Warning to be put on dummy packaging?

[mumandsupergran]

For many years I was a special educational needs co-ordinator in a primary school as well as being a Mum to two children. I am now gran to a little girl. Research is showing a massive rise in the numbers of children reaching school with speech difficulties. There are not sufficient speech and language therapists to deal with the problem. If children arrive at school not able to speak properly their literacy development will be greatly hindered, perhaps for life. Some parents are using dummies to keep their children quiet when they should be talking to them and helping them to develop their language skills. Children learn how to make all the sounds they need to speak in their first year of life and gradually put these together to make words. A dummy stops them putting their tongue and lips in the correct position to form sounds correctly. Parents need to be warned that dummies can be harmful if used indiscriminately.There should be a health warning on dummy packaging which should state that using a dummy can seriously damage a child's speech and language development if used by a child beyond the age of one year during their waking hours. Parents can then make an informed decision about whether a dummy should or should not be used. Would any of you like to sign my epetition to ask the government to address this issue? I am not condeming anyone for using a dummy, I just want everyone to be aware of the risks. Here is the link to the petition:

Reading through other chats on Mumsnet I realize that this will be controversial but I feel very strongly about it.

sued if a baby is screaming/crying constantly then sometimes it needs 'pacifying' for the sake of itself and for the parents. There is nothing wrong with it if the child is happy and being a parent is hard enough without judgement from others and sometimes parents DO need a break.

There is no need for them, they are unhygenic, and as you say, affect speech.

Let's hope you never have a child that won't settle except when they're sucking. I'm sure you'll take the nipples that are torn to shreds over that dirty dummy.

My DS has a dummy for sleeping, never during waking hours; the exception being if he's properly hurt himself.

He's 18 months, has been speaking in rudimentary sentences since 14 months, and I would say his comforter is far more unsanitary than his dummys ever have been.

It's also going to be a lot easier to remove an orthodontically approved dummy, than a thumb which could necessitate the use of braces. My sister is 22 this year, and still sucks her fingers.

I'm sure an over-reliance on dummies during waking hours would affect speech, but the answer to me is education for the parent to keep them for specific times and situations, rather than letting the child have it continuously - not a blanket ban, or a scaremongering warning on the packaging.

ps. Maybe they should ban thumbs too.....
My DS sucked his thumb unti he was 8 - used to play rugby and come home with FILTHY hands and pink thumb....

Yes thumbsuckers are much worse my dd1 sucked her thumb til she was five. It's not something you can take away and she sucked it all day every day! Surely that's worse than a dummy that can be removes

Also in the area I live in speech and lang therapists are not being replaced when they go on mat leave or leave the area, I know there is massive competition when a s and l job comes up so it is not as simple as not enough therapists here in any case.

My only DC that had a dummy had NO speech issues at all. He had it in the day till he was 3yo, and at night till he was 4yo.

I just made him take it out if he wanted to say something. His speech at 2yo was assessed as that of a 5yo.

My thumb sucker, on the other hand, had to have years of speech therapy. Should a warning be printed on every newborn baby's thumbs?!

I hate dummies with a passion, but they saved my sanity (and my nipples) when DS was born as a very sucky baby. He's 2.8yrs and still has a dummy to go to sleep with sometimes. It has been restricted for sleep only since the first few months.

TBH whilst I agree in theory, I don't think the parents that use it just to shut their children up - and I hate seeing that on the bus etc, makes me really sad - will pay any attention to these warnings. But good luck.

Very good point MissMavishasbluehair - prem babies in SCBU are given dummies to help stimulate the sucking reflex, aren't they?

[http://fsid.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=417 Some links on the FSID site to studies about dummies reducing the risk of cot death]]

Damn it.

I'll try that again !

:)

I think all kids are different, DS1 loved him dummy DS2 is not interested and is actually really difficult to settle without feeding. I am not a fan of daytime dummies in older children to me they are a comforter and therefore seeing children who are 3 walking around quite happy sucking one is not my thing but they are not my kids. It's extreme to want to ban them. I am guessing sued's dc were also ebb, potty trained at 18 months and never had any jar food

Ebf!

Both of my DC spent a lot of time in nicu, neither of them ever used a dummy.

Dummies are not "vital" to anyone

Yes scbu and nicu often promote the use of dummies, my dc1 learnt to latch and bf well after a week of sucking a dummy, so that 'ugly unhygenic' dummy helped them with something far more vital for him. Also a deep sleep is risky for a preemie so again protected from cot death.

sued is letting there opinions over ride common sense and fact, and my dummy (at night) loving 3yo holds a more valid and inteligent arguement.

More info from FSID

My thumb sucker is now 14yo, and still sucks constantly except when I bat her thumb away from her mouth or when she is talking to someone.

She will need YEARS of dental surgery to correct the issues caused by her thumb sucking. She needs her jaw broken and reset, and fixed braces that I can't afford!

My dummy sucker? Perfectly aligned teeth.

My own dentist tells me he advises a dummy over a thumb EVERY time. As there is the ability to take it away before Second teeth come in. You can't take someone's thumb away.

And I was THE most anti-dummy person you would ever have met when I had my DD, I could have turned myself inside out with my catsbumface seeing a pre-schooler with a dummy. I soon realised what an arse I was.

The ONLY one of mine that needs corrective dental surgery is the eldest who NEVER had a dummy.

My DS2 needed the most speech therapy of all my DC's. He was NEVER a 'sucky' baby, mostly because his muscle problems prevented him from being able to suckle at all. He was SPOONFED milk until two years old, so he never sucked his thumb, a dummy, my breast OR a bottle.

So if ANYONE had tried to tell me that his speech and language issues were to do with dummies, I might have bought a job lot of dummies and shoved them where the sun doesn't shine!!

DD is 13 months old and her speech is a little delayed but considered normal by the doctor. My Aunt is a speech therapist and I asked her to assess DD when we were visiting last week. We use a dummy for sleeping only. If a parent is over using a dummy then putting a warning on the packaging isn't going to result in the parent using the dummy less.

According to my Aunt the reason for the delay in speech is due to her being exposed to two languages (English and Danish) plus different accents (my English accent, American and Hispanic accents at daycare) and the two ladies in the afternoon at daycare speak Spanish to each other. My Aunt said delayed speech is very common in these situations and that I should not be worried. We have the option of starting DD in Spanish immersion through her daycare at 18 months and my Aunt said I should go for it. Apparently it is very good for brain development.

DS was given a dummy on HDU at 8 weeks to help regulate his breathing because he was on CPAP.

I don't think any warning are needed on the dummies, it is up to parents to make such decisions about what is right for their baby. I think most people know extended use during the day isn't reccomended anyway

Couthy Well said.

Sorry but I can't sign up for this. In theory I should, DS never hada dummy and speaks beautifully but.....

Parents need to be warned that dummies can be harmful if used indiscriminately.There should be a health warning on dummy packaging which should state that using a dummy can seriously damage a child's speech and language development if used by a child beyond the age of one year during their waking hours

Do you seriously think that the parents who use dummies indiscriminately - so they visibly damage children's teeth and cause them to lisp, as opposed to the parents above who demonstrate that they can use them approriately, are going to read the warning on the packaging? They'll just tear it open and throw it away.

You'd be better off encouraging manufacturers to make dummies that change colour after x ammount of time in the mouth but even then, if parents are so deliberately obtuse not to see the damage they're doing to their chidlren, they're not going to abide by a warning.

I work for a nursery that has a specialist speech therapy unit. In three years I have never known a child be referred with speech & language development issues as a result of dummy use.

My own daughter used a dummy until she was nearly 4.5, albeit only for bed times from about 2 (and if I had heard someone say that before I had my own child my judgey pants would have been round my ears!). She was speaking in intelligible sentences by the time she was two.

I also agree with point that is parenting, not dummies per se that causes the issues in this case.

Methe, your dcs, in nicu may never have needed one, but ds did - when he had low muscle tone, and had a poor suckle, the dummy helped to encourage him to suckle. He also had awful acid reflux, leading to hours and hours of screaming all day and night. His paed advised a dummy, as not only is suckling a pain reliever, but sucking increases saliva production, which helps neutralise the acids coming back up.

I am reading this thinking I wonder if I should have perservered with the dummy for DD1 as maybe it would have helped her oro motor skills! She still struggles with straws at almost six as a result of muscle weakness in her mouth.

Used2, annoyingly, dummies aren't great for good oro motor skills. Can I highly recommend this for teaching drinking with a straw, and improving oro motor skills.

I asked ds's SALT about dummy use when he started, and she said they promote the use of the wrong muscles (a bit like bottles I suppose), and can also make drooling worse (a problem that ds suffers from).

Having said that ds does still have a dummy for getting to sleep, I beat myself up about it, but his SALT seemed to think as long as he was only having it for sleep it should be ok.

Ds has strong oral fixation and mouths everything, he chews his hands a lot. He has chewy tubes (not interested of course!) and his favourite thing is a chewy necklace which I wear.

Thanks hazey, I think I will order one of those then another for DD2 when she is 8months as we don't know if DD1s issues are genetic or not so worth a try. Despite this DD2 does have a dummy, I hate that as well as having theissues of having a child with SN we end up beating ourselves up about things we should do or wish we'd done it just adds to the stress. For instance I spent ages worrying that I had done something wrong with DD1 to cause her speech probs when in fact it is most likely the result of a chromosome deletion. Doesnt stop me beating myself up about every little thing though I think thats why this thread touched a nerve-I know its the kind of thing that would have stressed me out if DD1 had had a dummy when in fact it has nothing to do with it.