Wondering if pacifiers have an expiration date? Or, how frequently should pacifiers be discarded?
If so, you’re not alone. This is a question often asked by new parents who have just amassed a little supply of their child’s preferred pacifier.
So that you don’t have any unanswered questions about your child’s pacifier, we’ve compiled this comprehensive guide.
You’ll discover how pacifiers become bad, how to check your baby’s pacifier, how to prevent your baby’s pacifier from becoming a hazard, and how often you should replace pacifiers.
1. Do Pacifiers Expire?
It’s not easy to give a definitive response, as some pacifiers have expiration dates and others don’t, which can be confusing for parents!
Indeed, how could a piece of silicone have a use-by date?
Products like pacifiers have expiration dates because the silicone or latex used to make them degrades over time.
These degrade quickly, making the product a potential choking hazard when it breaks into little pieces. The product’s expiration date indicates when the producer believes the ingredients will start to degrade even if the product is not used.
There should be a date on the back of the package indicating when the pacifier should be thrown away if it has one.
If you can’t locate an expiration date on the pacifier, or even if you can, you should still examine it for any symptoms of spoilage before giving it to your baby.
