母乳乃嬰兒的最佳營養來源，為營造以母乳哺育為常規的親善環境，衛生福利部擬定母嬰親善醫療院所十步驟，其中步驟九建議「哺餵母乳之嬰兒，不給予人工乳頭或安撫奶嘴」。但吸吮安撫奶嘴與母乳哺育失敗或提早中斷母乳哺育期之關係缺乏本土性研究，故需要建構台灣目前相關的研究。本研究為縱貫式相關性研究設計，其目的為探討嬰兒使用安撫奶嘴的狀況與母乳哺育之關係。2008年1月至5月以結構式問卷調查161位育有健康足月新生兒之產婦，在嬰兒出生後3-5天之住院期間、滿一、二及三個月時各進行收案。結果為住院期間及出生滿1個月時，沒有使用安撫奶嘴之嬰兒較多，分別為73.3%及58.4%；於出生滿2個月及3個月時，有使用安撫奶嘴之嬰兒較多，分別為68.9%及78.9%，使用原因主要為「為了安撫嬰兒哭鬧的情緒」與「協助嬰兒睡覺」，嬰兒使用安撫奶嘴者在出生後二個月內其純母乳哺育率較無使用者為低。本文建議臨床應提供產婦關於嬰兒行為辨識及嬰兒安撫技巧的資訊，以減少嬰兒使用安撫奶嘴對母乳哺育的影響。

Breast milk is the best first food for infants. In addition to the ten steps to successful breastfeeding advocated by World Health Organization, the Health Promotion Administration strongly recommends a ninth step: ＂give no artificial teats or pacifiers to breastfeeding infants.＂ However, limited evidences is available in a Taiwanese context to support the idea that pacifi er use affects the sucking pattern and prevents or ends breastfeeding. This study therefore explored the relationship between pacifi er use and breastfeeding. A total of 161 Taiwanese mothers with full-term infants were enrolled in a longitudinal correlational study from January to May 2008. Mothers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire when their infants were 3- 5 days old at hospitalization and 1, 2, and 3 months old. The results showed that the majority of infants did not use pacifiers at hospitalization (73.3%) and 1month of age (58.4%), but most used pacifi ers at 2 (68.9%) and 3 months of age (78.9%). The two reasons most frequently provided for pacifi er use were ＂to calm a crying infant＂ and ＂to soothe an infant to sleep.＂ Pacifi er use was associated with a lower exclusive breastfeeding rate at 1 and 2 months of age. We therefore recommend that information on infant behavior and infant-soothing skills be provided to the mothers.