Check out the baby section of a store, and you'll see a dizzying array of pacifiers. They come in many shapes, sizes and colors.

Despite a bit of a bias in our society against pacifiers, the American Academy of Pediatrics actually gives them the A-OK, especially between one and six months.

Here are some benefits to pacifiers:

— Studies suggest that pacifier use during sleep might help to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

— Pacifiers soothe fussy babies because babies suck to calm themselves down, even before they are born.

— If you need a distraction for your hungry baby, a pacifier can fit the bill, buying you a few minutes to find a place to nurse or warm a bottle.

— Pacifiers can help babies fall asleep.

— When it's time to give up the pacifier, you can take it away. Not so with a baby's thumb!

But of course, there's also a flip side. Early pacifier use might interfere with breastfeeding. Prolonged use might lead to dental problems, such as the teeth slanting outward or not coming in properly. Plus, babies who lose their pacifiers in the night cry out for help to get them back!

Here's what our Mommy M.D.s — doctors who are also mothers — do about pacifiers.

"My son cried a lot in the first few weeks of his life before we found out that he had food allergies," says Saundra Dalton-Smith, M.D., a mom of two, the author of "Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity" and an internal medicine specialist in Anniston, Alabama. "During that time, the only thing that would soothe him was his pacifier. I know many moms hate them, but when you have a baby who will not stop crying, you have to do what you have to do. My son's pacifier was his special friend — as well as mine!"

"My kids all used 'binkies' until they found their thumbs at around three months old," says Katherine Dee, M.D., a mom of three and owner of Glow Medispa in Seattle. "At that point, they sucked on their thumbs to self-soothe. I was fortunate to not have to go through the extract-the-binkie process."

"My middle child wasn't interested in pacifiers at all," says Amy Baxter, M.D., a mom of three, the CEO of Pain Care Labs and an NIH researcher based in Atlanta. "But it wasn't for lack of trying on my part! I went to Walgreens at 2 a.m. one night and bought one of each kind of pacifier they sold, hoping to find one that my son would like. It didn't work.

"My oldest and youngest babies really wanted their pacifiers, though," Dr. Baxter continues. "In retrospect, I should have been more insistent about having my children stop using the pacifier at one year of age. I didn't do that with my older son, and he was still attached to his pacifier at age three. At that time, my husband and I made a big deal about saying, 'What happens when you turn three? No more pacis!' It became a game. We'd sing the song, and my son would triumphantly whip the pacifier out of his mouth.

"Just as we had trained my son, on his third birthday, we sang the song, he whipped it out, and we confiscated the paci and replaced it with a toy. That night he whimpered for it, but we said, 'Oh, silly! Remember, you're a big three-year-old now! No more pacis!' So our son gave up his pacifier on his third birthday. I've found that pretty much anything works in parenting, as long as your will is stronger than theirs is!"

"I tried to get my sons to take a pacifier, but they never would. I was quite tempted to use one myself at times though!" says Rebecca Reamy, M.D., a mom of two sons and a pediatrician and chief of the Department of Pediatrics at Columbus Regional Health in Columbus, Georgia.

Jennifer Bright is a mom of four sons, co-founder and CEO of family- and veteran- owned custom publisher Momosa Publishing, co-founder of the Mommy MD Guides team of 150+ mommy M.D.s, and co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to the Toddler Years." She lives in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. To find out more about Jennifer Bright and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Ben_Kerckx at Pixabay