For parents out there who were told that pacifiers are the root of all evil, take heart.  Now, the medical experts say that pacifiers may help reduce the risk of SIDS.  This was, without a doubt, my single greatest fear during the early part of our children’s lives, and I’m glad that research on risk mitigating practices is continuing.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pacifiers not be used during the first month to make sure the infant is encouraged to breast-feed, and breast-fed children should be placed back in their own cribs next to the parents’ bed after a night feeding session.  Thanks to Yahoo! and the Associated Press for bringing us this article.  It contains lots of good information for new parents, even beyond the pacifier issue.

Who would have thought that pacifiers might help prevents SIDS?  Or that side sleeping is considered risky?  If we can get this SIDS thing nailed down medically, it would be really great, and would spare agony for many parents.  Until then, we’ll have to just follow the recommendations and pray a bit on the side.  Our kids used pacifiers mostly to help with spitting up on our pediatrician’s recommendation.  It could be that those little objects of evil were beneficial after all.