Need Advice on Rubber Pacis

If your baby will take the silicone paci that's great. If he will only take latex, I would not stress about it. Just replace pacis that seem to be deteriorating. Hopefully your child will only use pacis for a couple years of his life, so I do not think the latex will cause any damage.

You can get a product called Grapefruit Seed Extract from Whole Foods. Just use a couple drops of it in water, and you can soak the pacis for about 2 hours. I don't recall how it worked with latex, but it cleans without any toxins that can come from soap. I would opt to do that before I would loose the latex.

Try weaning your child off of pacifiers, then you won't need to worry about which ones are emitting which toxic chemicals. Babies and children don't really need to suck on anything for comfort. We had to wean our first child off of her pacifier as part of getting her to calm herself down and go to sleep on her own without the aid of something external (bottle, pacifier, anything she might drop in her crib that would need to be returned to her by someone else) at 9 months. Our 2nd child didn't use a pacifier at all since we requested that no pacifier be given to him at the hospital when he was born.

silicone is definitely best if you choose to continue using a pacifier. nuby and born free products are what i use and are safe. no BPA on the plastic part of the paci, no phthalates, no worries! remember you should also check to see what kind of plastic the nipple for the paci is attached to. babies don't always just put the nipple part of the paci in their mouth!

visit the soft landing website for information and products. http://www.thesoftlanding.com/

visit http://safemama.com/ for the best information on safe products for your little one.

good luck and hats off to you for questioning the products your giving your child! : )

The clear paicfers do last longer. I have found that the rubber ones do get very sticky and gross way before the silicone ones. But with all pacifers you need to make sure you watch for wear and tear after a certain time peroid.

EASIEST THING TO DO: Just buy Only "BORN FREE" brand products, their nipples, bottles, pacis, etc are all BPA and chemical free. So not bad things. Sold at Babies R Us and online, maybe Target or Walmart?

Hi J.,
I would use only silicone pacifiers. Silicone is a very safe material that has many uses in the medical field.

I hope this helps!
D.

Hi J.,

That's right. You want silicone pacifiers and bottle nipples. PVC or other plastics leach phthalates, which can mimic natural body hormones and may interfere with normal body functions. Some phthalates have been found to increase a person's risk of cancer.

I have never heard that, but having a child who has used both: the yellow tipped ones held together much longer and never got sticky, the clear tipped ones broke and became a chocking hazard quickly (I washed frequently and I think it broke the material down faster)and then they had to be replaced.