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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Want to give breastfed 3 week old a dummy

19 replies

PiggyMad · 26/04/2012 08:23

I'm seriously struggling with lack of sleep from constant grunting, squirming and crying of dd. She constantly wants to be on the nipple, but then spits out and vomits milk - presumably as she's not hungry, but just wants to comfort suck. She likes to suck our little finger too, but we can't do this all night long. I want to try with a dummy, but was wondering which one is best when breastfeeding.
I'm also wondering if a lot of her discomfort is wind, so was going to try some infacol. Do I need to go to the doctors before giving it to her, or can I just buy it and start using it?
Am struggling at the minute!

OP posts:

Chopstheduck · 26/04/2012 08:29

Best to buy a few and try them, babies tend to be all different where dummies are concerned. None of mine particularly liked them, only one had it for around 6 months, the rest just spat them out! We had the most success with small slightly flattened nipples, which I suppose mimic the breast more.

You don't need to go to the drs before trying infacol, neither.

How old is she?

Chopstheduck · 26/04/2012 08:30

Sorry jsut seen, 3 weeks! It's still very early days, she may well settle down soon. Do try the dummies and infacol though, if you want to.

DucketyDuckDuck · 26/04/2012 08:32

Hi,

I feel your pain. I had been adamant that I would not give my DD a dummy. Constantly on the nipple, not necessarily feeding, she just wanted to be there all the time.

At 3 weeks, a no messing, lets get on with it friend called, looked at the state the house, dog and I was in, said "back in a minute" went to Boots and returned with a couple of dummies and cold water sterilizer. I didn't care by then just wanted some respite!

You get the age appropriate ones in the chemist, I can't say you should give your baby one, but I have no regrets. Breastfeeding is hard hard work, it helped for me.

Original poster

PiggyMad · 26/04/2012 08:34

I hope she will settle down chops- fingers crossed!
I think I will buy the dummies and infacol and have them in reserve to see if I can persevere until 6 weeks when bf is more established.

OP posts:

supernannyisace · 26/04/2012 08:35

I bf and DS had a dummy from a young age.

I was anti-dummy, but my DM had bought some in anyway.... When DS wouldn't settle we gave him a dummy and he loved it.

Unfortunately we couldn't get rid of them until he was about 3! I kept finding them hidden around the house for a while after the date that we 'recycled' his 'dodies'..

lizzywig · 26/04/2012 08:35

Our DD was the same around that age and we tried a dummy at I think 4 or 5 weeks, she refused it point blank. One day we saw a family friend and I'd just fed DD and had been winding her for 10 mins and she seems ok after. I handed her to friend and she was fine with her but a few mins later she was grizzly again and obviously still had more trapped wind. Our friend just sat there with DD and winded her for a further 20 mins until all the burps had come up. To help the wind she moved DD into various positions and made lots of soothing noises - then she was fine. So from then onwards we would wind her for much longer because in her case there was obviously still a lot of trapped wind. We also went down the infacol route at one point but it didn't seem to make a huge amount of difference for her.

Original poster

PiggyMad · 26/04/2012 08:36

did the dummy interfere with breastfeeding at all duck?
I also thought 'no dummies', but am backtracking!

OP posts:

Chopstheduck · 26/04/2012 09:00

Ive never had a problem with dummies or bottles interfering with bfeeding though I some some do.

Trying different winding positions is a good idea. With dd we found laying her across our arm int he tiger in a tree position helped a lot.

Malsmum · 26/04/2012 09:03

I was very anti-dummy, then with DS1, he wouldn't settle without sucking our little fingers. My sister came to stay, told us we were mad, bought some dummies and we never looked back!!! With DS2, I was really keen for him to have one but he was having none of it, always spat them out. He ended up sucking his middle fingers and now we can't stop him (he's 4)! Was pretty easy with DS1 to get rid of hem - the Christmas when he was 3 we left them out for Father Christmas, he was really happy about that and never asked for them again.

ag123 · 26/04/2012 09:05

I was so anti-dummies before ds came along. Someone had given me a newborn gift hamper which had some in and I just threw them away! Then when ds came along and found it very difficult to settle at all I thought 'I'll try anything' and so we tried him with a Tommee Tippee closer to nature one. He actually didn't seem to like it, or at least seemed to find it very difficult to keep it in his mouth at all. Then by about week 9 I thought I'd try again as he was finding daytime sleeping really hard. A friend told me that her dd had rejected others but taken to the Avent ones so we gave it a go and he loved it and it has definitely helped him to soothe to sleep. I think as I have quite a fast flow of milk he was trying to comfort suck at the breast to sleep but just getting himself in a state as he didn't want the milk to keep coming. We now use the MAM ones as I think they look like a much better shape for their teeth. I still feel a little uncomfortable with the fact he has a dummy but it has made such a difference to the way he can be soothed, so i s'pose that's all that matters-as long as he's happy. He is ebf by the way.

DucketyDuckDuck · 26/04/2012 09:06

Sorry - said DD just woke up (late! its a miracle) and had to go get her. With regard the wind, erm can't really demonstrate, but I was shown some alternative winding positions, which really helped. Ask your HV she may beable to help.

Never tried the infacol, but you know what, just do whatever helps. If it helps your baby, it helps you. So everyone is happier.

Good Luck - it does get easier!

DucketyDuckDuck · 26/04/2012 09:11

P.S Dummy did not interfere with BreastFeeding at all. I didn't have any problems at all.

If I had another (which would have to be a miraculous conception) I wouldn't even question a dummy.

fussbucket · 26/04/2012 09:19

I wish dd1 had taken to a dummy - then maybe she wouldn't have taken up thumbsucking quite so enthusiastically! Best of luck OP

GinPalace · 26/04/2012 09:27

It does sound like she has wind discomfort, if you've ever had indigestion you'll know how unpleasant that is, have you been shown the various techniques there are for helping a babies wind move along? Things like cycling the legs, stroking the tummy in particular way etc? If not (I wasn't and wished I'd known sooner) it is worth looking that up.

There are pros and cons to dummies, so it is entirely your choice, but if she has wind, whilst a dummy may comfort it won't take away her discomfort, would be worth doing both if you're not already.

nannyl · 26/04/2012 09:36

i had this same dilemma

i asked my FB friends when DD was 4 days old.... seems that every parent i knew who BF had used a dummy, (some from day 1)

so at 4 days DD got a dummy (but she didnt really use it properly until 2 - 3 weeks old ish)

I leaked loads of milk which i caught in shells, and at 9 days (when she had fed constantly for 4 hours) I gave in and let OH give her 2oz of breast milk in a bottle (it worked, she was settled for a couple if hours and my boobs had a chance to re-stock)

she had the occasional bottle from weeks to til 6 and at 6 weeks she had a bottle of expressed milk once a day

she is now nearly 8 months, has never had a drop of formula, got a dummy at 4 days, 1st bottle of BM at 9 days, and it has not affected BFing in the slightest

I used tommy tippee closer to nature dummies, which were fine for us

(we got rid of the dummy by 5 months as she was waking up for it)

spiderlight · 26/04/2012 09:40

I was dead against dummies and DS never really took to them massively, but we did resort to them a couple of times when he was really unsettled and they didn't interfere with bf at all. For wind, the thing that worked best for us was carrying him around in the 'Tiger in a Tree' position. There a couple of videos on Youtube demonstrating this - you basically hold them along your arm belly down like this with the heel of your hand against the tummy, but we found that hooking the outer leg up so the foot's hooked onto your arm made a big difference. Lying him on his back and bicycling his legs helped sometimes as well.

EauRouge · 26/04/2012 10:13

Some babies can use a dummy no problems, others find it difficult to switch between a dummy and the breast (a bit like trying to learn to ride a bike and a unicycle).

Here is some info about dummies and BF.

COuld you be suffering from oversupply? This is quite common in the early days before your body has figured out how much milk to make. Does any of this sound familiar? If it is oversupply then there are loads of things you can try out and it's usually quite easily fixed.

LaTristesse · 26/04/2012 14:51

That link on over supply is ace Eau thank you! Off to research some winding positions now!

Original poster

PiggyMad · 26/04/2012 20:11

Thanks for all of your reassurance and advice, ladies.

I will be giving the different winding positions a go as I've only really known the 'pat the back' default position!

I have bought some dummies and infacol and have them in reserve to try if it all gets too much! I really want to try to hold old with just the breast until at least 4 weeks.

Eau - I do think that oversupply could be a problem - my milk does spurt out and she does go rigid and arch her back sometimes during feeds. I also feel like she gulps and needs winding an awful lot. I will try some of the advice on that link. I have noticed that my breasts are less full and engorged the past couple of days, so maybe things are naturally regulating...

OP posts:

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