Parents use a variety of methods to clean a baby’s pacifier: rising it in tap water, boiling it, or putting it in their own mouth and sucking on it before giving it back to the baby. According to a new study, parents who “clean” their child’s pacifier by sucking on it can also protect their infant from developing allergies.

In order to effectively manage and treat reflux-related symptoms, it is important for pediatricians to distinguish patients with physiologic gastroesophageal reflux (GER) from those with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).