breast feeding newborn and dummies

[cs2012]

I have a 12 day old baby and am breast feeding him (with the odd formula bottle when we are desperate). He is really sucky and I think that a dummy would help settle him (and give my nipples a break!!) but I have read that you shouldn't give a breastfed baby a dummy until they are at least 6 weeks old as it can affect their sucking reflex.

Has anyone given their baby a dummy before 6 weeks and did it affect their sucking reflex? Or is it just nonsense? All help/thoughts, gratefully received.

thanks

Congrats on your new baby :)

Some babies are OK with dummies, some are not. There is a risk that it will affect breastfeeding and that is why most experts recommend waiting until BF is established, but there is no guarantee that it will. So it's personal choice really, all you can do is read up on the info and decide whether or not you want to go ahead. Here is some info on how dummies can affect BF.

When you say he's 'really sucky', what do you mean exactly? It's normal for newborns to BF very frequently, sometimes more than every couple of hours. This doesn't last long, it's very intense in the early days but becomes easier and easier as time goes along. Are you getting plenty of support from family and friends? A lot of mothers find it helpful to just concentrate on getting BF established in the first few weeks and let everyone else chip in with cooking, housework etc.

We started using one at about 2 weeks and it has had no negative effect on breastfeeding at all. However, if you are going to use one it is worth limiting its use - comfort sucking at the breast in the early weeks is so important to get your supply in and very frequent feeding at that age is totally normal too. I introduced it as a sleep aid, when he had fallen fast asleep on the boob I replaced nipple with dummy and then put him down. To be honest, if he is hungry he rejects the dummy and makes it quite clear that it is milk he wants.

I agree with katandkit - I think we gave LO a dummy at around 2 or 3 weeks, and use it more as a sleep aid. Otherwise I would end up sitting with my finger in his mouth while he was sleeping for up to 30 minutes! I prefer using a dummy to my finger because I can sterilise a dummy!

LO will also spit the dummy out if he wants food.

The non-nutritive sucking, and frequent feeding is baby building up your milk supply, so one of the risks of using a dummy in the early days is your breasts are missing out on some of the 'demand' messages your baby is trying to send.

I don't know the exact point at which this becomes less of a consideration (I'm sure that some of the more experienced ladies here will know) because your supply becomes a bit more robust but I'd definately try and hold off until you are confident in your supply.

Enjoy your newborn! I'm waiting on mine (41 weeks!) :)

Some good advice already given. DD had a dummy from 3 days old. We were still in hospital and a midwife suggested it because she was so hard to settle. With the brilliance of hindsight we now know that she was showing the early signs of reflux, so the dummy was useful in helping her to feel more comfortable.

DD BF for 3 months. I stopped because I was struggling so much with it, along with trying different medicines to sort out what worked for her. I am pg again and hope to bf for longer this time. I don't think the dummy affected her bf at all.

cs, it's good to be cautious about this. The combination of a dummy (which reduces sucking time) and the use of formula (even just occasional) in a baby as young as this might well be sufficient to kybosh your breastfeeding.

What happens to make you feel your baby needs formula? Putting him to the breast again (even if it is the Nth time....:) ) may be all he needs.

All of my babies had a dummy before 6 weeks but only when sucking on my finger started becoming a problem and I couldn't get anything done. It did help get them to start a feed properly - I had a very lazy/laid back baby, but with another baby I did use it a bit too much when I should have been feeding so you really have to watch your baby and only use it when really desperate.

DS1 had no dummy, but I was really sore and cracked very quickly which put paid to BF'ding by 6 weeks :( DS2 has had one since birth to prevent some of the nipple trauma, but its only ever offered after a full 40min feed when I know he's not hungry he's just comfort sucking. 4 weeks in and we're getting on much much better, possible over supply if anything so def not messed up bringing in my milk! He is v choosy about taking it though, whereas my older boy still won't give his up aged 2... I think it depends on you, on the baby and all sorts of things. But if you need a break due to soreness etc IME not using one and getting hung up on it actually did me no favours last time, so I'm a bit more easy going this time round. Whatever you decide give yourself a break - BFing is hard!

Its worth trying a cranial osteopath to see if there is any misalignment or residual birth trauma. Make sure you get one who is experienced with babies though

Both of our DDs had dummies from a few days old. My wonderfully competent and pragmatic gynae suggested it to me when she came by to check up on me on day 3 and because I trusted everything she said (she had looked after us through traumatic times before DD1 was born) I followed her advice. She was very much of the school of thought that healthy, rested mums make the best parents.

Both DDs breast fed with no problems at all and gained weight fine.

Hi, I am no expert as I have just started bf my ds, he is 17 days pjs now. I posted a thread on day 12 too as ds was at the breast for 3 hours straight, he has already settled down a lot and feeds less so it might be worth holding out just a few more days.