Traveling or Backpacking with a Baby or an Infant: Packing: Pacifiers (or Dummies or Binkies or Soothers)

It seems like most babies, infants, and toddlers today are using pacifiers (known in other countries as dummies, binkies, or soothers).  And no wonder they’re popular! Babies love to suck and a pacifier gives them something other than mommy to suck on, so they get all the good-feeling hormones without mommy needing to keep baby constantly attached to the breast.

When he was a newborn, we could sometimes get Akiva to take a dummy (or pacifier)... but most of the time he didn't like it much!

Our Akiva had terrible colic for the first two months of his life, so we were willing to try just about anything to get him to calm down and maybe even go to sleep!  Of course we tried offering him a pacifier, but the majority of the time he would not take it. He never seemed to like it much and eventually we gave up offering it to him. (He was happy with a boob or a bottle, though – as long as something actually came out of it!)

So when we travel we don’t have to worry about packing dummies or pacifiers.  But it seems, in my experience, that most people do.

So, how many pacifiers (dummies/binkies/soothers) to pack?

Friends who travelled with a baby told me they started out with five.  After three weeks of travel they had two or three left (they said they had three but one was “missing”… they still hoped to find it!)  So, I would say that if you are normally vigilant, you should pack one pacifier (dummy/binky/soother) per week of travel, plus a couple extra for a buffer zone.

Of course, this also depends on where you travel and what kind of pacifier you use. It also depends on the age of your child.  A newborn or very young infant with a dummy clipped to them on a dummy chain is unlikely to lose very many pacifiers.  However, having an active child above the age of about seven months means you’re running the risk of having the “toss it out, get mommy to pick it up” game be played with the pacifier.  And babies and toddlers who are strong enough will be able to remove most dummy chains.  My friends told me that one of their pacifiers was lost when their daughter tossed it over the edge of a cliff while they were hiking.

Remember, if you use a standard pacifier you can probably replace it easily in many parts of the world. However, in developing countries, they are not so prevalent and so can be more difficult to locate. Similarly, in rural areas or off-the-map places, like hiking and trekking destinations or local villages, you could be stuck without a pacifier if your last one gets lost.

Furthermore, some people use a specific shape or type of dummy or pacifier.  If you or your baby are particular about this, don’t count on finding your specific type when you travel. It might be available; it might not!

So, how does one keep from losing dummies and pacifiers while traveling?

The most obvious answer is not to bring them in the first place! If you’re planning on weaning your child off the pacifier, you might consider doing so before the trip.  On the other hand, with moving from place to place and unfamiliar sleeping situations, you might decide to wait.

Dummy or pacifier chains are a great idea – if your baby won’t remove them!  Most babies are able to pull these things off once they hit a certain age.  My nine-month-old can remove a bib and he can remove a dummy clip, too.  So they might not work.  You can consider allowing your little one to choose a “special” dummy chain (there are many fancy ones available online) if he or she is old enough.  Or you can try to find one that won’t come off so easily, but I have not found one yet.  If you find an ingenious design or one that doesn’t come off, please do let me know!

Other than those ideas, I don’t know of any way to keep a pacifier from getting lost. Everyone I know who has kids who use them constantly complain of lost dummies, so I take it that losing pacifiers is a common occurrence at the best of times.  That’s why my best advice is just to bring lots of extras with you when you travel!

Good luck and safe travels!