A Pacifier A Day Keeps The Emotional Growth At Bay?

It is no secret that boys are not very expressive with their emotions. There are no shortage of television shows, movies, and songs highlighting this, but a new study may hold all the answers. I am not a mother, but  I do know that pacifiers can be a huge help to parents dealing with a very fussy son or daughter. But, are those pacifiers shutting those babies up for more than just the time period?

A new study suggests that boys who were given pacifiers as babies had a lack of emotional growth later in life. Before a baby can talk, they use non-verbal cues, specifically facial expressions to communicate. They learn these facial expressions by mimicking others, all the while discovering the emotions that these expressions are attached to. Pretty incredible, right? So this study showed that boys in the 7-8 year old age range that were given pacifiers as babies heavily were worse at mimicking emotions and facial expressions. To make matters worse, surveyors interviewed more than 600 college age men whose parents reported heavy pacifier use, and those men scored significantly lower on tests measuring empathy and deciphering different emotions. Not surprising is the fact that girls seemed to not be affected by heavy pacifier use….we are very emotional beings and will figure out a way to let you know how we’re feeling! Parents tend to talk to girls more about emotional processing than boys, and since boys are not expected to be as emotional, parents may not compensate for the pacifier use.

It doesn’t take a Sex and The City marathon to figure out that men have the emotional capacity of a baby…but is it really their fault? This new study linking heavy pacifier use and emotional growth in males proves that maybe we should give our closed lipped honeys a break, it’s not their fault they can’t communicate their feelings…it’s their mother’s!