Non-nutritive sucking for breastfed on demand babies/children?

[hunkermunker]

I've seen various comments about how babies breastfed on demand don't "need" dummies or thumb/finger-sucking - in your experience, is this true?

DS1 was breastfed on demand and from about four months old used to unlatch, suck his fingers for a few seconds, then latch back on again.

My DS now 19 months never sucks his fingers (when he is teething he will put his fingers into his mouth for a few seconds).

We tried giving him dummies when he was about 3 - 4 months old (because of my Mum who used to come round with one each time she visited !) but he hated them and automatically used his tongue to spit them out.

He had only had EBM out of a bottle a few times so I think he just wasn't used to the taste of latex, plastic, or whatever teats and dummies are made of. I think natural nipples probably taste better to a bf baby ; )

Jasnem, my dd sucks her tongue too, or bottem lip at times, she looks really funny - isn't on solids yet but looks like babies do when getting a new taste of something, it looks very cute! She's only been doing it for a couple of weeks.

DS was BF on demand - no dummy or thumb sucking but has a bit of one of my old BF my nighties as a comforter, which he sucks.

(Well several bits as I have to rotate them when they start smelling foul!)