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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

Will giving a dummy to my 1 week old son ruin our breastfeeding

11 replies

2wwmadness · 10/05/2012 20:22

Just that really. He's screaming right now. Feeds really really well but will fall asleep on the boob. He gets really wingy and takes ages getting his wind up and I think he's using my boob to get the suck to help his wind, but it's just making it worse as he then gets more wind. Isvhe to young for a dummy? I don't wanna stop breastfeeding as we are oing great with it. But he's all tense till he does a massive fluff then he's fine. Oh we use infacol aswell

OP posts:

Friendlymum67 · 10/05/2012 20:27

My daughter had a dummy from very early when I was breastfeeding, similar problem to yours. Had some people say it would lead to 'nipple' confusion, well it didn't with her!! Breastfed successfully up to 18 months. Getting her off the dummy is another story entirely! :o

mamababa · 10/05/2012 20:31

Not in my experience, my DS who is now 4 was bf until 8 months and had a dummy for exactly same reason as yours. Ds2 is 17 weeks and won't have a dummy but I have offered.
A midwife told me there is no such thing as nipple confusion. I have also given both dc's a bottle from a couple of weeks, just one per day of ebm with no issue.

icurgnmum · 10/05/2012 21:08

We've used dummy since as was 2 days old, no probs at all with bfing

olimpia · 10/05/2012 21:10

I can't see any reason why you shouldn't give him a dummy if bf is well established but he is a sucky baby, it can really make life much easier.

An0therName · 10/05/2012 21:12

I agree so long as BF is going well - eg baby putting on weight ok - no nipple pain - I gave DS2 a dummy at about a week -worked for us

EauRouge · 10/05/2012 22:16

Some babies can use dummies without a problem, some can't. It's totally up to you but you might want to read a bit more about it before you make your decision. This might help.

Have you spoken to anyone about the cause of the wind? It may be that there's something you can do to help prevent. How is the breastfeeding going?

TransatlanticCityGirl · 11/05/2012 23:12

We used a dummy since 2 days old (against everyone's advice!!) and DD is now 10 months and we're still going with the breastfeeding successfully. I also gave her a bottle of expressed milk occasionally from 3 weeks with no problems.

We had an episode at about 3-4 months old when I had to spend two days away from her and gave her expressed bottles of milk.. she then suddenly rejected the breast. But when she realised her choice was breast or nothing, she took the hint and within 24 hours we were back on track as if nothing ever happened.

You can try a dummy, and watch carefully what happens at the next feed. If you see any signs of rejecting the breast, put the dummy away, and focus on the breastfeeding. Take it slow and I'm sure you'll be fine.

RightUpMyRue · 11/05/2012 23:25

The real issue with a dummy in a baby this young is the possibility that the dummy will "hold" the baby for an extra 10-15, maybe 20 minutes before he is very hungry and will spit it out so he can cry to alert that you he needs you, NOW! Not only can this make for an upset, stressed baby who is more difficult to latch to the breast but over the course of a day he will miss out on possibly several feeds because of the extra time spent sucking the dummy and not at the breast so will miss out on those opportunities for calories/weight gain/growth.

Ideally he should get all his suckling needs from you until breastfeeding is well established(and even then a dummy can interfere with "demand feeding" becasue his demand for sucking isn't always met by you with the breast).

It would be a good idea to see someone in RL who knows about breastfeeding so they can check your positioning and attachment to make sure the baby isn't taking in excess air from being in the wrong position.

Do you have support group near to you? Or is the midwife/HV due to visit again soon? Have you had a your day 5 visit? You should be due another one on day10.

Bella2010star · 12/05/2012 00:25

I did not give my daughter a dummy tried but she spat them out but she started to suck her fingers instead from two months at least it will be easier to stop the dummy than sucking fingers

AThingInYourLife · 12/05/2012 06:26

We used a soother with both our daughters for exactly this reason.

With DD1 bfing wasn't even going that well and my nipples were in shreds, so it was partly to keep the whole show on the road.

We only ever gave it in the exact circumstances you describe - post big feed when the baby would get into a sucking frenzy.

Neither developed a soother habit, and we didn't use them anymore by about 6 weeks or so.

I breastfed for 15 and 16 months.

nannyl · 12/05/2012 07:58

My baby first had a dummy at 4 days old

is she now 8m old and has only ever drunk breast milk

she had her 1st bottle (of BM) at 9 days old too.... hasnt affected her BFing in the slightest

She hasnt had a dummy since 5m old, and she now wont take a bottle either
(but she will drink BM from a sippy cup, phew)

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