Breastfeeding and dummies

[Soph903]

Hi,
Baby is nearly three weeks old and I'm exclusively breastfeeding we have been quite lucky and it's been fairly easy so far however he is sick a few times a day from reflux/overfeeding i think. I'm considering trying a dummy to help settle him however I've read online that you should wait at least until 4 weeks. If i start using one now would it cause problems with breastfeeding? I would've thought he would still show his hunger cues and spit the dummy out if he wanted feeding rather than comfort? Can he go to sleep with a dummy? Thankyou.

Hi, congrats on your new baby! I worried about this too with my first but after 8 days I caved and gave her a dummy because she had such a strong suck reflex and it instantly made such a difference and we all started to sleep 🙌🏼. It caused no issues at all with breastfeeding and you're right if they're hungry they just spit it out because it's not giving them what they need. With my second I decided to just give him a dummy from the start and again absolutely no issues with feeding. So from my experience it's been fine ☺️

My DIL introduced a dummy (and a bottle) to all three of her children almost from the beginning and they all went on to be very successfully breastfed. They would also happily take an expressed bottle, which was liberating.

Congrats! I waited 3 weeks with mine - a midwife friend said that it’s fine once breastfeeding is well established - 4 weeks gives you both to get a good hang of things, but it sounds like things are going well with that!

Hi
I EbF my baby, I popped to the shop when he was a few weeks old, and my DH gave him a dummy out of panic when he started crying, it was absolutely fine. Like you I was lucky with a BF as baby took to it straight away. He’s 6 months old now and has the dummy if he’s struggling to settle but isn’t reliant on it which again I think is luck more than anything.

Thankyou so much for everyone's replies! Is it ok to give him a dummy to go to sleep if hes sick will he just spit it out? Thanks.

I waited way too long to try mine with a dummy (12 weeks) and he refused every single one I tried and now I really wish I had the extra help to settle him so I'd say absolutely go for it now if bf is going well!

Yes it’s okay to give when asleep. The dummy will fall out if your baby opens their mouth.

I had issues with my milk coming in and my daughter had slow birth weight /dropped more than 12% so I had to top up every breastfeed with a little ready made actimel bottle for the first 2 weeks.
She then got colic and I introduced a dummy then which really helped settle her.

So, she was breastfed but also had the bottle and dummy from an early age. This worked great for us, no issues at all. I breastfed for a year. The dummy we got rid of by 2.5

My first completely refused a dummy.
My 2nd was sick alot, I just used to tilt the cot a little if he was struggling to sleep. I know you aren't "meant" to but if he was totally flat he would throw up every single time without fail.

My son had a dummy from a week old. No hungry baby will accept a dummy, they will spit it out and cry.

I exclusively breastfed my son until the age of two. No bottles but he loved his dummy for sleep only. Helped massively with silent reflux and general soothing.

Congratulations on your little boy.
I can't comment on the dummy query as my eldest refused it and so didn't bother with my youngest, but my EBF little girl had a lot of reflux at 3/4 weeks until I changed her feeding position so might be worth trying too? I started feeding her sat up and supported on my knee so she was more upright, instead of across me, and keeping her upright burping her very gently, and the reflux has really improved.

I was told to wait 6 weeks or it might effect breastfeeding. My son used me for comfort a lot and I think that really helped with my supply as he was on the breast a lot. I wasn't sure if I wanted to try a dummy at all because of this. By the time he was 6 weeks old he was sucking his thumb for comfort and it wasn't necessary. Sleep did improve around this time as he was able to self soothe a bit. I would say do whatever works for you but know there is a slight change of it impacting breastfeeding before 6 weeks.