dummy

[mica23]

Help!Im a first time mother of a 3months old baby girl.She keeps trying to stuff both her hands into her mauth and sucks her thum before going to sleep but everyone keeps telling me not to give her dumy.She is a very happy baby but I worry that she is starting a habit that is going to be very hard to break..

what habit are you worried about? thumb sucking?

My dd has a dummy, she likes to suck, and was getting cross, wanted to bf constantly, and would suck her hand when it appeared, but can't work out how to get it to her mouth, she is much happier with the dummy, they are regularly cleaned and sterilised. Also latest FSID advice is to give child a dummy when they are going off to sleep to reduce cot death risk, presumably helps keep airways open. Other benifit over thumb is that you can take dummy away..

My dd sucked her fingers from about 5 minutes after she was born and I worried that it would be a difficult habit to break but she stopped by about 6 months (I think - can't remember but she doesn't do it now!). I gave her a dummy about twice because we were going on long car journeys where she couldn't reach her hand strapped in her car seat and I didn't want her to be upset! She never got attached to it though.

Islamum same here with my dd2 - 4 mths old. We are just starting to have a few problems with her waking in the night looking for it though, as well as needing night feeds!

dd1 found her fingers very easily at a few weeks of age. She is 4 years - b'day today actually - and still sucks 2 fingers on her left hand. I'm not overly worried but we obviously can't take her fingers away like we could a dummy.

I have had a thumb sucker, one that had no habit, adn a dummy sucker. If I had another child,without a doubt I would prefer them to be a thumb sucker. They are able to soothe themselves to sleep when they need to.

Lollipop dd will now cry for it in the night, but will also suck hand when she can, I'm hoping she will eventually be able to satisfy herself with her hand, I'm amazed how strongly people feel about this - my mil say 'theres nothing on it' everytime dd is offered it, and if she is holding dd will wisk away dummy the moment it half falls out of her mouth 'no you don't want that do you'

Lynette I feel the same as you, it was (and is) so handy (ha) for dd1 to soothe herself when tired or in pain.

Islamum my mil referred to dd2 as "Hannibal Lechter" on Christmas Day when she saw her with her dummy in. (she is a bit of a cowdifficult lady though) dd2 is quite a pretty baby according to most people so I wasn't impressed. My mum on the other hand is very pro-dummy. Mil disapproves of a lot of the choices we make though.

Meant to also say that dd2 can very occasionally find her hand and keep it in her mouth - usually when she is very dozy and relaxed already, for example after a long night feed.