Will you be giving your baby a dummy/pacifier?

[mildred81]

My son has a dummy for sleeping and has no trouble with his teeth or speech, he's 19 months now and we will look to get rid of it for his 2nd birthday.

This baby will also have one once breastfeeding is established.

There is also the argument that dummys help reduce the risk of cot death, i don't know what the odds are or exactly how but to me anything that may help ease that worry will be done.

xx

 

[diverdi]

My oldest son had one up to 20 months, y youngest wasn't interested. I hate seeing older children wandering around with them stuck in their mouths all day, makes me feel like the parents just use them to shut them up.
I'll be keeping an open mind for this one. Prepared to use one for settling if it's a 'sucky' baby but otherwise not

 

[AFC84]

it depends on what baby wants. if he/she is ok without one then i wont give one but if i think he/she would be happier with one then ill try one.
ollie was a terrible sleeper so we gave her one, she still has it now when shes tired but doesnt wander round with it in her mouth all day lol x

Same here. I never planned on using one last time, but hey. Admittedly I'm not a fan of proper newborn/day or two old babies with dummies in, I think we started using one at 2-3 months, so I'll just wait and see what this baby is like as well.

ETA: I would rather a dummy than a thumb/finger for a sucky baby. I sucked my thumb til I was about 14 and my bottom teeth in particular slope inwards, I hate them At least you can control when the dummy use stops!

 

[xxEMZxx]

Prob, Liam had one from about 3 weeks because he just would not settle no matter what it was a lifesaver.

 

[Onemoretime5]

Never had one for any of my children and wont for these ones. Babies almost have to be forced to take one. I had one and because of it my teeth were screwed up and I wouldnt not give it up until my aunt ripped it from my mouth atfive years old. Parents think its easier when its not, you are constantly having to put it in their mouth or they will freak out you have to be sure they dont drop it outside and when they do you have to look for some place to wash it off. Its just not worth it... for me anyway.

 

[bke]

I didn´t want the pacifier to interrupt the breastfeeding so we were not going to give our son a dummy but as it turned out, he wanted to suckle aaaallll dayyy loooong and my nipples were ON FIRE! On day 5 I just had to give in and buy a tiny dummy and whollah! A happy baby and happy breasts = happy mommy

Did not matter at all in the breastfeeding as I had feared.. I even thought it helped because when I got a little time off to heal between feedings we were better to figure out the right way to put him on the breast and soon the nipples were OK. YAY!

 

[ilovebabybean]

I will be I have learnt with my kids that you can take a dummy away from a child but not their thumb!! With my first who is now 7 she never had a dummy but wont stop sucking her thumb now and one of her front teeth is beginning to stick out further than the other front one where she sucks on one side. Which is why with my baby son and this new baby i will be giving them dummies to be taken away before it becomes any kind of dental problem. Everyone and every child is different but the teeth thing is a big problem with thumb suckers because you cant just take their thumbs from them like you can a dummy, may be just another thing to consider my sister was the same and had to have a lot of dental treatment. I think giving it to them then making sure you take them away at a young enough age is the way forward, or at least for me and my family...hope this helps xxx

 

[lalitas charm]

I decided to use a dummy for DD to sleep due to the research relating to SIDS, I tried every type of dummy there was and she refused them all so that was that.

A friend of mine is a speech therapist and she is very much against them for a number of reasons. She also told me about some research where long term dummy use can change the way you hold your jaw due to the muscle build up which pushes the lower jaw out and might be associated with more severe effects of strokes.

I will see what happens with this baby but I'm not planning to buy any at this point.

 

[mariesmith]

Oh god yes! My son cudnt sleep without a dummy and a muslin to twiddle in his fingers, we got rid of it on his 2nd bday which was really quite easy, ive already stocked up on pink dummies but the flatter teets as my son had cherry teets and i hated them lol. But for me, defo a must have!!!

my little girl is the same, she has a muzzy and dummy too, im a bit conserned for when its time to give it up as we have the battle of both items as they go together, she cant have one without the other lol.

this baby wont be any different, i couldnt cope with the windging loldummy straight in.

 

[eulmh82]

I wasn't sure about this but I asked my mum and she said if it makes things a little easier then there's nothing wrong with it. Both of us happily gave it up - me for an umbrella that I was desperate for so I intend to use the same tactic

 

[eulmh82]

I will be I have learnt with my kids that you can take a dummy away from a child but not their thumb!! With my first who is now 7 she never had a dummy but wont stop sucking her thumb now and one of her front teeth is beginning to stick out further than the other front one where she sucks on one side. Which is why with my baby son and this new baby i will be giving them dummies to be taken away before it becomes any kind of dental problem. Everyone and every child is different but the teeth thing is a big problem with thumb suckers because you cant just take their thumbs from them like you can a dummy, may be just another thing to consider my sister was the same and had to have a lot of dental treatment. I think giving it to them then making sure you take them away at a young enough age is the way forward, or at least for me and my family...hope this helps xxx

Totally agree with this point too!

 

[hollyrose]

i tried to give my dd a dummy but she just spat it out and sucked her thumb. she still does now and she's nearly 4. i was glad she didn't take one tho cause my nephew takes one and when he was little my sister was up loads during the night when it fell out to put it back in! not sure about this one. will decide at the time. i might be glad of a dummy if he's a crier! lol! xo

 

[lace&pearls]

I've put yes as an answer but I would obviously only use one if I felt it was neccesary/baby actually took to it. In my experience a dummy is better than a thumb, in all honesty I still find myself sucking my thumb and I'm 23 years old! I don't even realise I'm doing it, just when I'm really tired. As a result despite having braces my teeth are slightly out of allignmnent. So at least with a dummy you can prevent them from using them all the time and get rid of them at a certain age. Also one of the negative points about them was seeing babies with them all the time - I agree, its up to the individual what they do but I think I would prefer them as a comfort for sleep rather than something in their mouth all the time.

As for the theory that babies get sickness and diarrhea more from using dummies, ALL babies/young children are prone to tummy bugs, and after all you do sterilise dummies. I imagine a lot of the 'cons' of dummies are from over-use, as I said before, I had a thumb instead and I still had dental problems! As well as people generally have dental problems, I know lots of people who needed braces regardless of whether they sucked their thumb or a dummy or not.

But, each to their own I wouldn't judge a mummy either way and I hope no-one would judge me either, we're all just doing the best for our babies after all

 

[romeo.juliet]

Baby will most certainly be allowed a pacifier. I would rather put him on a pacifier then risk him sucking his thumb (which seems to happen in my family lol). It's easier to break the pacifier then sucking the thumb. That's my main reasoning...

 

[SouthernC]

I didn't use one as a baby (nor did I suck my thumb) but my OH did use a pacifier. The way I see it with our son, if he needs it and it helps soothe him then he will use one, if he doesn't then he wont.

 

[plastic]

I had to give my daughter a dummy she was tube fed for 3 months so needed the dummy so she didn't loose her sucking reflex!

She kept her dummy till she was about 2 - 3 helped her sleep and I guess comfort of some description, when it was time to give it up she was fine no problems at all!

I have just been reading some of the cons which I haven't had single issue with, her speech is perfect, her teeth are great, I couldnt breast feed but bottle was never an issue! My daughter has almost never been sick (vomiting runs) she only used to get chest infections which were related to her being born so early rather than a dummy!

In all honesty I think the pros/cons are all in people's heads and you should make a decision based on you and your child's needs not because someone has told you is "right"

That's just my humble opinion

 

[crazylilth1ng]

Neither of my girls would take to a dummy, they just sucked it a few times and spat it out. I only tried really out of politeness as my grandmother bought them to help soothe them, but it just wasn't for them. I too never say never, I will just wait and see what this baby wants when she comes along.

 

[myheadismush]

im not deciding one way or the other...
one of mine did and the other didnt...
im going to see what this little one is like, if they are distressed and a dummy seems to make them feel better then im not opposed to giving them that comfort...on the other hand i wont force one just for the sake of it...]
babies are all so different, i try not to have any expectations as to what i will and wont do until i meet my little one

 

[ashlee23]

not totally on topic but just saw it as a reason not to use dummys on here, is it just me though or is nipple confusion just the most ridiculous idea ever?!?! ive seen plenty of babies when i used to work in a nursery and even now workin in hospital that use both a bottle (and/or dummy) aswell as breast feeding and have never seen one suddenly forget how to breast feed just because theyve had a bottle somewhere in between. they dnt seem to look at boobs and go "wait a minute, these dnt look the same anymore" they just snuggle in and go for it. and isnt it mainly the smell of the milk that gets them to suck? ive had babies that werent mine bury their face in my chest and realise they cant feed and totally lose interest.
silly point i know but is it just me or are the ppl that come up with these things ridiculously overpaid for coming up with this stuff??? xxx

 

[jo_lou_pip]

yes i be giving my baby a dummie.all my nieces/nephews who are under age of 11 all had dummies and no probs at all.like someone said you can stop the child having a dummie at a certain age bt cant stop them sooking them thumbs.which i hate anyway.ive already bought 3 good brand make dummies.if doesnt want it that fine bt it defo wontbe sooking it thumb