Pacifiers Become Dirty Easily and Make Infants Sick

Pacifiers help parents console a fussy or crying baby. However, according to a new study, pacifiers can be heavily contaminated with disease causing bacteria, posing many health risks to a growing child.

Microbiology expert at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa Dr. Tom Glass and colleagues found used pacifiers helping the growth of biofilm, a slimy coating of bacteria that changes the normal microbe balance in the mouth and is particularly resistant to antibiotics. This causes many chronic diseases like colic or ear infections and a series of health problems like cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases. 

The researchers also found that the pacifiers were heavily contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, and fungus. In all, the researchers found more than 40 different species of bacteria on the pacifiers. To prove their theory, researchers cut the used and unused nipples separately and kept in laboratory dishes, to examine the growth of bacteria present in the nipple.

After two days, investigators examined the growth in the used pacifiers with growth in new, unused pacifiers. They found used pacifiers containing growth strains of harmful bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus. They also found that many of bacteria found in the used pacifiers had a high resistance to antibiotics like pencillin and methicillin.

"After doing the study, I say why take a risk? The key is to recognize that pacifiers can cause illness," study author Glass told Health Day. "In the long run, it may be that what you do now [using a pacifier] may have a lot to do with whether a child ends up developing atherosclerosis or type 2 diabetes."

Findings of the study were scheduled to be presented Friday at the American Society for Clinical Pathology annual meeting in Boston.

If pacifiers are a necessity, then sanitize them each evening.

"Sanitizing them can reduce the number of organisms and prevent biofilm from forming,"healthylivinglifestyletips.com quoted Glass, as saying.

Use a denture solution, which you can buy without a prescription, and soak three of four pacifiers overnight. "Wash them off and put them in a bag," Glass said.

Please discard them after two weeks as pacifiers are not meant to be used indefinitely. If your child is sick, replace all their pacifiers.  "Pacifiers can become a reservoir, so if your infant becomes ill, throw away all pacifiers and start with new ones."

According to William J. Becker when a pacifier pops out of baby's mouth, it should be cleaned, no matter where it lands. Bullard suggests washing it with dish soap and cold water and letting it dry in the open air. It also can be soaked in a baking soda solution - one teaspoon of baking soda to eight ounces of water. Parents should keep several clean pacifiers on hand - stored dry in a clean baggie.

If a pacifier pops out and there are no clean ones available, wiping it off with a tissue is better than nothing, as it prevents biofilm build up and removes some of the germs, Bullard said. Pacifiers should be cleaned daily and discarded every two weeks or sooner if they show signs of wear, ripping or build up.

However, there is a counter opinion on the dirty pacifiers.

 "A dirty pacifier may be a good thing," healthylivinglifestyletips.com quoted Bruce Hirsch, MD, of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. "Exposure to multiple types of bacteria early on in life can help an infant develop and sustain a healthy immune system."