Does your baby use a pacifier? Why or why not?

Sometimes your baby chooses for you. Some kids will take one, and others want nothing to do with it. My older child never was a big fan - she would take it for a few minutes but didn't see much point and then would spit it out and not take it back. She learned to suck on her finger around 5 months and that was her comfort measure. My little guy is just 9 weeks and he usually won't even take the paci in his mouth. There are benefits to using them if your child would accept it, but I don't think it is necessary and lots of kids do fine without them. There is indeed a concern with dental health, but only if the habit continues a very long time and is frequent. The concern is pushing the front teeth out of alignment, but if the child gives up the pacifier early this is not an issue. Also less of a concern if an older child uses it only for night and nap time. I don't think they should walk around with a pacifier all the time, especially when they are old enough to start speech. It makes speech development difficult and also makes your kid really hard to understand. Most kids by that time will understand that as an explanation.