Dummies

[PollyPocket245]

Hello wise mums,
I’m looking for some advice on dummies. I always felt like I was against the idea, that somehow if I gave her a dummy I might miss one of her needs (she’s 11 weeks on Monday). My partner seems keen on the idea of giving her one and even I admit the past few days I’ve felt like she might benefit from one. How do you know if it’s a good idea to try one? My dd sucks her hand a lot, and when offered a finger she’s always sucking them or looking for something else to suck. She doesn’t settle to sleep on her own and won’t sleep anywhere but on us. I try to put her down and she wakes about 10 mins later, sometimes she cries sometimes she just looks around. I’m thinking maybe a dummy will help soothe her. Any advice would be great, and if there’s anything else worth considering with them

[Ihaveoflate]

Mine has one for sleep only. My only regret is that I didn’t introduce one sooner (finally tried at about 3 month) - she had terrible reflux, cried constantly and would probably have benefitted from a dummy straight away.

Dummies are great if used sparingly and at 16 months I have no intention of removing it any time soon. She’s not obsessed with it and doesn’t sleep with it in her mouth all night, just when she’s getting to sleep.

[Babysharksmom]

I don't ever understand the "don't give a dummy brigade"
It's soothes a small baby
It prevents SIDS
They prevent thumb sucking

Give the child a dummy. They will give it up when they want.
And the teeth thing
Ds1 loved dummy til 3 teeth perfect
Dd2 never took one. Teeth are crooked

[RayOfSunshine2013]

Mine had one whenever he wanted until 1.
Only at night until 18months old, screamed for nearly 4 hours then gone and forgotten forever.

Will do exactly the same with my next. I hate seeing older kids with dummies 2/3 year olds but equally don’t like crying babies and dummies do the trick

[Nelbert19]

I didn’t want to introduce a dummy for my boy because I remember how hard it was getting my little sister to give them up.

He is now 16 weeks and has always been very sucky - my poor boobs! Also his fingers/arms/muslins. He is also very refluxy. I tried to introduce the dummy to help all of these things at about 10 weeks when he started sucking his thumb, but alas, he isn’t interested in them at all and just spits them back out. Hopefully the thumb sucking is short lived...

If it brings your baby comfort (and you some sleep!) and you’re aware of the pitfalls (eg overuse or not weaning off early enough) I don’t think there’s any issue at all.