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

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Your honest and brutal opinions please ...

Lifesavers. Dummies gave/give dd/ds such comfort (obviously not instead of me comforting, but in addition).

DD gave her dummy up when she was 3.5. She only had one dummy left by then as I wouldn't buy any more, then hurt her lip which involved being glued together. Wasn't a problem once the first night was over (and that was mostly because she had a sore lip). Downside was she gave up having a 2 hour afternoon nap.

DS also very keen on his dummies (always dummy + clothie, whereas dd had dummy + noukie). Am more chilled about getting rid of them when the time comes.

Dentist says that no evidence of dummy sucking in dd's teeth. DD chatters nineteen to the dozen, and her speech is clear, as is DS's (he is 2 now). Am planning to really restrict their use to sleep times, just in order to make the transition away from them more comfortable when the time comes.

Neither of mine ever ever seemed remotely interested in their thumbs.

dd1 had one and I spent a lifetime (well, 10 months) putting it back in all sodding night. Got rid of hers when she had a cold and didn't have it for 3 nights due to a blocked nose, think she was about a year old

dd2 refused one (much to my disgust)

swings and roundabouts

they look horrid on older children though, get rid by 2ish if you have then imo

Anna, I'm sure your hv has more experience than me so must be right. I'm just going off my 9 children. The ones who had dummies (and 2 had them until they were almost 5) have no problems
with speech/mouth or teeth formation. Parents of children who had dummies that I know also don't seem to have had any problems as a result of dummies.

Velive me if me 2 had taken them i would have let them gladly, but they made the decision for me neither would have one!

Would add that when dd was 3 she certainly didn't have her dummy while out and apart from at nap time of in bed at night.

Ds1 refused and much prefered his own thumb.

In fact, from much younger. Certainly younger than ds is now
Mental note - time to get a bit more sparing with the outside dummy & ds.

Sounds like giving them one is a lifesaver but make sure to get rid of it by 6tmhs or so. Think I can go with that! YEh!

I would have said evil but lifesavers until Sunday when my 7 MO DS was exhausted at a friend's house and fell asleep in her DD's cot - without his dummy! Then went to sleep that evening without his dummy. So that was that, dummy ditched. Which was a relief because it was just becoming one more thing to sterilise/worry about.

If I had known it was going to be this evening to get rid of it, I would have been a lot less stressed about it.

Now I'm firmly in the lifesaver camp - he was a very sucky baby and it helped him (and me) get sleep when we really needed it.

If I had known it was going to be this easy to get rid of it, I would have been a lot less stressed about it.

Both!
As many have said here lifesavers for a lot of babies.
Evil for toddlers I think - just cos they look bad and hard to get rid of.

We have DS2 now so its interesting to see the contrast with DS1. DS1 was a dummy boy the whole way. DS2 has dummy to help him sleep (agree with all the comments about how helpful they are to calm pre sleep time) ... but is definitely trying to find his fingers and I think we may see him switch to fingers completely (he is 3 months)

with DS1 we had many nights of having to get up to put dummy back in. But then hit his teeth and dentist said we needed to take dummy away. He accepted it no problem (aged 2 1/2) as he could feel that his teeth were very sore and see that they were bleeding. Not an ideal way to get them to stop - but was effective!

If your baby is sucky I think they save your sanity.

I'm the same, scareybee. I agonised over the dummy issue for ages, then had a bit of crying (ok, an hour) in the middle of the first night, and that was pretty much it! What a waste of nervous energy

I was expecting days of CC too imbarryscott. He didn't cry at all on Sunday night and only for about 10 mins last night.

And the very best thing is that he goes back to sleep much better when he wakes in the night. Result

Sorry - absolutely hate them.

Never considered giving either of my DSs a dummy - my MIL sent one to us in the post when we were going through a bit of an unsettled stage - I chucked it in the bin.
Unsettled stage soon passed.

Wait and see.

If you have a newborn that cries a lot, it can save your sanity. I used one for a month then got rid of it as I don't like the look of them. But for that month, it was a bit of a life-saver.

Friends of mine who have used dummies beyond 3 months for sleep have all had problems with them falling out and needing to be popped back in (which would drive me nuts). Or they have a tantrum and need the 'pacifier' to be pacified...which to me doesn't seem great. but hey i guess we all ahve our own quick-fixes. :-)

interesting andiem - re: the use of dummies reducing cot death. I wonder how extensive the research has been on that.

I read in, ahem, thelondonpaper the other day that there is also new research affirming that smoking during pregnancy is a factor in 8/10 cot deaths.

They were life savers in the first few months with ds when all he wanted was something to suck on just to help him nod off
He didn't have one after about 4 months I think
dd had one for about 4 weeks but didn't take to it as well as ds so didn't use it for very long

Life-saver with dc3 as so much rushing around with the other 2. Tried dummy with all 3 but only dc3 would take it. No idea how to get rid of it later though.

Don't like it really - I think they make intelligent babies looks a bit gormless.

Don't know if a thumb is better, although at least thumb-suckers take them out to talk. Toddlers with dummies in all the time definitely talk less.

I have no strong feelings about them. Don't like to see older children out and about with them, but suspect that is just snobbery on my part

Life saver here for DD, she was very colicky and refused to be put down until i gave her one, hated it but it gave her comfort and to me that was all that mattered. DS did not have one at all. I was a very lazy mummy and put sereval in her bed each night and if she needed one she just put her hand out and found one!
The dummy fairy visited a month ago (she is 2.5) ad left a present at the end of her bed. Not once asked for it.

Both, I personelly (sp) don't like them. But having said that it has been a life saver for me with dd2.

DD2 (5 weeks) just wouldn't settle without one, but is now getting better and she doesn't have it all the time. I will be getting rid of it a soon as possible.

As for DD1 she wouldn't take one and only had one when I needed to get bonjela on her gums.

I was very against them til we had ds and my boobs were falling off with all the comfort sucking. At 4 weeks my mum gave him a dummy . I was angry for about 10 minutes. Then I realised he wasn't hanging off a nipple.

Now he is older (nearly 8 mo) he gets a dummy at sleeptimes ONLY (I too have the fear of dummy dependence & had images of him running round with a dummy in his mouth at all times, aged 13).

Sometimes he is v relaxed at bedtime and doesn't want his dummy. Other times it really helps - he goes from flailing around to curling up in sleeping position the moment sucking starts..

i just dont like them and have never used them

Imbarryscott/scarybee - same here! Absolutely against dummies until DD appeared and just wanted to suck on everything and wouldn't settle. Giving her a dummy was like a miracle. But at about 8 months it became a bit of a problem as although we only gave it to her for sleeping the nursery started letting her have it the rest of the time which I didn't really want. We had 10 mins crying the first night and that was it. Gone forever. Would definitely use one again.