Dummies - are they lifesavers or evil necessities? What is the general opinion?

[greenday]

Your honest and brutal opinions please ...

Life saver. But get rid of them around 6-7 months. If you lose one don't go out and buy more. They can't have them if you don't give it to them. Worked a treat. DS now 3 years doesn't remember having one, doesn't suck his thumb either. Does not carry a blankie around either. loves his teddy.

Neither

lifesaver
small babies love to suck, it's a reflex. I really don't see the problem with them.

Have to agree livesaver, DS (13 months)loves his, he is only allowed it now when he is tired or upset, but it helps him sleep sooo much, and as others have said he was a very sucky baby and would have been latched on to me 24/7 if we didnt use a dummy!

Personally I found that if you can tough it out until they find their thumb, it's easier as they're in control of it.

depends on baby - my dd was attached to me 24 hrs a day for first week, I gave her a dummy after my mum suggested one - BLISS! dd is now 1 and when she's tired, if I don't give her a dummy, she sticks her thumb in!! (I give the dummy - don't want her to thumb suck). She only has the dummy when going to sleep and I'll take it away sometime around 3ish.

I think they look terribly ugly but that doesn't matter if they save your sanity.

Annoys me when people say that it's either dummy or thumb -- many children get by with neither without too much bother for anybody.

Interesting! More lifesaver votes here.
My DD1 sucked her fingers so I never needed a dummy. Some friends and I were recently discussing dummy use and one of them made a point that with fingers, you can never really take it away from them, but with dummy, you can.

Neither. My daughter doesn't know what a dummy is, has never seen one.

Not sure what I know what they are for either.

Neither of my children thumbsucked and neither had dummies so I agree it is not an either or scenario.

My personal opinion is that I can understand why people give young babies dummies but not why they continue to let toddlers have them. It is always "only when they are tired/upset" etc etc. But I know of one girl who's teeth are misformed (with a circle in the middle when they are closed). Also there is a girl with a dummy in at my DD's dancing class. Now IMO if you are old enough to do ballet dancing (LO is 3 btw) you are old enough to do ballet dancing without a dummy in your mouth. And yes that last sentence is a judgement.

Life saver for babies....

its my toddlers that wont part with them that is the problem and i see them now as evil and horrible and cant stand them.

Hence DS will NOT have a dummy when he is born in november.... NO WAY.

Anna my DD was jealous of her friend with a dummy and whenever she went to play she would find one and go wondering around the house with said dummy clenched between her teeth. She was 2 at the time and had no idea that a dummy was for sucking. But Baby Annabel always has her dummy plugged in, so maybe my grandchildren will have them.

Yes, my daughter has never thumbsucked either, not had any kind of comforter ("transitional object") toy.

Yes, I too agree that a dummy on a 4yr old and above child looks rather unappealing. That's why I'm nervous about giving my 6-week old DS a dummy, although those one or two moments when situations got desperate and I succumbed, he was one contented baby and I was one blissful mother.

Get one if you want. I was determined not to get one for ds2. He used to suck whatever he could anyway! He ended up sucking his blankets. Now he sucks his school tie and even his arm-he gives himself hickeys!

Oh JARM, that was my resolution too ... but desperate times calls for desperate measures. Sigh!

Some babies and toddlers find them very comforting and settling. Dummies are harmless so I can't understand why anyone would want to deny them the comfort that they give.
Some of my children have had dummies and some haven't. I don't have a problem with them. They were useful at the time. None of my children has a dummy now.

Depends on the child IME. DS1 had one for a couple of months then wasn't interested any form of comforter. DS2 loved his dummy at bedtime, and happily gave it up when he was 2. DD was very ill at 10 days old, and was unable to feed so the nurses gave her a dummy for comfort. So definately have a purpose, and havn't damaged teeth or inhibited speech or language development here.

juuule - my HV was adamant that dummies weren't harmless - she told me that plenty of children had language development / mouth formation / teeth formation problems because of excessive dummy use.

I wasn't going to use a dummy anyway, so that didn't sway me either way.

neither of mine would take one so we've had to just do without. tbh i'm relieved they took the decision out of my hands. dd1 was hell on wheels and i would have given anything for her to take one. with dd2 it was expediency to offer her one (which she took v briefly) and have never really wished she would take it since so am glad she hasn't had the chance to become dependent on it and have it create its own set of problems.

A lifesaver from 1mth, as DD was very sucky. Then she started waking up at night whenever the dummy fell out. Which could be up to hourly. So we ditched it a 6months, and within 2 days DD seemed to have forgotten she ever had it.

I'm glad we had it, but glad we ditched it. I'd happily give another baby a dummy as a sanity saver, though.

personally I wouldn't use one both of mine either thumb sucked or fingers. But there is new research to show they can reduce the risk of cot death here