Essential Baby Gear: Sterilizing, Sizing & Safety Instructions

Baby gear maintenance includes properly sterilizing bottles, nipples, and teethers to ensure infant safety. From selecting car seats to knowing when to replace pacifiers, choosing the right equipment is vital.

Close-up of a woman touching the top of a baby's head (3-6 months)

How to Teach a Baby to Take a Pacifier

Published Jun,13 2017 | By Stephen Harding

Whether to offer your infant a pacifier or not is a personal decision since there are pros and cons to both sides of the pacifier argument. A pacifier helps soothe a baby's strong reflex to suck, it can help him fall asleep and it may help reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Stephen Harding has been writing since 2009, with work on eHow and LIVESTRONG.COM. A U.S. Marine captain, he has military, operations and leadership experience. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing from the University of Central Arkansas, is a Six Sigma Green Belt and a Development Dimensions International Targeted Selection Interviewer. He is completing an MBA at the University of Iowa.