Wow i love this thread.
I have a few examples of dummy use -
One was me, my brother and sister, my mum didnt give any of us dummies apart from when we were really really really little, none of us took to them and none of us were bothered when she threw them away (with me it was actually my mums FRIENDwho chucked a dummy in my mouth - my mum was mad but waited to see what happened after a few days). My sister didnt take to the dummy she just spat it out, BUT she sucked her thumb and did so till she was about 6 i think, i dont see anything wrong with thumb sucking i prefer it actually.
Next is an old friend, She was 21 when she had her daughter and she hated dummies said she would never use them (she saw her neice and nephew with them all the time), and true to her word she never bought one or tried one. But now i was over there a lot inn the first year, and she would cry! It takes a while to recognise all the different 'cries' but once you do and you can idtentify whats wrong thru the cry it makes it a bit easier, but then still, going into another room to do the dishes or washing while shes in her rocker crying is hard. But she taught her to soothe herself and in the end did. she would cry to sleep but we knew nothing was wrong and she wasnt hurt..
Next example - the little girl my friend used to nanny. She was 3 and she had a dummy in 24/7. everytime i saw her, But me and my frind decided we would wean her. When i saw her i used to sneak it away while i was talking to her or playing and she wouldnt notice for ages and ages. When she wanted it thougt she made it VERY clear. She had FASD aswell which is why her dad spoiled her, but in their house there was about 5 or 6 dummies lying around so even if you took it - she would go off and find another. and she knew as soon as her dad got home he would give her one. Not much we could do tho, as nannies. We tried. Her teeth formed different and she didnt reaslly speak much unless she wanted something. thats what i dont agree with about dummies,
But, in saying that, i will probably use one after BF'ing is established. Purely because i simply cant pick her up everytime she cries to soothe her and also for SIDS. But my baby will NOT have a dummy past 1 year and will not have it during the day for no reason. Im quite anti that. It will be for naps and sleeping and thats it!
The little baby i used to nanny, she had one. Well 2. but she only got them for naps and sleeping, I got her wweaned off them completely when i was therem she used to nap in her mums bed with a dummy but i got her into her own cot and without dummy. So some days she only wanted it to sleep at nighttime. We put it in her cot nap time aswell though. When we picked her up after nap - the summy stayed there. Yes sometimes we had to go up and check why she was crying during the night and if we put the dummy back in then she went to sleep, i think thats fine though because if she was really hungry she would spit it out and scream. So we could tell.
So i think it really really does depend on the baby, and if i am lucky enough not to have a 'cryish' baby, then i might not even try dummies. Once the baby is here you can decide better, I will buy 2 for the house. and thats it. if they get lost then they are gone!
also with the sterilising thing yeah obv ill clean them but im not gonna worry too much about if they drop it themselves then put it back in, i wont have any pets and unless its outside itll be ok.The baby has to build up an immune system.
Thats my views on dummies!
my this is a long post! sorrry!!