I broke the rules last night...

[softandsaggy]

DS arrived on Wednesday morning and is a lovely little cuddle-monster. He seems to have taken to breastfeeding fairly well and is ticking all the boxes for quantity of feeds, wet & dirty nappies etc.

He loves his cuddles and has decided that he is much happier snoozing on me than in his crib; which is fine during the day. Last night I was so tired and he was not settling in the crib at all, so I caved in and gave him a dummy. I know all the recommendations say wait a few weeks until breastfeeding is established, but I was desperate for just a little sleep (up all night with baby the night before, up all night in labour the night before that so very tired).

Dummy worked wonders and he settled in his crib, woke a couple of times to feed and then resettled much more quickly. He seems absolutely fine; he is well rested and has had good feeds since with ok latch. All guidelines / websites etc seem to suggest that a dummy this early is going to make breastfeeding really difficult, but he honestly seems ok.

Anyone else introduced a dummy really early and managed to breastfeed ok? I'm looking for a bit of positive reassurance if possible.

I fed DD for over 2 years so I'm feeling fairly confident, but I stuck to guidelines and nipple-confusion paranoia really firmly last time, and I feel like I made everything a bit more difficult by doing so. Hoping to be a bit calmer and laid back this time around.

Congratulations on your baby. My DS was in SCBU when he was born - they gave him a dummy immediately. He fed really well. I started feeding him myself when he was a day old. I had to have 2 weeks off feeding when he was 10 days old due to being on really strong antibiotics so he was bottle fed. He went back on the breast with no probs. The only warning I'd give you is to make sure the dummy doesn't become your habit and you only give dummy at sleep times when he really needs it.

Sweet dreams to both of you.

I found nipple confusion wasn’t really a thing. Dd has a bottle of expressed milk from 2/3 days old, and I fed her for 2.5 years.

I wish I’d introduced a dummy, because Dd used me as one! It would have made life a hell of a lot easier especially with sleep.

I used a dummy early with my 2nd.

She breastfed for 2 years.

I did wean her back off it after the initial sucking all the time moment (about 4/5 months) and she rarely used it after.

Do it. If breastfeeding gets more difficult and you want to carry on bf, then stop the dummy. If not - carry on!

I'd stick with using the dummy OP, especially if baby is currently happy and feeding well.
I gave one to DS about a week in as he had horrific reflux and needed the comfort. He still fed beautifully and breastfed until 2.
He rejected the dummy himself at 8 months but it really helped get him through the first stage of his life so it was worth it.

Congratulations on your baby.

My DD laughed in the face of nipple confusion too. Mixed fed, dummy-sucking, they were all the same to her.if your DS is still feeding well then I'd take that and hope it doesn't change!

Excellent, thanks for the reassurance everyone.

I was so hard on myself last time, determined to do everything by the book. It's rather nice to be more relaxed this time round.

Little man has just dozed off after a big feed so I don't think the dummy has done any harm.

I am not a parent (yet (pregnant and crossing fingers)) but I have been reading Cribsheet by Smily Oster ( who is an economist essentially reviewing all the studies on all things baby related) and her take of the data / studies is that there is no actual evidence of nipple confusion. A lot of the information out there confuses correlation with causation. As I say, I have no real life experience, but some interesting information.

All I know is that we gave a bottle from day 3, no issues with nipple confusion. Tried to get baby to take a dummy at 2 months and he won't have it. If its working for you, I'd stick with it.

Never used a dummy for either of mine. They were both 4 weeks early, 1 had jaundiced so was back in hospital for a few days. Hate the things

Not really what was asked though @nettytree?

Not positive reassurance, or helpful at all in fact.

I'm glad you had a good time and all was fine. I didn't with my first. My second was to stop my nipples getting worse and inhibiting the chances of long term breastfeeding as an outcome and to enable me to spend some time with DC1 whilst DC2 was comforted.

Everyone weighs up their own options and just saying you hate them doesn't provide weight to either argument by informing, nor positively reassure.

We did dummy at 1 week as breastfeeding was established.

My friends who waited the 6 weeks or whatever ridiculous number the guidelines say could never get babies to take dummy or bottle

I knew i didn't want her attached to me 24/7. I'd feed her then put her down or pass to someone else with dummy etc.

Congratulations! Nipple confusion is BS: using a dummy was the best thing ever for us!

Seems to be working for us so far. He's feeding often and latch seems to be getting better (we had a couple of days of shallow latch at the beginning as he was sleepy / lazy).

We've kept the dummy for night time only, seems to help settle him back into the crib after a feed (whereas during the day we are happy for him to stay alert and enjoy cuddles etc after a feed).

Due to get him weighed tomorrow so fingers crossed the numbers confirm that he's doing well, but he seems happy.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their positive experiences.

I literally came here to ask this very question! My daughter is 3.5, never took a bottle or a dummy (tried at 6 weeks and kept trying both for months) and it was a nightmare tbh. She still feeds to sleep now 😬 and I haven’t managed yet to find another (gentle) way to stop her. I’m 34 weeks pregnant so I plan to introduce a bottle and dummy literally from day 1 this time!

I did a dummy till 3 months with both DC which worked a treat.

Yes, dummy straight away for ds1 and expressed milk bottle at around 1 week. Same re dummy for dd2 and bottle after 2 weeks. It's not a rule just a suggestion, and one I've never actually known anyone have any trouble with

I broke a lot of rules. The plan was to 50-50 mix feed initially, before moving to formula fully at 3m ish.

We introduced the bottle at 3hrs.
We alternated bottle and boob. Sometimes we'd such between in a feeding session.
If it wasn't convenient on the first week, I'd give a bottle - like on day 4, the day after my milk came in, I went about 7 hours between boob feeds!!
I feed from whichever boob she was nearest/ I felt like, with little regard for alternating etc.
I expressed from day 3, but not on a schedule, just when I felt like it.

Baby refused bottles by 2 weeks old, that forced me into ebf, and I'm still going next 16m later...

The guidelines are obviously there for a reason, but not following then isn't necessarily a problem, it's just an increased risk.

Both of mine had dummies from a few weeks old and gave it up at 6 months. Breastfed both until over 2 :)

It can have a detrimental effect, but honestly - I tihink that's likely to be related to e.g. mum using dummy to stretch out feeds to every 4 hours when baby is hungry sooner, or a baby who isn't getting much milk from the breast and this isn't being addressed, a baby with latch issues or who already has a bottle preference, a small/sleepy baby.

For most people it will be absolutely fine.

Introducing a dummy to DS at 2 days old saved my sanity. He just could/would not settle without sucking something. The midwife (I was in hospital for 5 days post birth) was quietly supportive as she could see I was on my knees. We never had any problems with nipple confusion. Do what's right for you & your baby x