Pacifiers have been a point of hotly contested debate between parents for some time now.
As with all things that can potentially do a baby harm, few can blame those who don’t think it’s safe to give their young ones a pacifier. It’s true that soothers can calm babies and quieten them when they’re distressed, but there remain question marks over certain associated problems.
Teeth malformation, long-term dependancy and risk of choking rank high on the list of black marks for some. If you’re one of those who doesn’t believe pacifiers are completely safe, you may well have another point to bolster your argument. If you’re an advocate of soothers, we might have something worth your time…
Kristen Milhone, mom to a seven-month-old boy named Jack, has reason to send warning to all parents – one that’s especially pertinent when it comes to putting them to bed.
Milhone, of Michigan, US, described in a recent Facebook post how she had woken up to the sound of her baby crying, which was unusual. When she went to check on Jack, she discovered a bad burn on the side of his face where his skin had blistered.
The mom’s Facebook post reads: “This morning I woke up to my baby as usual but this time was a little different. My baby had a quarter-sized, reddened, raised and blistered spot on the left side of his head (the side he was laying on). I immediately thought chemical burn!”
Milhone, confused and distressed, rushed Jack to the emergency room at Helen Devos Children’s Hospital. During the drive there, she tried to contemplate what could have caused the burn, but was left stumped.
“As I grabbed all of his things for an early morning car trip to Helen DeVos, I thought ‘well maybe it was something in his cosleeper’ but that thought quickly flew from my mind because it was just him and his pacifier. None of the things countless safe sleep books, ads, commercials, or doctors warn you of.”
Doctors were equally perplexed. They suspected ringworm to begin with, before eventually determining that it was his pacifier that had given him the burn. The size of the mark matched the backside of the soother.
“As Jack rolled at night time he happened to have created a suction effect between his left temple and the back of the soothie,” Milhone explained on Facebook. “The diameter of the wound and the pacifier indentation were an exact match!”
According to reports, Jack’s wound is healing well and becoming less noticeable with each passing day. Still, his mom now knows there’s a hidden danger with keeping pacifiers in your baby’s bed, and things could have been worse.
Well, I certainly didn’t know that this was possible, and will be reassessing the pacifiers my young ones have.
If you have children of your own, or perhaps know people who do, SHARE this article to help spread Kirsten’s warning.
