Tips on introducing a dummy

[Hillijx]

Hi, I have a three week old who loves a hug! She has so far only really slept properly when she is hugged which hasn't been a problem as my husband has been off work. However he goes back to work on Tuesday and I have a 3 yr old and a 16 month old at home and won't be able to hug the baby all day. She is quite a calm little thing until we put her down, she wants to comfort suck on something and since she can't get her hands to her mouth properly yet she wants to comfort on me instead and I just don't think I will manage that along with two other children!

We are trying a dummy as dd2 loved hers and really helped her sleep but she just spits it out all the time. Really worried she will just be crying all day if she has nothing to comfort her once I am more tied up with my other two so any tips on how to comfort her in her basket to help her sleep would be great?

Thank you

[aggie4684]

My daughter was the same, just wanted to be with me all the time. I got nothing done - which is fine! But I found she didn't like the normal shape dummy so I tried one which is shaped like the NUK ones. But I Would lay her down when I saw she was getting tired and I would put white noise on (thank god for white noise!) and I would hold the dummy in, enough so she could spit it out but sometimes they need a few moments to get a good suck! But she soon got the hang of it and as will yours

[FATEdestiny]

My fourth didn't take to a dummy like my others did. But like you, I knew the value of persevering. We started trying to get her to have a dummy from about 3 weeks and it took her to 7 weeks to 'get it' and understand that if she sucked on the odd bit of plastic in her mouth, that she gained comfort. Like you, until then she either automatically spat it out or gagged on it.

I tried:

• holding her in breastfeed position and putting the dummy in from the same angle as my nipple.
• At the end of a breastfeed, whipping nipple out and dummy in super fast.
• Try different types of dummy. DD took to the 'cherry' shaped ones best.
• Try with the dummy every day, every sleep time. But don't insist on it. Just keep on persevering and trying until it is accepted.
• Giving dummy at different times, sleepy, awake, after feed, before feed. (until accepted, when it because for sleep time only).

With my DD (EBF), dummy refusal went alongside bottle refusing also. So we were persevering with both. She got them both at the same time, about 7 weeks old. No coincidence that a week later she was sleeping through 11pm-7am.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Mine would never take one but I have successfully introduced them to other babies (on request of their DM obviously) by giving it to the whilst they are being cuddled, after a big feed and Mum is out of the room.

My dad sounds very much like your lo. Things that helped us were a sling, swaddling and white noise.

[Hillijx]

Thank you, I have been persevering over the last few days with the dummy and sometimes she likes it, most of the time she doesn't! I have tried a different type but that got the same response, am yet to find a cherry one as most people recommend those. Since it's been the weekend we have been busy so she has had a lot of cuddles but as of tomorrow my husband goes back to work so the real work starts.......eeeek! Let's hope she is a good girl and just sleeps nicely in her basket for me!

Fate destiny, I think we will have the same problem with a bottle, with dd2 I avoided the bottle until I was ready to give up feeding as I had a hunch she would prefer the bottle to me, I was right and never had any issues as she loved the bottle and weaned herself off me. I don't think we will have the same with this one, but being that she is our last baby I might be keen on having an excuse not to wean!!

[helloelo]

It sounds like you'd be a prime candidate for a sling.
And a goldi or a natursutten dummy. The shield mimics the breast, it's very gentle.

[Greenstone]

Sling for sure will help in general.
Another dummy trick for breast fed babies is to lightly tap the back of it for a few seconds. Apparently this mimics the letdown or something.