Why pacifiers prevent sids

Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Pacifiers aren't just for soothing colicky babies anymore. A new study has found that use of a pacifier during sleep reduced the chances of a baby suffering from sudden infant death syndrome SIDS by 90 percent. This helps reduce the risk of SIDS. The AAP recommends breastfeeding as the sole source of nutrition for your baby for about 6 months.

When you add solid foods to your baby's diet, continue breastfeeding until at least 12 months. You can continue to breastfeed after 12 months if you and your baby desire. Schedule and go to all well-child visits. Your baby will receive important immunizations. Keep your baby away from smokers and places where people smoke.

If you smoke, try to quit. However, until you can quit, keep your car and home smoke-free. Don't smoke inside your home or car, and don't smoke anywhere near your baby, even if you are outside.

Do not let your baby get too hot. In general, dress your baby in no more than one extra layer than you would wear. Your baby may be too hot if she is sweating or if her chest feels hot.

If you are worried that your baby is cold, use a wearable blanket, such as a sleeping sack, or warm sleeper that is the right size for your baby. These are made to cover the body and not the head. Offer a pacifier at nap time and bedtime.

If you are breastfeeding, wait until breastfeeding is going well before offering a pacifier. This usually takes 3 to 4 weeks. If you are not breastfeeding, you can start a pacifier as soon as you like. It's OK if your baby doesn't want to use a pacifier. You can try offering a pacifier again, but some babies don't like to use pacifiers.

Do not use pacifiers that are attached to objects, such as stuffed toys and other items that may be a suffocation or choking risk. Do not use home cardiorespiratory monitors to help reduce the risk of SIDS. Home cardiorespiratory monitors can be helpful for babies with breathing or heart problems, but they have not been found to reduce the risk of SIDS. Use caution when buying products that claim to reduce the risk of SIDS. Bantam; Moon RY, et al. SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths: Evidence base for updated recommendations for a safe infant sleeping environment.

Butler R, et al. Pacifier use, finger sucking, and infant sleep. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Jaafar SH, et al. Effect of restricted pacifier use in breastfeeding term infants for increasing duration of breastfeeding. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Nowak AJ, et al. Oral habits and orofacial development in children. Accessed Sept. Thumb sucking, finger sucking and pacifier use. American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Pacifiers also known as dummies have been used to fulfill this innate desire for over years [ 1 ].

These mock nipples can soothe or calm infants and are also useful during minor medical procedures [ 2 ]. For example, pacifier sucking was shown to reduce crying in young infants undergoing venipuncture [ 3 ]. In , it was postulated that pacifier use might decrease the risk of sudden infant death syndrome SIDS at a time when SIDS was associated with sleep apnea.

Although this relationship has been disproven, there is strong and consistent evidence that fewer infants with SIDS use a pacifier during nighttime sleep than age-matched control infants [ 4 ]. The mechanisms whereby pacifiers provide protection against SIDS remain unclear, though two mechanisms have been proposed.

Firstly, protection may be related to effects on autonomic control [ 5 ]. Secondly, pacifiers may increase arousability from sleep [ 6 , 7 ]. The object of our research is the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus Me5 , a unique nerve formation in the central nervous system CNS as it is the only site of intra-neuraxial ganglions. That is, it contains the cell bodies of primary afferent sensory neurons. This narrow band of cells passes immediately next to the periaqueductal gray PAG and extends from the border between the pons Varolii and midbrain to the superior colliculus upper limit of the midbrain.

Its lower limit is rostral to the motor trigeminal nucleus Mo5. Next to Me5, a more medially and in front of the fourth ventricle is the locus coeruleus, the main source of noradrenergic fibers in the nervous system.

The LC and Me5 are intimately related in early development; the LC is important in the differentiation of Me5 neurons that are necessary for proper LC function [ 8 , 9 ]. The Me5 is completely surrounded by the reticular formation RF , and its caudal portion is its core consisting of small, multipolar, fusiform gamma-aminobutyric acid GABA ergic cells that are rostral to the Mo5 and which we denote as Me5c caudal portion of the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus [ 10 ]. Conversely, the rostral portion sits in the midbrain and is comprised of large pseudo-unipolar glutamatergic cells without dendrites [ 11 - 15 ].

Me5 cells have gap junctions that form somato-somatic synapses among small groups of neurons [ 16 , 17 ].