how old when you introduced a dummy?

[confuzed90]

Just wondering what title says really, how old was your baby when you gave them their dummy ?

Never gave DS one.

Didn't think he's need one as I was worried about getting him off it when he was a toddler!

In the end he breastfed pretty much 16 hours out of every 24 hours for the first few months of his life, so there would have been no room for a dummy anyway

OP, what age is your DC? If not born yet, when are you due?

He was born yesterday morning, he is my 2nd DS but I cnt remember what age I gave him his dummy. I had no problem getting him off it a few months before his 2nd birthday. So wish to use a dummy again

My first had one on about day 9 out of total exhaustion and desperation.

Second time round I gave it on day 3 when it became clear I had another high maintenance baby (bad reflux issues) on my hands!!

Both rid of the dummy by 12 months and it worked well for us.

My first had one on about day 9 out of total exhaustion and desperation.

Second time round I gave it on day 3 when it became clear I had another high maintenance baby (bad reflux issues) on my hands!!

Both rid of the dummy by 12 months and it worked well for us.

Don't know what happened there!

Op, congrats on the birth of your 2nd DS

:)

think he was about a week old. this time i'm bringing them to hospital with me!

With both of my lovely daughters, within hours of being discharged from te hospital!!! DD1 is now 3.2 and uses her 'nummy' for comfort when settling off to sleep. DD2 is just 10 days old and we use it fr much the same thing.

For the record, I had a dummy until I was 6 years old ... Mom forced me to give it up as my adult teeth were growing in. I remember a horrendous withdrawal laughs but I did give it up an now every dentist user says what lovely gnashers I have. So, I don't worry too much about dummy use. Its whatever works for you and your family :)

Um, not 'user says' but 'I see'. Really need to preview these messages before I post them lol

Think he's using me as comfort so will be getting his dummy today! Just been on me for about 40 minutes :/

Day 2 - given by SCBU during procedures.

Weaning off it now at 5 months, never had it outside cot though.

I gave my baby a dummy at the beginning, and also introduced a bottle on day 1. She never had nipple confusion, and I'm still breast-feeding nearly a year on.
She used the dummy until 8 weeks, then rejected it. She preferred sucking her thumb but stopped doing that too by 12 weeks.

Ds was 3 weeks old but in SCBU.
He was sucking his ventilator tube at 5 days old though as soon as he was conscious. :-)
He had a very strong suck reflex!
we were told a dummy can help prevent SIDS. He turns 2 this week and still has it when sleeping.

I dont know why we said we wouldnt use dummy!
About 10 days after birth we gave her one, she loved it, a soother for her, and had absoluty no problems weening her off it.

Tried a few times but she wasnt ready, when she was, we kept her super busy for the week, in new places etc and within the week she had forgotton all about it.

I was as anti-dummy as i could be

had never had a child use them with me in 10 years of nannying

DD first got a dummy at 4 days old

she used it properly (rather than spit out) from about 2 weeks

we went cold turkey and took it away at 5months

confuzed - that's really normal for a 2 day old baby to want to be close to his mummy, lots of feeding now in the early days will help you make the milk he needs later (the breasts 'calibrate' how much to make in the early days/weeks). Giving a dummy now can mean he's not nursing as much on you and set this calibration lower.

It can also mean he's not getting what he needs now as colostrum is only available in small quantities (to match his tiny stomach) so if he's spending time sucking on a dummy nipple instead of a real one he's not getting the milk he's after or the comfort from the mummy he wants.

Is feeding comfortable? It may be painful/uncomfortable for the first 30 seconds or so at the very start but if it keeps on hurting or you are getting sore/chaffed nipples then you are fully entitled to press the bell and ask for the Infant Feeding Co-ordinator or the BFing Specialist MW to help you.

My son comfort sucked all evening and all night! Was unbearably painful. And difficult him being attached all the time. He still has it in bed at 18 months but I don't think he will be overly bothered of it went

In Canada they recommend not giving a soother( if bfing, ) until baby is 4 weeks old, so that is what we did. From six months, it was only used at bedtime / nap time and it was gone at 12 months.

One more thing I will say, OP, is that it is natural for a little newborn to be sucking away at its mothers breast. That is for comfort and also to get your milk to build its supply.

Having it suck at a dummy instead of a breast is the unnatural thing. I'm not saying that dummies are bad or dangerous and I know lots of mums use them and their babies enjoy them. What I'm saying is that your baby is happy with your breast and 40 minute feeds are normal :)

Thankyou all. I will be trying dummy but so far he's rejecting them! Lol.my nipples are so sore! He was on them about every 2 hours overnight for about 45 minutes each time! So near enough no break! Got tiny clear filled blisters on my right nipple, already, he is only 2 days old! I can remember this with my first, which I had to stop breastfeeding because he was on me so much and having formula but still hungry, he had to go onto full formula milk for hungrier babies. Is it normal for milk to be coming through already? The 'milk' is turning white already, boobs have swollen so much very quickly and feel harder. My memory is vague, DS1 is 3 x

Hmmm, Needles not sure I can go along with the "having it suck a dummy instead of a breast is the unnatural thing" comment. I think it's the use of the word 'unnatural'. It certainly sounds pejorative, even perhaps offensive ... Makes it sound like dummy use isn't 'right'. Or more specifically that a mother is doing the 'right' thing if she puts her baby to her breast and, for whatever reason (as there are many) she is uncomfortable/unhappy about doing this, that it is somehow 'better' than giving baby a dummy.

Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Some will agree with me whilst others will agree with you. I just think that the whiff of superiority could do with being removed from the discussion.

seoladair

You have reminded me one of the best bits of advice I was given was to also introduce bottle early, so they get used to that and breast. There was absoluty no confusion at all between breast and bottle. I think this time round will get dummy in straight away too, I remember the utter relief ALL ROUND when she got it.

Lunarlyte I have zero worry about any other mother giving a dummy and if you look at my first comment on this thread I did say that I had a dummy to give DS but he didn't want it.

All I'm saying is that a breast = a natural human body part designed for a baby to suckle on. A dummy is a man-made soother for babies to settle them to sleep or for comfort if a mother so chooses to give it.

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with dummies or that I think they are odd, just that a breast actually is free and designed by nature to be suckled.

Sorry you thought I was being superior, but I'm really not meaning it to sound that way.

I think the OP is doing a great job!

confuzed - have you got the MW coming to see you tomorrow? It sounds like you may need a little support with getting baby latched on - there shouldn't be blisters on your nipples regardless of how much baby is feeding.

The feeding frequency/duration sound really promising though as you would expect at least 8-12 feeds a day and babies can take 40 minutes to finish a feed so there's no concern there. Milk 'coming in' sounds really normal too.

How are his wet & dirty nappies doing?

Hello,

Our ds never really had a dummy, sort of got himself into a bit of a routine of going t sleep at about 6.30-7 ish n so we carried it on (started at 6ish: bath, straight into his own room; into babygro, cuddles with a bottle then t bed n went more or less straight t sleep).

Its worked really well for us and ds now knows that when he goes into his room its bedtime n we've not had a problem, he used t wake about twice a night then down t once a night and now (fingers crossed) sleeping through. For us personally, this early routine and ds in his own room means we all get some sleep and, just as importantly, my husband and I get t have some quality time together as well.

We've just recently given ds a dummy, now 10mths, as he's been really struggling with his bigger teeth n needed something t chew on in bed; but as soon as their through we'll go back t no dummy. X