Breastfeeding - will a dummy hinder?

[YoYo]

I'll just use my experience with DS and you can form your own opinion

I used a dummy with DS from about 4 or 5 weeks old I think. (was a while ago!) It did not in any way affect my milk supply. I fed DS till he was 15.5 months old! I only used to use his Dummy for sleep times. He (as far as I can tell) knew the difference between the sweet sweet boobie and the plastic of the avent dummy (I was dumb and went for the 'cute' brand...and one of the most expensive). Like Barb said, I never used the dummy to space out feeds. I knew what he needed when he needed it, and if it was a feed, then I'd give it to him. Of course this kept my milk supply where it needed to be....just perfect for him.

As far as lenths of feeds, I had this all written down (in my desperation to help work DS rhythm out) and he used to feed for 10 - 15 mins each boob. When he was REALLY REALLY tiny, he only used to have one boob, but then I chucked both of them in and that worked well. I considered him to be a really efficient feeder, he knew what he was doing, and my boobs knew too!!!

If you think the dummy will help, then try it. That's what it's all about as far as i'm concerned. Working it out, and once you find out what works, keep going

Good luck

[thepixie]

Another one here who used a dummy and had no supply problems. I was reluctant at first too, but it was the only way she could suck without having more milk than she could physically cope with. Like Mel's DD she seemed to go off it at 4.5 months about.... then she took it back up just before she turned 1. Still going strong with BFing so for us it was a useful tool.
ETA just my personal opinion (possibly someone will want to shoot me down here) but I think for some mums who have abundant supply a dummy can be very useful in the early weeks because otherwise bubs drinks more than her body can process.

[Nelle]

It never affected my supply. I found that if I offered the dummy, and bub was actually hungry, he'd spit it straight back out in quite an unimpressed manner (so now I understand the phrase 'spit the dummy' ).

[~Trish~]

A dummy has never affected my supply with any of my three of my bubs. I used a dummy from only a few days old with each of my boys without any affect. DD has started using one within the last 3 or 4 weeks (she refused to take one before that) and again, no problems.

Big hugs Nae . Please let me know if you want my paediatric chiro's number, they have great success with reflux babies .

[MantaRay]

Oh hun, an unsettled baby is very hard work You must be exhausted

I totally agree with Barb on this - a dummy can be a godsend for babies like this. It needn't interfere with bfing.

I also wanted to add that I disagree with the sucking for at least 30 minutes. Many babies can empty a breast in less time than that. 15 mins sound perfectly reasonable to me. My first DS only ever fed for 5 minutes at a time even as a newborn (and he was putting on 400g a week at first, so he must have been getting enough in that time).

The thing with information and advice is it is really useful if you pick the bits out that you need. Hopefully you can use all the conflicting things you've been told to find a path that works.

And in short - using a dummy should be fine.

[Gigi]

hi Nae Nae,

i bf my nb, by one month old she was using the dummy on ocassion (but not the first thing i reached for).

My supply was unaffected. When she was thirsty, she let me know and we bf.

at one year old, she didn't want the dummy anymore.

i used the dummy as one option, not the only option. (i think the warnings AGAINST dummies, are about people who use them as a crutch. Overuse of many things is not great. In moderation, i think dummies are fine and useful, to babies who like them).

if i had my time over, i would look at safer dummies (e.g BPA free ones) and organic teething toys and amber teething necklaces. teeth didn't come til much later, but at THREE MONTHS, bilby's gums were so enflamed we were using the teething gel alot.

there are a few different shaped teats for dummies. i would get a variety adn see which your bub prefers.

i used the CHOICE website to work out which dummy brands were NOT recommended (safety wise). Their lists are not exhaustive, usually just a few easily bought brands - but it's somewhere to start.

[NaeNae]

Thank you everyone for your input.

Barb - Shae feeds 6-10 times in 24hrs and this varies in length that she is on for so both long feeds and snacks/top ups. I do everything lead by her so some days she feeds more than others. Her last gain taken by our MCHN was 745g in 2 weeks so I know there is no issue with how much she is getting when it comes to weight plus she does have 6-10 heavy wet nappies in 24 (mcn).

If we can hold off a dummy for just a bit longer I would prefer that because i am so scared i will stuff everything up and have to FF gee this is really hard this mother thing, its so hard to know what to do.

Nae x x x