Women's Journal

Your Motherhood Needs Peace of Mind

Your Motherhood Needs Peace of Mind
Photo Courtesy: Soothe Beginnings

By: Oscar Lang

Simplicity, safety, and trust are the bare minimum for baby products. Mothers cannot buy into the sales rhetoric of a company that is selling them toxic or caustic products, microplastics, or bacterial infection-inducing merchandise. As far as pacifiers go, these criteria are even more important since the product is going into your baby’s mouth for significant portions of the day. Lindsay deOliveira, a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor (CBC), saw that pacifier nipples were being created for quick profits, ignoring certain health standards and never questioning the bar for others. She created Soothe Beginnings to challenge health norms for products that babies consume. 

Soothe Beginnings offers cute interchangeable pacifier nipples that are free from plastic, latex, and toxins—ingredients that have no place near your baby. Instead, they are crafted from food-grade silicone, a material that’s not only safe but also incredibly durable and eco-friendly. Soothe Beginnings pacifiers can be personalized with your baby’s name or monogram, making for a precious keepsake. Who can’t relate to visiting after a year of college to find that your mom has kept your baby’s clothes, toys, or even teeth? 

The interchangeable design is not just to customize for different nipple shapes, it’s also for cleanliness. Soothe Beginnings pacifier nipple kits are dishwasher safe! Between changing out nipples more frequently and cleaning them regularly, it’s a win-win against products that risk mold and bacteria development millimeters from your infant’s mouth. The design is of course only one part of its top-tier safety considerations. 

To understand the difference between silicone and latex, you need to break it down into toxicity, durability, and allergy-friendliness. Latex, a so-called “natural rubber,” contains proteins that, after repeated contact, can lead to sensitivity or clinical allergy type 1. Studies in Denmark have shown a clear relation between the use of natural rubber latex and the prevalence of natural rubber latex allergy. Symptoms include stridor, facial swelling, and a cough. Latex is also toxic; it contains preservatives and other non-consumable chemicals, as well as microplastics, that should stay far away from developing youth. Silicone eliminates the allergy risk, and it’s a stable material that does not leach microplastics. It’s recyclable and food-grade. Additionally, when latex breaks down, it adds two hazards: choking and uncleanliness. Choking on a degraded piece of latex is something that Lindsay sees as an oversight in current pacifier standards, and the porous degraded pacifier nipple is one that grows dangerous bacteria. Silicone does not degrade, so you can have peace of mind in one more area of motherhood. 

These pacifier nipples are interchangeable on a richlite shield. Richlite is a recycled product made from resin-infused paper to be non-porous and non-toxic. When microplastics are linked to lowered fertility, cancer, and other long-term health defects, it’s worth taking every possible precaution. The material comes from well-managed and environmentally productive forests, and Richlite products qualify for Living Building Challenge (LBC) Red List-approved certification.  

Environmental sustainability is just an added reason to turn towards Soothe Beginnings for a superior pacifier nipple. 

Each batch going out to new mothers is produced and tested in the USA. Lindsay, steadfast in her belief that industry standards need to be raised, contacted pacifier brand leaders herself to find that they either would not comment on testing or test at most once a year! She’s done the investigation that every mother should and likely wants to, but maybe she hasn’t had the time or thought to even realize that these products are made with minimal safety considerations. Her brand’s resolve has earned praise from professionals and mothers alike. 

“As a mom of three and a pediatric sleep consultant, pacifiers are something I’ve looked a lot into. Since discovering Soothe Beginnings, my search has stopped, and I love recommending it to new parents to start them off on the right foot in their soothing journey.” Jensine Casey, Pediatric Sleep Consultant, bastions the new product. RNs, midwives, doulas, pediatric sleep consultants, pediatric occupational therapists, and more have supplemented these reviews, and Soothe Beginnings’s social media comments show even more excitement for each release. 

Check out Lindsay’s website if you’d like to visualize the cute colors and engraving options for the Soothe Beginnings pacifier nipple starter kit. Industry standards will eventually rise for pacifiers—they have to as more mothers find out the truth about latex and unclean designs—but you don’t have to wait for the whole industry to change to keep your baby safe and healthy. Keep your peace of mind as a mother. 

 

Published by: Khy Talara

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