When did you give you bf baby a dummy?

[superfrizbee]

BFing is going really well with ds2 (my third) - he is 9 days old and I've already bf both his older brother and sister. They never had a dummy, but now with three kids I'm very time poor and I'm thinking it might be a good idea for soothing for naps or when I can't immediately jump to what baby needs. I know they shouldn't have one so soon, but is there really any harm? Dh goes back to work next week doing long hours and I'll be doing the morning routine, school run, cooking dinner and bedtime/bath routine solo so it might come in handy. I would only use one for sleep or as sparingly as I can.

 

[willowblossom]

I don't see any harm in them. To be honest though I tried to give my son one at around 2 weeks old with no luck. When my daughter was born I tried her on one at about a week old abd she point blank refused it! Made her really cross! I hope you have more luck than I did as I'm sure they are very handy at times!

 

[WackyMumof2]

I breastfed and used a binky. He had a bad habit of falling asleep on the boob so the binky solved that problem - until I started falling asleep at night breastfeeding. Now I have a co-sleeper that refuses to sleep in his own bed.

 

[Teri7489]

From birth. My son went from breast, bottle (expressed milk) and a dummy without any issues at all. He had terrible reflux and it helped with the pain x

 

[jessmke]

With my DD I started to introduce it at 5 weeks but it took until she was 8 weeks old before she would reliably take it. I hated that thing and we took it away from her at 6 months old. I swore up and down if we had a second child I wouldn't give that child a pacifier, but I found myself shoving one in my DS's mouth at 2 days old in a desperate attempt to give my nipples a break! He never took to it though and still doesn't like it at 10 weeks old so I've pretty much given up offering it to him.

 

[sevenofnine]

We started a pacifier at about 1 week old- didn't seem to interfere with breastfeeding at all

 

[MEPride]

I started using a binky a couple days ago. 2 reasons. 1) my lo has silent reflux and sleeps restlessly. I wasn't getting ANY sleep. I give her the binky after she's done nursing at night. It helps with the reflux and mom sleeps a little. 2) my lo likes to comfort nurse. She is a voracious eater (seriously, I've never heard of a newborn gaining 4 ounces 2 days after leaving the hospital. She takes after her dad) and falls asleep at the milk bar but wants to continue sucking. The binky helps with the comfort nursing.


As a ftm and first time breastfeeder, I am wary of using one. So we only use it at night to help both of us sleep. But I have no problem taking it away at the first sign of any issues. So far so good. She has a weigh in tomorrow so we will see. She is also 9 days old.

Trust your instincts.

 

[minties]

I tried from about 4 days old with Thomas and Sophie. Thomas hated them, Sophie loved them. Emma had one at birth as she was taken away from me after she was born for breathing issues, but she also hated them.

For us, giving a dummy probably contributed to Sophie's early weaning off the breast (11.5 months). It was just easy for me to give her milk in a cup and a dummy - I was so lazy.

 

[luz]

I gave one at 2 weeks but she didn’t want it. Now she’s 6 weeks and will take it every once in a while. With my first baby I introduced it the day he was born and he took it with no problems, and was able to bf without any nipple confusion

 

[itsnowmyturn]

Daughter had one at 5 days old, she went into hospital poorly and was tube fed for a few days from 4 days old and she just wanted to suck so gave her a dummy and she loved her dummies, they helped her self soothe, she slept really well because she just put the dummy back in and went back off. She never had any trouble switching between breast expressed bottles and dummy.
My son is now 18 days old and he has had a dummy since about 5 or 6 days old, he's not as keen on it and sometimes refuses it, he is fussy on the breast sometimes but he is tongue tied and is very gassy and possible silent reflux so the dummy does sometimes help him with the discomfort of it.
I don't see a problem with dummies, for some reason this time I was more reluctant to give the baby a dummy than I was last time but now he has it I remember how much easier it made our life!! Crying and can't settle him or need a few minutes? Give him his dummy. Overtired and struggling to fall asleep? Give him his dummy. Crying in public for no reason and people are looking at you? Give him his dummy. Lol.

 

[blake12336]

I gave my LO one a dummy at 4 weeks old, I held off as long as I could to establish feeding etc and the second I gave it to him I felt so much relief and under less pressure!