Bottles, pacifiers, Thumbsucking ups speech disorder risk

[The Straight Story]

Thumbsucking ups speech disorder risk

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Bottles, pacifiers and other sucking behavior apart from breastfeeding may increase speech disorder risk in young children, U.S. and Chilean researchers say.

A research team at the Corporacion de Rehabilitacion Club De Leones Cruz del Sur and the University of Washington Multidisciplinary International Research Training Program, led by Clarita Barbosa, evaluated the associations between sucking behaviors and speech disorders in 128 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers from Patagonia, Chile.

The team collected data from the parents on infant feeding and sucking behaviors and conducted evaluations of the child's speech.

The study, published in the journal BMC Pediatrics, found that delaying bottle use until the child was at least 9 months old reduced the risk of a child later developing speech disorders. Children who sucked their fingers or used a pacifier for more than 3 years were three times more likely to develop speech impediments.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/10/21/Thumbsucking-ups-speech-disorder-risk/UPI-13221256103388/

[The Straight Story]

1. am kick(nt)

[sybylla]

2. I'd rather deal with a few visits to a speech therapist than an

unhappy baby on a daily basis. If sucking provides comfort, they'll get comfort when they need it. The consequences can be dealt with.

[ensho]

3. I've always been horrified to see babies and toddlers with pacifiers

stuck in their mouths.

what a terrible habit to start in a child.

sometimes a new infant could use a pacifier for a short time until the mother can deal with them.

but after the new infant phase - NO pacifiers.

a human being should comfort a baby/toddler not a pacifier.