What's your opinion on dummy use?

[sadeyedlady]

Thank god for dummys! I would have gone insane long ago otherwise

Nah LO really loves it, its his best friend. Hes only 8 weeks atm and gets so excited when he sees it heading towards his mouth!lol

 

[trumpetbum]

I don't see any harm if your baby takes to it tbh. I think it's good to limit use and wean them off it before it has any affect on teeth or speech. Would showing dh the recommendations from fsids help?
I don't personally buy them. I had a couple bought as part of a baby starter kit when my dd1 was born and without a word of a lie people(family and friends) just used to come in, pick them up/out the steriliser and plop them in her mouth at the slightest hint of a whimper, so we got rid of them and waited to see if either girls would need one. DD2 liked to nurse a lot but I was happy to have her in the sling and I was at home with her so didn't really need one. We never had to buy any and will play it by ear with DS when he comes too.

 

[Foogirl]

Slightly O/T but I saw a family at Tesco today and their middle child must have been about 3, maybe going on 4 and she was sucking a dummy. What was worse though, is they picked her up and put her in the baby part of the trolley - you know the things they lie down in?

What on earth is that about???

 

[special_kala]

Slightly O/T but I saw a family at Tesco today and their middle child must have been about 3, maybe going on 4 and she was sucking a dummy. What was worse though, is they picked her up and put her in the baby part of the trolley - you know the things they lie down in?

What on earth is that about???

how did they fit in that??

I dont like seeing kids who are 2/3/4 just walking around with dummys in their mouth

 

[AppleBlossom]

Santa is taking Grace's dummy away this year I was going to take it from her when she turned two but I want her to know why I'm taking it and also give her a distraction. I hate seeing toddlers with dummies all the time either plus she starts playschool after christmas too

 

[Emz1982_in_uk]

Kai has a dummy but only at bed time or when he is under the weather and crying. He rarely has it in the day! I don't particularly have anything against them but do really dislike them when 3 year olds walk around with them in their mouth for no good reason. I am getting rid altogether when he reaches 12 mths.

Ha, his profile pic with said dummy was after a swimming lesson. The poor thing was so hungry he needed something to suck. That was months ago tho

 

[rach2010]

Slightly O/T but I saw a family at Tesco today and their middle child must have been about 3, maybe going on 4 and she was sucking a dummy. What was worse though, is they picked her up and put her in the baby part of the trolley - you know the things they lie down in?

What on earth is that about???

that is awful, i swear some people just give in, to "shut them up" so its easier for them.

 

[jenny82]

I saw twin boys who were about 4 in those baby parts of the trolley in a shopping centre last week! I did a double take as they looked like they were about to topple out!

They were with who I thought was their grandfather though, so maybe he didn't know any better

My LO has a dummy for bed and nap times. I've started completely putting them away as he started to spot a dummy from the other side of the room and would crawl over to put it in his mouth - I'm not completely happy about this. I don't know how to start weaning him off it though. Maybe now would be a good time as he is going down ok for naps and bed most of the time...??

 

[babybliss]

I would give them dummy. Carmen never really liked the dummy only when she was couple of month old. Now she has muslin cloth in cot with her she likes to wrap her thumb in it and suck on it. Babies need to suck to calm down.

 

[Baby France]

I took the dummy off Jacob about 2 months before Emma was born! We just literally took it off him and because he was young he didn't know any better. By the end of the week he knew he wasn't allowed one and found one in the conservatory and came running in with it in his mouth laughing. Even with Emma having one now it doesn't bother him and he doesn't try and pinch it. I know we were lucky though that it didn't bother him but we did start by limiting it first and having nights were he went down without it!

I don't like older children with them either personally, think when it comes to Emma being a year old we'll try and just take it off her too and hopefully we'll have the same response!

 

[Miss_Bump]

I think they are good for their purpose - a soother NOT a 'shut me up' if the baby actually needs something

Evies sucks her thumb and never wanted a dummy
xx

 

[MamaDo]

My opinion on this has changed drastically!!! before I had my first child I was pretty "ante" dummy use...didnt think it necessary, thought it the lazy way out , wouldn't have wanted the dependency it created and would have worried about it affecting the babies mouth shape....

Then I had my first child : ) I breastfed for the first 3 weeks, until I was completely exhausted and getting pretty down so we decided to change to bottles ....somewhere along the line we eventually succumbed and bought a dummy and he took to it straight away and it was a godsend for us : )

everyone is different and definitely every baby, if he hadnt liked it - I definitly wouldn't have "forced" it on him!

It worked for us mainly because we gradually limited it to bed time only and he was off the dummy by 2 1/2 years of age - he had been looking at a toy in an argos catalogue and that night before putting him to bed I asked him did he want to try sleeping without the dummy and if he did that for a couple of nights Id buy him the toy as a reward - and he said yeah Id like to try : O it actually worked, didnt think it would but that was that !!

So baby no 2 is on the way........I dont have any preconcieved notions about how he/she will be....but if we feel we need it I won't beat myself up for trying a dummy!!

At the end of the day to avoid the side effects its down to limited use and taking them off it in a way they dont find distressing?? worked for us first time round anyway : )

 

[princess_vix]

Can i just say ladies how nice it is too have this thread so civil and friendly
It's really nice too see

I use a dummy for Ryan but he only usually has it for naps and bedtime..in the day when hes upset but he takes it out most the time

 

[Jchihuahua]

Daisy had a dummy until 4 months and then one day just rejected dummies for no apparent reason and has never used one since.

 

[CocoaOne]

If I let LO suck for comfort she'd be huge! I know they say the sucks are different, but even the light fluttery sucks activate my letdown. LO is on 95th centipede as it is, she doesn't need any extra milk! Lol. She loves her dummy though - some babies are just sucky babies.

 

[NickyT75]

If I let LO suck for comfort she'd be huge! I know they say the sucks are different, but even the light fluttery sucks activate my letdown. LO is on 95th centipede as it is, she doesn't need any extra milk! Lol. She loves her dummy though - some babies are just sucky babies.

I had to laugh at this but I agree with you as my LO is on the 75-91st centile & the fluttery comfort sucks also trigger my letdown so she ends up choking/spitting it out x

 

[andbabymakes3]

I was totally anti dummies before I had Holly (my family always used them just to keep babies quiet, which I didn't like) - but by week 3, when she was using me as her dummy, through sheer exhaustion, I gave her one when she was going down for a nap. She would suck it for a minute or two, then it would drop out when she was asleep. She self weaned at 5 months and hasn't needed one since.

I think, like everything, there is a time and a place. If it gives your baby comfort, where's the problem?! x

 

[leelee]

I love them. My Mum said I used to have 3 - one to suck, one to rub my nose and the other to hold. I don't know how old I was when I was weaned off it but she said I swopped it for an ice-cream and was upset for a day and then accepted it.

I always said that I would give one to Max if he wanted one. I gave him one when he was 3 weeks old because he was crying at 4am and wasn't hungry/wet/sick. OH was against it but I said, if you don't like it then you try and settle him. 20 minutes later he gave in and LO had a great sleep. Now I give it to him whenever I feel he needs it. He usually spits it out just after falling asleep and then doesn't need it until early morning.

Generally he only needs it for naps though as he is a real chatter and giggler and he loves to chatter all day long