Dummy or not?

[cranberry987]

I'm torn as to whether to give my LO a dummy. He seems to want to suck for comfort at the moment (has colic, whatever that is - with him it's gas and general gut pain) and ive been putting him to the boob whenever he wants but sometimes he doesn't seem to want the milk, no idea how I know, just my gut feeling. Also after these sessions he throws up quite a lot - overfull?

I know dummies are supposed to be useful for colic but am unsure whether he actually does need food or is he just wanting to suck something. Also I'm trying (and mostly succeeding) to wean off nipple shields so am reluctant to give him something else foreign in his mouth.

 

[TigerLady]

I gave both my kids dummies after I felt BF was well established. DS used his a bit until he found his thumb. DD used it just a little, but preferred me and within a few weeks rejected the dummy completely. If you feel like BF is really well established, it shouldn't hurt to give a dummy a try.

 

[cranberry987]

That's the thing, bf isn't well established. But he seems to need the comfort of sucking something and I don't know if he's just making himself worse with feeding too much.

 

[TigerLady]

Why do you feel BF isn't well established? What problems are you having?

 

[cranberry987]

Long story but I'm weaning him off nipple shields at the moment.

 

[TigerLady]

Ahhh...

That is a harder call then. Personally, I would probably hold off on the dummy if you can. Is the spitting up and extra comfort sucking causing any of his distress that you can tell?

 

[cranberry987]

It's def not helping. I can't really tell if it's making him worse tho. He does take in a lot if air when sucking in general so the more time sucking is going to cause more gas and seems that overeating is never going to be good for the digestion. But how do I know that he's not genuinely hungry?

 

[TigerLady]

If he is geniunely hungry he will be actively sucking and swallowing at the breast (assuming it is not during a let down, during a let down he'll be "forced" to swallow either way).

Comfort sucking feels more like short pulses of sucks, several in quick succession. Almost like a flutter.

If he is truly hungry and you offer a dummy, he won't accept it.

If the extra milk he is getting while comfort sucking is hurting him (tummy and gas wise) it makes this a really tough call. I guess I would say, go with your gut. If your gut tells you to give it a try, do it. If you think it ends up being the wrong decision, stop giving it.

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