Dummy or no dummy?

[Empress]

What's the current opinion on using a dummy? When I had my babies I thought they weren't good for them, so we never used them. Has that changed now? Are they in or out of fashion?

One of the bonuses to single parenthood!

WS - could we do like the smokers do and give up together?

Good idea!

Or keep diaries, like dieters. I can imagine mine:
Got baby off for nap without gadget - result
COllected baby from PIL's - baby with one gadget in hand, one gadget in mouth. Grrr.
Baby whimpered quietly in taxi. DP nearly hyperventilated trying to reach his spare gadget, in case the driver noticed that he had a baby in the back.
Started to massage baby to sleep without gadget, but heard CSI coming on so thought s*d it and gave in.

PMSL - CSI yeah!!

I would never take one. Neither would DH. DD, however, was an incredibly sucky baby. She loved it from the moment I popped it in her wee mouth when she was about one week old. She likes the cherry teat ones, of course. She still has it when she goes to sleep. She's 2 years, 2 months. She calls it her 'dubbeet'.

I didnt have one - mum didnt like them - my ds who is 4.5mths refuses to take one! I guess that saves the trouble of weaning him off it. Although sometimes i wish he would take it to help him calm down

if they need one to get through first few months but should be thrown before 6 months

I would never say never, my dd didnt have one, although she might have used me in place of one.

if you're worried about weaning them off, don't.
Both my DDs came off their's during the summer. I just stopped giving it to them one night and haven't looked back since.

Hi both of mine had them, and my eldest had his until he started reception, one dentist didn't mine them changed dentist and now find that my eldest has a ??? bite, basically his teeth have a gap in them, since giving up the dummy he sucks his fingers usually when he's distracted watching telly, not when he's going asleep - so his bite isn't getting any better.

We went cold turkey, after a couple of days both were fine without their dummy's (apart from finger sucking habit)

I used dummies in desperation when ds1 and ds2 were little and had colic. I never gave one to ds3. However I had no trouble gatting ds1 and ds2 to take a bottle whereas ds3 refuses bottles unless absolutely starving! Don't know if its coincidence or not but if I have a 4th I will use one! I don't believe they cause "nipple confusion" I think that could happen with bottles if given too young, but not with dummies.

Oh and I got rid of them when the boys were 6 months old.

Message withdrawn

Oh well I planned to get rid of them at six month but I am afraid the time came and went and I just couldn't be arsed. Yes I am a lazy mum.... and proud.

Unfortunately I don't like her having it now so I really have to motivate myself!

Yes Beetle we should have a club. Starts today. This week I have decided (like Suzy) to only let dd have dummy for naps and bedtime and next week I am just going to remove it altogether. Eeeek.

So far so good, no dummy this morning but allowed it for nap....

Anyone else?

I think dummies are fine for sleeping or for illness, for a baby that really needs to suck and is using mum as a live dummy. What upsets me is when toddlers have to try to communicate through their dummies, I do feel they get in the way of good speech development. They're not called dumb-mmies for nothing.

Yes well that is right of course and as I have said I am trying to wean mdd.

However just because she has a dummy doesn't mean she is a dummy.

Um, Lyra, they aren't actually called dumb-mies - you made that up!

They are all called pacifiers...

also not all

DD is 2.8 and used dummies at night and for car journeys until last week. We told her a few months ago that the Dummy Fairy would come one night, take the dummies away to give to babies, and would leave her a present. We decided that we would just mention this a few times and then leave her to decide when the Dummy Fairy would come. We bought her present (a Playmobil zoo) and hid it away. She decided that the Dummy Fairy would come last Wednesday night, announcing this just before she went to bed late, after I'd spent a long and tiring day with my mother in the hospital. The Zoo was in about 50-60 pieces, so we spent four hours putting it together and finally finished at 1am.

She was thrilled with the zoo, but is finding it hard going to get to sleep without the dummy. I am trying to be positive and see this adjustment time as the cost, for her and us, of having had 2.8 years of her sleeping well at night.

I have no regrets about her having had a dummy. It clearly has given her comfort and allowed her to get herself to sleep, and back to sleep after waking up, on many occasions. I really can't see the harm of moderate use of a dummy, though I can easily imagine how dummies might be used to keep a child quiet during the day and don't think that's a good idea at all.

My guess is that many children don't like them. My mother offered dummies to both me and my brother. He liked them, while I rejected them.

But you can see where the word dummy comes from, it was originally because it stopped babies from crying, and put them on between feed times!

I tried really hard to giv my two children dummies. Why you may ask. Well my brother who is 42 still sucks his thumb and my SIL who is a similiar age also still sucks her thumb.

You can always take a dummy away, not easily I know, but a thumb is with you for life.

Having said all that what's the harm in sucking a thumb inn your 40's.

One of mine had a dummy, the other wouldn't let them come anywhere near her, their choice not mine (well as much as a small baby can make a choice)