For many parents, pacifiers are a baby essential, helping their little ones calm down, self-soothe and sleep better.
They can also help reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
But some are safer than others.
Consumer Reports tested 20 pacifiers for choking hazards, harmful chemicals and durability, and they spoke with safety experts to find out what parents should and shouldn't buy.
Most performed well, but a few raised red flags for risky attachments or confusing labels.
"All pacifiers sold in the U.S. are subject to strict safety regulations, but unsafe pacifiers do make it into the marketplace," said Lisa Fogarty, an evaluator of home and baby products for Consumer Reports.
Since 2014, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received 178 reports involving pacifiers, including one death and cases of choking, biting off pieces, and getting fingers stuck in small holes.
CR found questionable pacifiers online from glittery "blinged out" models with rhinestones on Amazon, which CR believes represent a potential safety risk, to secondhand or even vintage ones on eBay, that don't meet safety standards.
"That's why it gets tricky when shopping online, especially from third-party sellers," Fogarty said. "Some of those products may not have gone through proper safety testing."
When shopping on sites like Amazon, Walmart, or Temu, that allow third-party sellers, CR recommends sticking to trusted brands and checking that listings confirm safety testing.
CR reached out to Amazon, eBay, and Meta (which owns WhatsApp) for comment about potentially unsafe pacifiers sold on their sites. Amazon told CR that it requires all pacifier clips sold in its store to comply with applicable regulations. According to Amazon, they "develop innovative tools to prevent noncompliant or unsafe products from being listed in our store, including robust seller vetting programs and advanced machine learning detection combined with expert human investigators. We continuously monitor our store, and if we discover a product was undetected, we address the issue immediately and refine our controls." They also confirmed that they are in the process of removing the pacifier clips CR found that are not compliant with CPSC standards.
CR also asked Amazon how they handle potentially dangerous pacifiers sold on their site, such as those with rhinestones. CR's experts could not find explicit language in the CPSC rule prohibiting the use of rhinestones. Amazon responded that they require pacifiers to comply with CPSC requirements for small parts and closely monitor CPSC guidance for policy updates and product recalls and warnings, in addition to other product safety signals such as customer feedback and manufacturer notices.
A spokesperson from eBay responded that eBay prioritizes consumer safety and has removed the reported listings while continuing to take down similar items in line with its Product Safety policy (at the time of publication, the listings were still up). The spokesperson also said that in 2024, eBay's safety systems, which are powered by product safety filter algorithms, audits, and regulator partnerships, blocked over 40 million potential violations to keep its marketplace secure. CR asked eBay if they check CPC's for children's products sold on their site. They did not respond by publication.
Meta also did not respond in time for publication.
But it's not just an online issue. CR's test lead, José Amézquita, found a pacifier at a local store missing the required safety warning. It's a reminder to be careful wherever they shop for baby products.
While pacifiers can be a soothing essential, a little extra care goes a long way.
Clean pacifiers often and replace them if they show signs of cracking or discoloration.