Pacifiers aren't just good at soothing your baby and giving parents a few minutes of peace — it turns out that they have many other benefits for babies as well. But just like so many other parenting products, the market is flooded with countless pacifiers that promise to soothe our little ones, making it difficult for parents to know which products are actually effective. We spoke to the experts and searched high and low to find the best pacifiers that comfort babies and even improve their development.
Dr. Joseph Salim, D.M.D. of Sutton Place Dental Associates, tells Best Products that pacifiers help facilitate breast or bottle milk feeding for your little one down the road, and that “the use of a baby pacifier can help develop the ability to suck and swallow, even in premature babies who are not yet able to latch onto the breast."
Material and Shape
According to Salim, the best pacifiers are made of silicone, which can be easily sterilized. But since they're fragile, he notes that you should replace pacifiers every 6 months or so. Another great material you can get is natural rubber, which tends to be more durable and good for babies with teeth. The shape is all about preference — do they prefer the bulbous-tipped pacifiers or the more straight shapes? Regardless of their preference, it's important you buy the right size for your child as they get older, for both comfort and safety.
Cleaning
The outside of your baby's pacifier should be stable, sturdy, and easy to disinfect. This gets tricky with pacifiers like the Wubbanub which are made of fabrics and are machine-washable. For fabric pacifiers, simply place them into a lingerie bag and wash with your laundry. They don't need to be washed after each use — only the rubber pacifier portion does, which can be easily dipped in boiling water or washed with dish soap and water.
How We Chose
Dr. Salim says that pacifiers should only be used through age 2 to prevent dental, breathing, and orthodontic problems for the child later on. Other than that, they're really a great product that parents should feel encouraged to use liberally.
Our team at Best Products has researched the best pacifiers using the advice of Dr. Salim and through personal experience with our own children and the children close to them. We've also combed through reviews and side-by-side comparisons to determine the best pacifiers for every baby
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1
Best Rubber
Natursutten BUTTERFLY Ortho Small Natural Rubber Pacifier
Made of natural rubber and particularly durable, this pacifier is a great option because it can be tossed in the dishwasher without a problem. The ring on the outside is nice for the baby to hold onto, without having any mechanisms that trap food.
Ever try to find a lost pacifier at zero dark when your baby is screaming their head off, and you can barely see through your bleary, sleep-deprived eyes?
These lovely binkies are glow-in-the-dark and easy to spot, making them the perfect nighttime companion. Plus, they're also totally adorable.
Buy roughly 500 of these. Keep a bag of clean ones in your diaper bag, your glove compartment, your partner's glove compartment, your parents' house, your living room ... everywhere.
These are the perfect size pacifier for newborns — and easiest to clean — but babies have the unique ability to spit them out like a cannon across the room and under couches, never be seen again. Simply put, you need many. They're little pacifier rockets your baby will scream without.
4
Best Smaller Shape
Dr. Brown's HappyPaci 100% Silicone Pacifier (3-Pack)
If your baby doesn't like the shape of the Philips, or you just fancy variety (or easy clip-on models), then this version by Dr. Brown will do just fine. It has a handle that can be looped through a pacifier holder, and they're dishwasher-safe, inexpensive, and built for little mouths.
Dr. Salim says that these are the best baby pacifiers for breastfeeding babies. They really conform to baby's mouth in a way that isn't so different from nursing. The exterior rim is extra soft and gentle, so it isn't jarring to babies used to the breast.
The parenting editor at Best Products swears by these baby pacifiers, but notes that while babies love them — especially very tactile babies — and they stay put, they get absolutely disgusting after a while, so she cautions parents to buy several. (Or register for a bunch).
They can be thrown in the washing machine, so they aren't hard to clean, but they can get a bit gnarly and need replacing every 4 to 6 months.
This is a wonderful, fully silicone newborn pacifier, with a subtly different shape from the others. It doesn't have such a pronounced tip, which might be more comfortable for some babies, like our parenting editor's child, who had a tongue tie.
These pacifiers are designed for older kids. The design is nice because it allows for open airflow around the mouthpiece while still being a safe pacifier. Plus, it comes in some of the cutest patterns.
Toddlers are weird about pacifier shapes. This is similar to the pacifier above but a slightly different shape, which your toddler might prefer. You may notice that if their favorite pacifier as a baby is MAM, then they're going to prefer it as a toddler.
You'll need many, many of these in your life. They're compatible with pretty much any pacifier or teething toy, and they're chewable too, to provide teething relief. They also just happen to look very good.
It's never been more critical to make sure everything is super clean, especially things your baby is putting into their mouth. This portable UV sanitizer kills 99.99% of germs in just 59 seconds. Plus, it's USB-powered — and affordable, so you may want one in your car and one in your home.
Cat BowenParenting EditorCat Bowen is the parenting editor at BestProducts.com where she researches all of the best products for families from pre-conception through their teen years, focusing on matching scientific evidence with real-life needs.
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