Dummy - effect on speech

[mumofthreekids]

My DS2 was a very sucky baby who had a dummy from birth to help him sleep. Gradually the dummy use increased until he had it in pretty much all day. When he was 18m I weaned him off it, but unfortunately a week later I had all 3 kids ill with chicken pox and I gave it back to him in the interests of an easy life.

We finally got rid of it at the beginning of October (except at night). I'm cross with myself for leaving it so late, but at least it's done now.

DS2 is now 2y1m. He has lots of words and is starting to put them together into sentences of 2,3 or 4 words. However, his pronunciation is very poor (eg hor for horse, raffe for giraffe). I can't think of more than a couple of words he says clearly. Does it sound like he needs a hearing test or speech therapy? Or do you think it's the legacy of the dummy, even though he's been dummy free in the day for several weeks now?

wouldn't worry - sounds normal (ie every child develops differently), if he has lots of words and he's putting them together, he's on the right track and understands the concept of speech. My DS was similar at that age (compared to all the girls his age who seemed to talk like teenagers), even now aged 3 he still says yike instead of like, and some weird word sounding like muyreck for milk. But his pronounciation has come on dramatically in the last 6-7 months, along with speech in general.

FWIW he also has had a dummy since birth, predominantly for sleep only but soemtimes we cave when he's sick or we have a very long transport journey coming up. I don't think his speech is any more or less affected than his friends his age who've never had dummies.

Don't be cross with yourself, we do what we can to survive!!

My DD1 had a dummy till she was 3. She is now 5 and it never affected her speech development. In fact she is way ahead of her Yr1 peers with her reading and phonics. My theory was that she would get rid of it when she wanted to and in the end she was just using it for afternoon naps. It was in fact a trip to the dentist which ended the dummy use when he said it might affect her teeth if she used it for any longer. That same day she put her dummies in the bin!Dont worry about it :)

My DS1 had a dummy till he was nearly 4, it stopped him being able to say the 'th' sound properly but he corrected this himself at 5.
My DS2 still has a dummy at night and is 3. I do think it affects him saying some sounds not th this time but 's'. I'm keen to get rid of the dummy and it will be removed soon.
Don't feel too guilty, I don't, in spite of my MIL's efforts to make me feel bad about it. Think of all those children who are thumb suckers into their teens.

Don't worry, it's not like he's 5!!!

He's still little and most kids that age can't say stuff properly. My DD never had a dummy and I'm starting to be concerned about some of her sounds- she doesn't say "s" or "sh" or "f" (although she can have a good go at these if you prompt her). She is almost 3!