If there’s one thing that we truly know about babies it is that they like to suck. A baby comforting herself via sucking on her thumb is so common as to be cliché. From the beginning of time, babies have been sucking their thumbs as a means of comfort. It’s normal and natural for babies to do this, and it’s not unusual by any means.

While the thumb has been around for a long time, the pacifier is a relatively new occurrence. Babies can also use a pacifier to help themselves calm down. The modern idea of the pacifier has been around for more than a century, appearing in the early 1900s. Before that, parents would use any number of materials for baby to suck on, including things like cloth and even silver.

For many babies, sucking is comforting. A baby’s instinct is to suckle when he’s hungry, of course, but also when he is tired or when he is stressed. Most infants will fall asleep suckling. When babies get older, sucking can still help to soothe. You can’t and shouldn’t feed a baby every time he tries to suckle, because sometimes he’s not hungry but rather just needs comfort.

Most of the time sucking on a thumb or a pacifier won’t cause any permanent damage. Most dentists believe that there’s no danger to the teeth unless your child is still sucking by the age of four years old or so. If that’s the case, you might think about doing something to break the sucking habit.

Experts aren’t always in agreement about whether sucking a thumb or sucking a pacifier is better for your baby. Chances are pretty good your baby prefers one or the other anyways. While there is some evidence to suggest that thumb suckers may maintain the habit longer than babies that use pacifiers, it isn’t set in stone. There is also some research that suggests a pacifier at nap time may reduce the risk of SIDS, although more research in that area is needed.

If you’re concerned about your baby’s sucking habits, talk to your pediatrician. She may be able to offer some helpful advice.

We’ve known for years that cloth diapers are better for baby’s skin. Babies who wear cloth diapers have literally one seventh the chance of developing diaper rash as babies who wear disposable diapers. That alone would cause most parents to choose cloth diapers if it wasn’t for one thing: Cloth diapers are also extremely inconvenient. Or are they?

While there’s no denying that cloth diapers’ stigma for being inconvenient is based in truth, there have been many changes in recent years to the way cloth diapers are made which have addressed most of these issues. If you’ve decided to go with disposable diapers because of the extra convenience, consider these things before dismissing the possibility of using cloth diapers:

• Diaper pins are outdated. When most people think of cloth diapers, they think of big, sharp diaper pins. They’re inconvenient, rather ugly, and have the nasty tendency of poking you or, worse, your baby. Most cloth diapers today don’t need them, however. These days, you can buy cloth diapers with Velcro tabs which hold the diapers in place much as the disposable diaper tabs do.
• You don’t need to stink up the house. Most cloth diapers today use disposable inserts, which can simply be flushed down the toilet. In addition to saving our landfills from a lot of unfiltered waste, this is just about as convenient as wrapping up and throwing away disposables. The diapers themselves can be kept in a sealed diaper pail. In most cases, you’ll have less odor that you would with disposables.
• You can use disposables on the go. With the linings being flushable, there’s no need to wrap up diapers and stick them in the diaper bag to throw away at home later. Besides making your diaper bag a couple pounds lighter, this gives you one less thing to worry about while you’re on the road.
• You can save a lot of money using cloth diapers. Sure, you have to wash them, but you’re going to be doing laundry anyway. It really doesn’t add more than a load or two per week. When you add up the costs of disposable diapers over the two to three years baby will be wearing them, it adds up to a lot of extra jingle that could be staying in your pocket and being put to better use.

We’ve known for years that cloth diapers are better for baby’s skin. Babies who wear cloth diapers have literally one seventh the chance of developing diaper rash as babies who wear disposable diapers. That alone would cause most parents to choose cloth diapers if it wasn’t for one thing: Cloth diapers are also extremely inconvenient. Or are they?

While there’s no denying that cloth diapers’ stigma for being inconvenient is based in truth, there have been many changes in recent years to the way cloth diapers are made which have addressed most of these issues. If you’ve decided to go with disposable diapers because of the extra convenience, consider these things before dismissing the possibility of using cloth diapers:

• Diaper pins are outdated. When most people think of cloth diapers, they think of big, sharp diaper pins. They’re inconvenient, rather ugly, and have the nasty tendency of poking you or, worse, your baby. Most cloth diapers today don’t need them, however. These days, you can buy cloth diapers with Velcro tabs which hold the diapers in place much as the disposable diaper tabs do.
• You don’t need to stink up the house. Most cloth diapers today use disposable inserts, which can simply be flushed down the toilet. In addition to saving our landfills from a lot of unfiltered waste, this is just about as convenient as wrapping up and throwing away disposables. The diapers themselves can be kept in a sealed diaper pail. In most cases, you’ll have less odor that you would with disposables.
• You can use disposables on the go. With the linings being flushable, there’s no need to wrap up diapers and stick them in the diaper bag to throw away at home later. Besides making your diaper bag a couple pounds lighter, this gives you one less thing to worry about while you’re on the road.
• You can save a lot of money using cloth diapers. Sure, you have to wash them, but you’re going to be doing laundry anyway. It really doesn’t add more than a load or two per week. When you add up the costs of disposable diapers over the two to three years baby will be wearing them, it adds up to a lot of extra jingle that could be staying in your pocket and being put to better use.