Opinions on dummys for 'sucky' babies........

[Jayneypops]

Hi,

Although our LO is only 11 days old, I am beginning to think she is a sucky baby. By that I mean she seems ro like to suck on my nipples for comfort as does it in between feeds in need order to nod off. As soon as I put her back in her basket though most of the time she will wake up and start fussing.

We never gave dd1 a dummy as werent really comfortable with the idea. She took to sucking her fingers instead and still does when tired.
I am so desperate for a break from having her attached to my boob 24/7 though that ill try anything.

Is she too young to try a dummy? Am I making more problems for us further down the line by introducing one?

 

[CupcakeBaby]

Too little if you want to EBF.

At her age being sucky means she wants the breast.

You're best not to introduce any fake nipples etc until 12 weeks. Xxx Could really damage your supply and confuse her.

 

[noon_child]

Officially the advice would be that at 11days you haven't regulated your supply of breastmilk so you should let her suck on you if she wants to avoid messing with supply BUT I remember the frustration of feeling tied to your child, never able to put them down and it can lead to some very resentful thoughts - so I don't judge!! My LO would never take one so I had to try other things.

If you aren't comfortable with the idea of introducing it so early there are a few other things you could do:

1) Babies suck when their stomachs are uncomfortable (as well as hungry) so try burping her a bit more often, or for longer.

2) The world is a bright, noisy, rough, cold, isolated place for a newborn so she may just want to be close to you. A wrap or carrier may allow her to sleep without you feeling quite so tied - even though you literally will be!

3) Warm the sheet/matress of the moses basket so that the transistion from your arms to being laid down is not a shock.

4) Investigate safe co-sleeping and do daytime feeds lying down. Then if you both fall asleep that's fine, or if she sleep and you are awake you can sit by her and read, tidy the bedroom etc. although you want be able to leave the room without transitioning her to a cot/basket.

 

[sue_88]

My LO was a very sucky baby and has never 'cluster fed' ever! Once full she did/does not want milk so stops sucking but still needs the suck-soothe mechanism to sleep.

My LO had a dummy from 1 day old, EBF till 6m and still going now. Not a single problem here

My LO had perfect latch from first feed so I was confident, she rejected dummy at 5m in favour of her fingers/thumb

 

[jessicatunnel]

We introduced a dummy at 4 days as my lo had jaundice and had to go under the phototherapy lights and we could only take him out to bf him or could only take him out for 30 minutes at a time to soothe him if he needed it. So we gave a dummy since he had to stay under the lights as much as possible. He has it at night but mostly spits it out after a few minutes. It hasn't affected his latch and I always offer boob first before giving him a dummy.

 

[pinkpolkadot]

I think the official line is it is too early, it did work for us though and caused no problems, every situation is different.

DD wouldn't settle in her basket at night no matter what we tried until we gave her a dummy. I remember sitting in bed holding her and crying as I was falling asleep, I literally could not stay awake and I didn't know what to do. Cosleeping was out for us but if that's an option it may help?

She was very sucky and would also get very agitated at the end of a feed when she wanted to carry on sucking but milk was still coming out, I realised this when I gave her my fingers to suck instead and she was happy as larry!

 

[Pearls18]

I gave DS2 his dummy at 2 weeks it has been a life saver, he loves it and is a much more content baby in the day than his brother was as a result, but I do think it has contributed to some problems we've had, nothing major supply is fine but I think his shallow latch which causes some other issues such as sickiness and not very relaxing feeds is possibly as a result, I would still have given it to him though even in hindsight but I wouldn't say it was risk free for us. dS1 wasn't interested.

 

[lau86]

Both mine had a dummy from birth, they always spat it out when they were hungry. My eldest had a tongue tie and destroyed my nipples so it gave me a bit of time to heal. I gave no. 2 a dummy because I didn't think my eldest would be impressed with a newborn comfort sucking on me. We've never had a problem with them.

 

[Jayneypops]

Thanks for the replies. Well yesterday after LO seemed to be comfort sucking on my nipples for most of the day we gave her a dummy. I knew she wasnt hungry as had just fed but was still making sucky noises, crying and going for her hands. As soon as she had it she calmd right down, her breathing slowed, body relaxed and she fell asleep in my arms. She seemed to really like it! As soon as I saw her relax I knew it was the right decision for her. She had it once for that nap and if I think she needa a bit of 'sucky' comfort in future I will offer it again. It didnt affect her feeding following the nap but ill be keeping an eye on her latch etc.
I was so anti dummies with DD1 in the beginning but im starting to see they probably do have a place in some circumstances with certain babies.