title: Does Pacifier Use in Infancy Decrease the Risk of Obesity?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nonnutritive sucking using a finger or pacifier is a natural reflex for infants. We hypothesized that infants may overfeed if the bottle or breast is constantly offered. Our goal was to determine whether pacifier use in early infancy is associated with lower incidence of obesity at later age.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parents of 399 infants, 9 to 15 months old, were interviewed and asked whether a pacifier was used consistently for ≥9 months. Body mass indexes at birth, 6 months, and on the day of interview were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 204 (51%) infants used a pacifier, and 195 (49%) were nonusers. More infants in the nonuser group were either overweight-40 (21%)-or obese-32 (16%)-than in the user group-22 (11%) and 22 (11%), respectively ( P = .003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pacifier use in infancy was associated with lower incidence of obesity at 9 to 15 months of age. Offering a pacifier can be protective against infantile obesity.
authors.affiliation: 1 Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Ahdi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amer
authors.affiliation: 2 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abusamaan
authors.affiliation: 3 University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1 Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fischer
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D041361:Pacifiers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012306:Risk
keywords: nonnutritive sucking; obesity; overfeeding; pacifier use