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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

"does he have a dummy?"

8 replies

DuelingFanjo · 03/04/2011 14:05

My DS (14 weeks) doesn't have a dummy and I don't intend to get one however family members of a certain age (grandparents, great grandparents etc) seem to ask an awful lot 'does he have a dummy?' usually straight after commenting about him chewing his hands. I thought hand chewing was pretty standard baby behaviour. Are they asking because they think he should have, and if so, why?

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BertieBotts · 03/04/2011 14:13

Possibly just because if he did have one, it might be a sign that he wanted it. Some people like to discourage their babies from sucking their thumbs. I'm sure it's not a criticism, they just want to be helpful :)

RitaMorgan · 03/04/2011 14:17

I think bottle fed babies need dummies more than those that are breastfed on demand - babies need to suck so if your family are used to babies that have restricted sucking time through feeding they probably did need a dummy.

My ds has a dummy because sometimes I don't want to let him comfort suck on me

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 03/04/2011 14:31

Ds went through a hand sucking phase, when if discovered them, dangling there at the end of his arms! We had comments about giving him a dummy as you can "take it away" unlike a thumb. But we didn't. And after a couple of weeks if stopped it so i'm glad we did't encourage him to form a dummy habbit.

I've never really got the comfort sucking thing as ds always had milk in his mouth if i took him off so i figured he would need to get those calories sometime.
For some people babies and dummys go together like...erm...horses and carriages lets say. Personaly i still remember the trauma of giving up dummies so just didnt want to go down that route, and have had no reason to think i should have. So i say just brush the comments aside.

Original poster

DuelingFanjo · 03/04/2011 14:36

ah thank you :) I just wondered if there might be an argument for giving him one. He's breastfed 'on demand' so he does a lot of sucking

OP posts:

RitaMorgan · 03/04/2011 14:41

There are definitely arguments for them, but if you and your ds are happy without one then they aren't necessary.

TuttoRhino · 03/04/2011 15:37

Mine would never take one. I must admit to briefly trying when I was desperate for a break. But she wasn't interested. Now I'm glad as I don't have to deal with breaking the habit, though she's still way, way too attached to my nipples at 22 months IMO.

And I feel that babies / toddlers look a bit strange sucking on a dummy. Course I'd probably feel differently about that had she taken to one all those months ago.

matana · 03/04/2011 19:05

Never had any intention of giving DS one, also BF on demand. He's never needed one though as he's so chilled out. Had he been a baby who may have benefited from one i may have considered it, but have always been one to prefer not to if possible. Thumb sucking seems more natural to me, although i can understand that it could be a habit that's difficult to break.

TheSkiingGardener · 03/04/2011 22:00

We resisted dummies for several weeks, but he was very sucky. In the end he got in a bare about something and none of the usual methods were working so we tried a dummy. Immediate happy baby.

Some kids love them, some don't. If he did have one and was sucking on his hands they would probably want to give him the dummy instead. I believe it didn't quite have the stigma some people attach to it so much a generation ago either.

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