A pacifier is different from other comfort habits because it isn't the kind of comfort your baby provides for himself, but one you offer. Most babies can manage perfectly well without a pacifier, provided they are allowed to suck their own fists, fingers or thumbs if they want to. If you're choosing between those two options, opt for the baby's own equipment! His thumb is under his own control -- he'll be able to find it for himself, and put it in and out for himself. Get him hooked on a pacifier, and for months on end, you'll have to keep going to him to put it back in his mouth. Even later on, when he can manage a pacifier for himself, it's less hygienic than his own thumb, and he'll probably hate the look of it too. The babies who really can benefit from pacifiers are the ones who need to suck for comfort, while they're still too young to find their own hands on purpose. If your baby is often miserable, sucking may be the one thing you can count on to make him relax. If ad-lib nursing isn't enough sucking for him, a pacifier may alter the whole family's life for the better. If he does have a pacifier in his first three months, he'll probably go on with it. But you can still prevent him going on through the whole year, if you keep the pacifier in his crib, and never let him discover that he can crawl or walk around with it.
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