I think it is up to the child.. I know I wouldn't like it if someone said I couldn't have my pillow which I use for comfort, LOL...
We had different types when DD was a baby and she just wouldn't accept them.. Have since given them away, and have bought some more in case this baby wants one..
i was hoping to not need to use them - but i wasn't anti-dummy to the point of making me or my girl suffer! she is definitely a comfort sucker - and it was getting to the point where she was ending up overfull from sucking on me, and couldn't sleep without breast. so we introduced a dummy a couple of weeks ago - she only uses it for comfort to go to sleep if she doesn't go into a deep sleep while i'm feeding her. i can't see that putting her on the breast when she's just fed JUST to put her to sleep again is healthy for her so i give her a dummy. most of the time she spits it out when she's asleep properly and we find it in her bed when she wakes up a couple of hours later
DD1 was a huge thumb sucker and it was fantastic! she slept extremely well very early on, self settled etc..loved loved loved the thumb, we stopped her quiet easily by taping her thumb with sports tape for a few weeks, the first few days were hard but she got over it pretty quickly and hasnt looked back!
DD2 takes a dummy but is self weaning off it, she doesnt seem to need it as much any more, she prefers to talk herself to sleep.
i agree they certainly have there place, sucking creates more saliva which helps digest the milk which is why reflux babies like them!
never say never!
When I was pregnant I didnt want to do the whole dummy thing....but I bought a two-pack anyway just incase. I was big on buying a heap of "just in case" stuff (even had formula and bottles in the cupboard just in case lol) DS loved his dummy and settled really well with it for afew weeks...then he had his first head cold and constantly spat it out (I guess it bothered his breathing). Now he will take it sometimes but most often he will prefer his thumb or fist!
Could be worse tho....he could be a toe sucker like I apparently was lol
I guess it all just boils down to what Bub decides he wants huh.
I should be ok with him using one to get to sleep, but i don't like the idea of using one everytime he makes any kind of noise. Like a kind of plug the noise asap sort of thing.
I hope he doesn't suck his thumb, as i said earlier, thumbsucking really screwed up my sisters teeth. Plus as you guys have said, i can actually take away a dummy, can't take a thumb. (that would be a little psycho :S)
I told Dp if i catch him plugging a dummy into Bub's mouth everytime he makes a noise, there will be huge trouble.
I think my problem is with dummies is that people who use it when it's not needed (after any kind of noise is made, be it a cry or a gurgle) i just see that as being lazy (don't mean to offend anyone, sorry if i have, just my personal opinion) I would rather take the time to settle him than to just "plug" up the problem. I guess thats just me. Plus i would so much rather see the little baby lip pout than have a bit of plastic covering it. Hehe.
But i have to say, you ladies have at least gotten me ok with using dummies. Dp will be ecstatic. Haha
In order to facilitate maximum ease in learning to BF we didn't give DD a dummy for 5 weeks. Instead she sucked either at the breast or on a clean pinky finger (meaning XP could have a turn too). That worked (we still talk about our "magic finger" days. I had oversupply for a few weeks, and giving her a finger to suck meant she wasn't sicking up all the unwanted milk from comfort-sucking (i have read that on average an african mother offers her baby the breast 4 times an hour, which would possibly explain why so few find they don't have enough milk and so many find it's a good contraceptive!). I think i was too fixated on "good feed/long sleep/good feed/long sleep" with DD and i really might try letting the next one snack constantly and see how i go.
Anyway back on topic... At 5 weeks, in preparation for introducing a bottle of EBM at 6 weeks (i wanted to be able to start running and needed a longer gap than 2 hours, and had a friend who had delayed introducing a bottle to 4 months and NEVER got her son to take one, so we had a proactive plan) we gave DD a dummy. It took her a few days to learn to suck it (very different to breast, which she was great at) without spitting it out by accident but she caught on eventually. It was no better than the finger TBH because if she spat it out i had to go put it back in and it was actually more peaceful to just lie with her than go back and forth. At 6 weeks we introduced the bottle and she took it fine. At 8 weeks she began attempting to suck her thumb. She got the hang of it very quickly and by 9 weeks she no longer wanted the dummy. She would either shake her head to avoid it or spit it straight out.
She still sucks her thumb, she's 38months. I still suck mine, i'm 29 this year. I have never had braces or any other orthodontic treatment and my teeth are beautifully straight and i have very few fillings compared to many others my age. One dentist told me she'd never seen such straight teeth that hadn't been braced and another told me he feels the production of saliva from thumb-sucking can actually protect the teeth from acids in the same way that chewing sugar-free gum can. He also said he finds breastfed babies who thumb-suck often have fewer deformity problems because they tend to put the thumb further back in their mouth, akin to where the nipple is placed, which is more likely to cause mild overbite than buck teeth, whereas because bottle teats open the mouth more and stop mid-tongue those children tend to suck their thumb in the same way, in the front of their mouth, which causes more problems. Ultimately there are many factors in the need for orthodontic treatment, and many children need braces when they haven't sucked anything beyond 12 months. It's luck of the draw to a degree.
Needless to say i am not about to attempt to stop DD thumb-sucking!
I'm hoping breastfeeding will work for us. But i'm hoping me might be able to do both on the breast and EBM bottle feeds during the night.
Dp works from 4pm till 2:30am, so i'd go to bed around midnight (hopefully) and then Dp can use EBM for the night feeds so that i can get a nights sleep. Then when he goes to bed around 7:30am, i'll get up and take care of the day feeds.
So introducing a dummy at 3-4 weeks might be a good bet to aid that by the sounds of it.
I guess we'll just have to see.
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