What are the dangers of letting babies sleep with a pacifier?

Many babies like to fall asleep with a pacifier. In order to make their babies sleep peacefully, many parents allow their children to fall asleep with pacifiers. In fact, sleeping with a pacifier is a very bad habit for babies. It may affect the baby's tooth development, affect the appearance of the baby's mouth, cause abdominal pain, interfere with the baby's development of self-ability, block the baby's mouth and nose and cause suffocation, and easily cause the baby's ears to be infected.

1. Affect the baby's tooth development and even cause dental disease

If a baby falls asleep with a bottle or pacifier in his mouth, it is not good for the child's oral hygiene and he is likely to develop "bottle teeth". When rotten teeth form, the baby will also experience drooling and other phenomena. In addition, once "baby bottle teeth" are formed, they will cause cavities on the surface of the teeth, making the surface of the teeth rough, which will become a factor that makes it easy to get tooth decay in the future.

2. Affect the beauty of the child's mouth and cause "overbite"

Continuous sucking will affect the development of the oral cavity, causing deformities in the upper and lower jaws and affecting the beauty of the face.

3. Sleeping with a pacifier can also cause abdominal pain

If a child often uses a pacifier, he or she will always be sucking and swallow too much air, which will cause bloating in the stomach, increase the possibility of vomiting, and sometimes cause abdominal pain.

4. Interfere with the development of the baby's self-ability

When parents let their babies sleep with a pacifier, it means that the baby may lose the pacifier in a dark room. The baby will cry loudly and will not get better until the parents find the pacifier. This practice hinders the baby's development of self-ability and makes the baby feel that he must be soothed with a pacifier to fall asleep.

5. Make your baby associate eating with sleeping

Another problem with letting your baby suck a bottle before going to sleep is that he or she may mistakenly associate eating with sleeping. Once the baby establishes this connection, it will form a habit and become dependent on this form in later life. This can lead to the risk of obesity.

6. The pacifier may block the baby's mouth and nose and cause suffocation

When a child falls asleep with a pacifier in his mouth, the pacifier may block the child's mouth and nose, causing suffocation.

7. Ear infections

Studies have shown that pacifier use increases the risk of otitis media in babies (although the incidence of otitis media in the first six months of life is relatively low).