Breastfeeding difficulty and pacifier use.

Research about pacifiers used in the healthy, term infant shows that they are associated with shortened breastfeeding duration, acute otitis media, and may be a marker for breastfeeding difficulty. This case study describes a situation where latch was faulty from the beginning, and a pacifier was introduced when the thriving baby was two and a half weeks old. The baby's average number of daily feeds dropped from 14 breastfeeds a day to nine breastfeeds. The baby's rate of weight gain dropped from 1135 g (2 lb 7 oz) gain in the first 16 days of life, down to a gain of 180 g (6 oz) over the next 15 days. The baby's fussiness and the mother's nipple soreness disappeared after a lactation consultant helped the mother to correct the latch and stop using the pacifier. While it is not possible to say that the pacifier caused slower weight gain, less frequent breastfeeds or nipple soreness, it would seem to be implicated in the changes.