CHICAGO — Heavy pacifier use by infants after six months of age increases the risk of ear infections, perhaps because the sucking upsets the ear's air pressure, blocking proper drainage, researchers reported Tuesday.
A look at more than 400 babies in Finland found that those who did not use a pacifier continuously had 33 percent fewer episodes of acute otitis media — the ear infection among the most common reasons for medical treatment among infants and for giving them antibiotics.
"The method by which pacifier use increases susceptibility . . . is not known," the report from the University of Oulu said. "It is reasonable to assume that the effect may lie in an alteration in the pressure equilibrium between the middle ear cavity and the nasopharynx, which apparently impairs the functioning of the Eustachian tube."
The Eustachian tube is the passage that connects the middle ear and the back of the nose. It acts as a drain for the middle ear and maintains hearing by opening periodically to regulate air pressure. If the tube is blocked, it can prevent adequate drainage and result in infections.
The study was published in this month's issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In order to make a comparison in pacifier use, some of the parents in the study were told that pacifier use was OK during the first six months because of innate sucking urges but that after six months it should be limited to the moments before the child fell asleep and discontinued entirely after 10 months of age.
Other parents in the study were not given the pacifier instruction. But among children from both sets of parents, infections were reduced by a third when the pacifier was not used continuously compared to when it was.
"Pacifier use appeared to be a preventable risk factor for acute otitis media in children," the study concluded. "Its restriction to the moments when the child was falling asleep effectively prevented episodes (of the infection)."
The infection "is such a common disease during childhood that even small changes in children's everyday habits may have major effects on its occurrence," the study said.