Gentle Flex Pacifier
If you ask parents what the purpose of a pacifier is, you might get a variety of answers depending on who you ask and when. For a frustrated dad, he might say the child thinks the pacifier's purpose to the baby is to give her something to throw out of the crib or, if possible out of the window of the car. To a mom, the purpose of the pacifier might be to help baby go quietly off to sleep. For parents who just need some peace and quiet in a house that is always full of the noise of a newborn, they probably would not say, "the pacifier is to shut the baby up." But that is probably what they are thinking.
But what is the purpose of the pacifier to the baby? For that little newborn, the pacifier acts as a substitute for mom's nipple so she can have the comfort of nursing during the hours when she is not feeding. Now the baby doesn’t know that the pacifier meets that need. But the manufacturers of pacifiers know this and they know that the closer they can make that pacifier simulate the feeling of nursing for the baby, the better the product will work for the baby. And when baby is happy with the pacifier, she doesn’t throw it out the car window and it does indeed quiet her down and off to sleep. So everybody wins.
The one pacifier design that may come the closest to simulating the feel of nursing may be the gentle flex design that was invented by Gerber. The name of the pacifier does a pretty good job describing the design philosophy of the unit. This pacifier is not a solid piece of hard plastic for the baby to suck on. After all, that is not how mom feels when the baby nurses. Instead, the nipple of the pacifier is made of a soft pliant material that gives to the sucking action of the baby. That is not only more comforting for the baby, it is gentler for the delicate skin in the baby's mouth so the infant will suffer fewer mouth difficulties during infancy.
The unique design of the gentle flex pacifier is not just in the nipple but in how the entire piece is designed. The backing and the shield also are molded to cause the nipple of the pacifier to simulate a human nipple. As the baby sucks, the nipple of the pacifier moves back and forth exactly the way moms does during feeding. This is such a close simulation to what the infant experiences during nursing that the youngster quickly adapts to using the pacifier and looks forward to it the way she would look forward to meal times.