when do you give a baby a dummy?

[milkin]

hey, i've got a nearly 3 weeks old baby and he is breastfed. i breastfed my first for over a year and he didn't take to a dummy, but my youngest has took to one but i don't know when to give him it

like how do i know he's had enough breast milk, do i let him use the dummy after a feed until he falls asleep? how often do i use the dummy..

probably stupid questions but i have no clue and worrying a little bit!

Why do you want him to have a dummy? They don't have to so working out the end goal is probably useful.
However breastfed baby's will use the breast for comfort instead so if baby wakes up you could offer it then and see if he'll drop back to sleep if he becomes unsettled. In terms of when they have enough breastmilk they normally just fall asleep off if it.

There's also nothing to worry about, it's not like the number of wet and dry nappies or number of feeds it's entirely optional as a replacement for the breast during comfort feeds either or is fine.

@Singleandproud for comfort mainly. my partner works late shifts and find it hard to breastfeed all the time while looking after my toddler, especially during his bedtimes.

my LO screams and screams (of course) until he is fed to sleep. he won't settle unless he has milk, which is fine. just very restricting while i have a toddlers bedtime to attend to as well.

would possibly be easier for my partner to get him to sleep if he is suckling a dummy as well

With DC1 I held out till 6 weeks until I read about how dummies can help prevent SIDS. With DC2 I had them packed in the hospital bag.

Both were ebf to 6 months and carried on till 14 months. It never intereferred with breastfeeding.

I have them a dummy whenever they were ready to sleep and when they were small if they were looking for extra comfort.

After 12 months it was strictly only for sleeping times so never interferred with speech either. Took them away entirely about 2.5 with little fuss.

DC1 had a dummy from being about a week or two old and DC2 had one from the day after they were born I think!

They were both mostly breastfed too and it didn't interfere with breastfeeding at all. Dummy was only used for e.g. brief periods if they were very upset and couldn't be breastfed at that age exact moment for a practical reason (in the pram or car going somewhere, I was in the shower, they were at the doctor's being checked or something) OR dummy would be used for sleep once they'd already had a long, decent breastfeed and were now just fussing at the breast because they were clearly just tired OR for sleep after a bottle feed if they hadn't fallen asleep on the bottle (about twice a week).