If you used a dummy...

[ElliotGoss]

What age did you first give it?
Does the baby being breastfed change things?

A few weeks- she had classic 3 months colic and it seemed to give her some relief. I had been very anti-dummy before. She was EBF until about 5 months.
TBH the dummy was a godsend - she’d go to sleep anywhere as long as she had that and her blanket.
Didn’t entirely give it up until nearly 6 😱 but she’s long grown up and teeth were always perfect.

Ds was breast fed for first three weeks then bottle fed and had one until he was about three. No issues with speech or teeth.

Four months, game changer!

First child I started giving a dummy at 8 weeks, around the time I gave up my increasingly desperate attempts to breastfeed her. She cried a lot as a baby and the dummy did help a bit. Dropped it at 18 months.

Second child was breastfed. I was neurotic about that going wrong after my failed attempts with my first. He was a much happier baby but at around four months he started using me as a dummy, so I introduced one then. We didn’t get rid of his until he was three!

I think I introduced a dummy with each of mine within the first week. They were all breastfed for at least a year.

Both mine had them quite early and my youngest whose now 7 still dreams of having one... I had to ditch at 5!!!!??

But they both speak very well and early too and have very straight teeth phew 😮‍💨

All mine within days. It was a godsend.

Three days. BF to 8 weeks.
If she was hungry she'd spit the dummy out. If she was tired she'd instantly fall asleep.
Much better than comfort sucking on my poor sore nipples!

Around a week old I think. Dd was bottle fed. I was very anti dummy until the paediatrician advised me to give it a go.
Never looked back, I did ask him if she would be better to suck her thumb as I was concerned about it making her teeth wonky.
He told me that you can take a dummy away but you can’t cut off a thumb

When I realised that DD was still crying but not hungry, wet, dirty, tired etc. she just needed a dummy to soothe herself. I think it was about 3 weeks and as pp said, game changing.

Also, should have done it sooner but had been brainwashed into thinking they were a bad thing. She needed them and we had no issues with speech, sleep, teeth. And have it up overnight with no issues at about 3ish, can't quite remember exactly when.

A few days old until nearly 4. Teeth are fine

Many dc. All but 1 had a dummy. All dc binned their own around 3. Only 1 has had braces caused by overcrowding not using a dummy.. None had speech issues. All had dummy for naps /car journeys post a year old. For a poorly /teething dc a sanity saver ime. And SIDS recommended also. Don't feel pressure to dump the dummy op!

DS1 - 4 weeks I think? Dropped it by 1 year (in favor of a bedtime bottle).
DS2 - born at 6am, pacifier by 10pm. That kid could suck milk from a rock. Gave it up around 3 years.

Breastfed until 9 months with both of them. I found the earlier I introduced a bottle/pacifier, the better. I was back at work around 16 weeks with both and would send them with bottles in the day but nurse morning and evenings.

I don't think I've ever experienced any baby suffering with nipple confusion after nursing was well established (after 3-4 weeks). However I've heard of plenty of folk who needed to return to work at 6 months but had major headaches because the baby wouldn't take a bottle.

So I'd go with the sooner the better (with pacifier or bottle!)

Took dummies to hospital and bf all of them.

Breastfed baby gave her a dummy at about 5 days old and never looked back, absolite game changet for being able to soothe her

@DinosApple

Three days. BF to 8 weeks. If she was hungry she'd spit the dummy out. If she was tired she'd instantly fall asleep. Much better than comfort sucking on my poor sore nipples!

Same age and same reason. I got told off my the midwife as they were worried about nipple confusion but it was either I was sore and had cracked nipples or let him comfort on something better.

Dc1 was about 4 weeks - dh got it and put it in her mouth while I finally got some sleep! Dd was cluster feeding and I was shattered, she just wanted to suck for comfort and I was in a lot of pain. I was furious when I woke up and saw he’d shoved a dummy in her mouth - then about 3 minutes later realised I’d had a decent stretch of sleep!
She was breastfed and we had no issues. Also introduced a bottle of my milk at about 3/4 months, no problems there either.
Subsequent dc we had dummies ready when they were born.
None of them had them after age 3, dc1 from 2. No teeth issues, all lovely and straight, no braces.

Around a week and it helped enormously. Went cold turkey when they turned 1. They were very upset for a couple of days but soon forgot about it.