What's your opinion on dummies?

[Spaghettinetti]

Hi there, I'm expecting numero uno in about 5 weeks and really can't work out how I feel about dummies... I'd love to hear how babies get on without dummies, so if you're happy to share your stories, I'd love to read/hear them!

Thanks :-)

[mayihaveaboxofchoculaits]

bf both mine. one had a dummy.one didnt lke it and was happy with her thumb.
my only restriction was not to make a big deal about it, but also they only had one when they were sleeping. so that gradually lessoned rhe interest. having said thT we finally traded the dummy for a new doll. cant trade fingers so thumb sucking went on longer qith dd2 but i didnt mind much h
just reminded her to take her rhumb from her face when she had mucky hands. the older thwy get the more they do so that was a constant request! but i didnt shame her it was always practical justification.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

I didn't use dummies. I have no strong feelings about them though. Motherhhood can be tough and if they help then fine.

[Trooperslane]

I hate them with a passion.

Unfortunately dd is the suckiest child on the planet so I had to have a break.

She LOVES them. We keep it to tired/sleepy times though.

[naty1]

My 21m old was ebf till 13m i went with advice of no dummy until bf established but by then she wouldnt take it. (Nor a bottle either)
She never thumb sucked. Fingers in mouth when teething but that is not the same.
She was a very unsettled baby (has a lip tie) and fed very frequently.
With another child i would try the dummy from the start.
She has a gap in top 2 teeth anyway, probably from the lip tie (irony)
But so do both nannys and 1 aunt.
But her speech is very very good, clear and from a young age 5m.
Though i think that could be because she rarely slept in the day and never lying down.
I would think some children speak less due to dummy

[PirateJones]

i don't like seeing older kids with them. i can't believe someone said there 6 year old still has one

That would be my nephew. I see no problem as long as it's away before his adult teeth appear. As Bumpsadaisie said its an attachment object like a blanket or Teddy, the little guy has been through so much in his life that I’ve just decide he needs it and to let him keep it.

[notaflamingclue]

Best invention in the world.

That said, I've always been very strict that they are only for bedtime. The only possible exception to that being in the car seat (when he's expected to nap anyway) and at home, during the hour before bed if grizzly.

[JennyHampshireMum]

I think Leachers has it very much spot on, and i have just taken my little one off the dummys, but during that time that he was on them, i never liked to use them out and about in public

[Sarahdesert]

I'm hoping to have my daughter off of dummies by 3.

i don't like seeing older kids with them. i can't believe someone said there 6 year old still has one

[MoominsYonisAreScary]

All 4 of mine had a dummy.

Ds1&2 until around 3 years old at night. Now 19 &11 and never had any problem with teeth or speach.

Ds3 until 7 months when he decided he didnt want it any more

Ds4 only wanted it for a few weeks.

Had no problem with nipple confusion.

[Bumpsadaisie]

Official advice is to wait till you have got BF ing properly established before you introduce a dummy. They say 6 weeks. We waited that long with my eldest. With my second I was clued up and knew that the feeding was established and going well much sooner than that, so we confidently gave DS one at about 2.5 weeks.

[Bumpsadaisie]

Both my two had dummies.

One issue is that they can become a child's "attachment object", much like a teddy or a lovie/blanket as some people call them.

My son is 2.4 and is still desperate to have his dummy all the time, especially in situations where he feels overwhelmed e.g. dropping his elder sister at school (noisy, lots of people). I let him have his dummy then as it helps him manage his anxiety. No doubt people judge me for it, but you wouldn't stop a toddler having his teddy or blanket in those situations, and I am not going to force my son to give up his attachment object quite yet.

As he gets nearer three I will start to insist that it is for bedtime/carseat only and then the dummy fairy will visit once he is a little over three and through the attachment anxiety stage. Did this with our eldest and it was fine.

[Purplelooby]

To add - I needed a brace, partially because I sucked my thumb until I was 16! It was only the brace that stopped me because it had a permanent pallet thing that sat where my thumb would have been. My mum did try to give me a dummy as a baby but I wouldn't take it. With DS I tried different ones until he took one - it was the Mam ones that he liked in the end.

[Purplelooby]

It was invaluable for DS. He wasn't able to BF due to a tt and this also caused him to suffer from silent reflux. The dummy was a great help as reflux babies are often very sucky. It was also the number one thing that helped him to take daytime naps!

We stopped letting him have it outside of sleep time when he was 8/9 months because his reflux was much better and he was starting to cry specifically for the dummy. We then stopped letting him have it for sleeps when he was 12 months, basically because I wanted to get rid of it before he could start asking for it (which he was). It was so much easier to get rid of than I had dreaded!

On the other hand I have a newborn DD and she doesn't seem to need a dummy like her brother did, despite the same tt problems, so I'm open-minded about it.

[YNK]

I was very anti dummys with my children.
DS (now 30) needed a brace at age 11. It was a brace to stretch his lower jaw and worn at night. He found it very painful but persevered. The dentist explained that his lower was underdeveloped and had been affected by thumb sucking.
Fast forward to my GS who enjoyed his dummy at bedtime.
He stopped using it of his own accord at 18m. I can see no problem with his jaw at all!

[Spaghettinetti]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You've given me a lot to think about :-)

[EveryDaysAnAdventure]

I don't like seeing babies with them but my DS still had one as he wanted to suckle for comfort and I didn't want him to be attached to me all day when he wasn't actually feeding.

I've discovered my parenting style is to do whatever makes my life easier so long as it's not dangerous!

[stuckindamiddle]

I just wished mine would have taken one!

[ginmakesitallok]

We're on first dummy free night with dd2. She's 4 and we've finally bitten the bullet and gotten rid. She copes fine without one at her grans, screamed for it at bedtime, went to sleep no problem, but every so often I'm hearing a wee quiet whimper of "I need my dirty dum". Determined to keep strong!

[happyyonisleepyyoni]

My Ebf DC1 and DC3 both loved their dummies and were bottle refusers. BF DC 1 until 12 mo and DC3 until 18 mo. Nipples would have dropped off if I didn't give them a dummy as well.

DC2 was BF until 9 mo and was never interested in a dummy, my conclusion- some babies are more into comfort sucking than others, has nothing to do with BF.

[notnowbernard]

I loved them

They're not called soothers or pacifiers for nothing

[IShallCallYouSquishy]

Never used one with EBF DD. She found her thumb at about 9-10 weeks and self settled with that at nap times (though BF to sleep at bedtime)

DS is 4.5 weeks and no intention of using one with him either

[NinjaLeprechaun]

As an adult thumbsucker I didn't want my daughter to develop that habit so my daughter had a 'binky' from a few days after birth, until she was four. (And was bottle-fed expressed breast milk until she was a month old, at which point she started nursing like she'd been doing it all along. Which is why dire warnings about nipple confusion always make me )
After about 18-20 months it didn't leave the house and after three it didn't leave the bed. I also absolutely refused to let her talk through it.
She didn't sleep through the night until more than a year after she stopped using it, so no effect or help there.
I didn't give her a story about fairies or birdies taking it away. I just told her that she would be too old for it soon, and we'd have to get rid of them.

[Lozcat86]

DD was given a dummy in NICU at around a week old as she was unsettled between her 1ml an hr NG feeds , I was going to wait a bit longer with her myself but she's pretty good in that she only really has them for getting off to sleep/ in the car and will often push them out when asleep without any upset.
I plan to get rid of them after she turns 1.

[balenciaga]

Dc1 found his thumb so never ended one. He was a very chilled baby/toddler though

Dc2 very sucky and stressy. So we gave her a dummy, and it did really chill her out. But she was 3 1/2 when we finally managed to got rid. Then she immediately started sucking her thumb!!! She's nearly 5 and still bloody does it!!