Specialized pacifier helps babies with breathing tubes

Parents know how pacifiers can calm crying, distressed babies. Now a Florida nurse has created a pacifier for preemies who need breathing tubes.

Although those babies may be upset, they can't cry out loud because of the tube.

The pacifier created by Harriet Miller is much smaller, very bendable, and has a groove cut out so that it can sit beside the tube.

Many hospitals have adopted the new pacifier, but Miller wants even greater access.

"We are lobbying for them to be in the emergency room or also on helicopters or anywhere that babies are gonna be intubated so that they have that as an option for them. I mean they're our tiniest patients," said Miller.

In a study, babies given the pacifier during medical tests were much calmer, and had lower heart rates, yet higher oxygen levels.