Looking for the best pacifiers of 2015? So are we!

In our case, with three kids down and one almost done baking, we knew right away that we would be stashing a pacifier or three in our diaper bag, purse, van, kitchen and any and every other crevice. It’s been 6 years since we’ve had a kiddo that used one and there have been SO many changes to just about every product over the years that we wanted to take our time and find out what was different.

Honestly, we weren’t met with a lot of differences with pacifiers. Aside from being mostly BPA free, something that just started to trend when our now 6-year-old was baking, most of them aren’t to far from what we’d had before.

Every baby is different though, and despite the Phillips Avent Pacifier being our three boys’ favorites, we can’t be sure what to expect our new baby to like when she comes in October.

Here’s the rundown of the most popular styles and brands and our opinions on each of them.

PHILLIPS AVENT SOOTHIE PACIFIER

This is a favorite among hospitals and I have noticed that a lot of my friends’ kids seem to like this one too.

Our boys just didn’t like this one. I am not really sure why. One of the things we noticed was the back of the pacifier isn’t curved, so when they suck on it, it seemed to lose suction and would pop out of their mouths. This was especially true when they were brand new.

The description says:

• Sized and shaped for baby’s mouth
• Latex free
• Hospital grade silicone
• Durable, one piece construction
• Packaging may vary

While I would love to assume they are BPA free. They just don’t list it in their description.

Also, I would like to add that these pacis are a PIA for keeping off the floor with their limited abilities when it comes to pacifier clips.

THE FIRST YEARS GUMDROP PACIFIER

The First Years wasn’t a brand I would have even glanced at years ago, but these pacifiers caught my attention for several reasons. First, they were one of very few brands to actually post photos of the actual nipple on their pacifiers. Secondly, they were the ONLY brand to have a photo of it in an actual babies mouth to show the fit AND the only to have an actual video about their product on their listings.

They went a step further…

Check out this product description:

• Trusted by hospitals
• One-piece, silicone design stays clear of baby’s button nose
• Easily works with most pacifier attachers
• Convenient two-pack so you’ll have a clean spare
• BPA free, Latex free, Phthalate free

See that last line? Not only are they rockin’ the BPA free, they are also Latex and Phthalate free. Something that may be happening with other brands, but if it is, they sure didn’t list it.

This attention to detail was enough for us to try this pacifier out for ourselves. The shape of the paci and the nipple seemed right and worth a try AND they make room for a pacifier clip.

MAM PACIFIER

I was hoping to find a photo of the actual nipple of this pacifier, but just like with Advent, the design is shown and not the actual nipple. I’d rather see the nipple, MAM. This is another pacifier that our boys just didn’t like. While the design of the back of the pacifier helped keep it in place in their mouth and it didn’t seem to slip out, the actual shape of the nipple is (still) weird. I don’t know if I was honestly expecting it to be different aside from being BPA free, but I was still a little shocked that they didn’t change the nipple just a little to be less flat and spoonish at the tip.

From the product description:

• Silicone
• Imported
• BPA-free pacifiers
• Curved shield allows the pacifier to sit comfortably on baby’s face
• MAM Ultra Soft Silicone Nipple stays comfortably in baby’s mouth due to the anti-slip texture

Out of all four, this pacifier is probably our least favorite of the bunch.

PHILLIPS AVENT BPA FREE PACIFIER

You can kind of see the shape of the nipple in this photo, which we appreciate, and while this paci has been our kiddos favorites (for all three so far), we just aren’t sold on it considering The First Years newer pacis that seem to be a little on the interesting side. We have to admit though, because this pacifier has been an ongoing favorite for our kids, we have stocked our fair share of a dozen or so of them.

So what made it a favorite? The shape. The nipple is perfectly shaped (see the tiny image by the yellow sun looking thing on the package above). The slight angle in the pacifier itself makes it easy to keep in the mouth and it doesn’t seem to pop out.

We feel as though the air vents are a major player in this paci staying in tiny mouths. This feature is enough to keep this pacifier on our best pacifiers list AND win it’s way into our diaper bag this Fall.

Their product description:

• BPA-Free
• 6 air holes in shield create extra airflow for less skin irritation
• Orthodontic, symmetrical collapsible silicone nipple
• Security ring handle
• Dishwasher safe and can be sterilized

In the end, we went with two different kinds of pacifiers and will let it play out to see what she actually likes best.

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