physiological effects of smoking on yourself and your baby, especially the increased risk of SIDS. 1. It retards growth. Smoking stunts the growth of the developing fetus. Nicotine narrows the uterine blood vessels, thus reducing blood flow to the baby. Also, smoking puts the oxygen blocker carbon monoxide into the blood that nourishes […]
4 Ways Smoking Increases the Risk of SIDS
Suppose you were about to take your baby into a room when you noticed a sign that read: Warning, this room contains poisonous gases of around 4,000 chemicals, some of which have been linked to cancer and lung damage, and are especially harmful to the breathing passages of young infants. “I certainly wouldn’t take my […]
How Smoking Hampers Mothering
Smoking interferes with natural mothering. Lack of breastfeeding is a risk factor for SIDS. Mothers who smoke tend to either, not breastfeed or wean earlier and to have more breastfeeding problems. Perhaps smoking suppresses lactation by interfering with the milk-producing hormones. Also alarming is a finding that mothers who smoke have lower levels of prolactin […]
Health Warnings on Cigarette Packs
Why isn’t there such a warning on cigarette packages like there is against drinking alcohol while pregnant? Health authorities refuse to do this because, they claim, there is no proven cause and effect relationship between smoking and infant damage and death – only a statistical one. Sounds like the same feeble excuse that delayed the […]
Choosing & Using a Safe Pacifier
DR. BILL’S BINKY ADVICE In the early weeks, only the real nipple belongs in a baby’s mouth. If you have a baby who really needs a pacifier, then use it, don’t abuse it, and quickly try to lose it. Select a one-piece model that will not break into two pieces, allowing baby to choke on […]
4 Times to Pull the Pacifier Plug
Proper Pacifier Use Babies have an intense need to suck, and some have more intense needs than others. Babies even suck their thumbs in the womb. Next to holding and feeding, sucking is the most time-tested comforter. Sucking on a pacifier can be very comforting for babies but make sure you are not giving them […]
Pacifier Research
Both scientific research and parents observations reveal: 1. A 1999 study reported in Pediatrics showed that babies who used pacifiers in the first six weeks tended to wean earlier. 2. One study correlated pacifier use with frequency of ear infections. 3. Prolonged pacifier use can lead to crooked teeth.
When Pacifiers Are In
If used sensibly and for a baby who has intense sucking needs – in addition to, not as a substitute for, human nurturing – pacifiers are an acceptable aid. If you have one of these babies and experience times when the human pacifier wears out, use the silicon sub, but don’t abuse it. There will […]
Pacifiers Vs Thumb
We would vote for the thumb. It’s easily found in the middle of the night, it doesn’t fall on the floor, it tastes better, and baby can adjust the flesh feel to her own sucking needs. Pacifiers get lost, get dirty, and are always falling on the floor. Those of the pacifier mindset claim, however, […]
3 Bye Bye Binky Tactics
If pacifiers are becoming a problem, try these bye bye binky techniques: Pacifiers are just that – “peacemakers” – which children return to as an attachment object. Some infants and young children have an intense need to suck for comfort, which lasts well into their preschool years. Seeing a plug in a three-year-old’s mouth actually […]
Prefers Binky to Breast
Help! My 14-week-old son sometimes prefers the pacifier to my breast.Infants are born with an intense need to suck, and sometimes they go through a stage where the sucking need intensifies. It can be even more frustrating when, for unexplained reasons, your baby prefers a pacifier to you. To decrease your little one’s dependence on […]
Ban Nighttime Binky
My two-year-old still uses a pacifier to sleep. I think it’s time to wean him. Is that right?You likely know that young children suck on their fingers, thumbs and pacifiers. From the early months, the sucking action becomes an activity that babies associate with comfort and sleep. Later in life, many toddlers will resort to […]