How do you feel about dummies?

[paradise lost]

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!

Bx

[SophieRose]

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.

[SamiH]

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.
.

Just quickly - in the early days be careful with giving EBM overnight - you will still need to express during that time to establish your supply - otherwise your body will not be sure how much to make to feed your baby at the beginning and you might find yourself with sore boobies regularly from engorgement which can be a risk for mastitis.

How exciting for you, good luck on the new chapter in your lives and relationship

[SophieRose]

Well Dp is home for the first two weeks. Gotta love annual leave. So for the first fortnight i can get the milk supply up and running without having too much of a routine set in. Just focus on getting used to having a tiny little person running my life. Hehe.

Would that be long enough to get the milk supply working properly?

[briggsy's girl]

most things i've read have said to not express and feed EBM unless necessary until bubba is 6 weeks old or more so that you can establish a good supply and get supply and demand happening. as a new mummy, i can vouch for the ouchy boobs if bubba doesn't feed at your "normal" interval! E will sometimes sleep through for up to 6 hours at night (which is awesome sleep wise for me!) but i will wake up before her in pain from engorged boobs! i've started giving her a dream feed for my own comfort... even now, she's been asleep a while and before she went to sleep only fed from one side (we'd been for a walk and the poor poppet was tired) - the other side is rather hard and uncomfy after only an hour longer than the normal break between feeds

FWIW - feeding in the middle of the night is easier on the boob than what i imagine getting a bottle of EBM would be. keep in mind that you have to heat the bottle etc so it's right temp, and some babies just don't like swapping between the two. when DH was home (he was here three weeks and has now been gone for work a week) he'd get up to E, organise her nappy while i gave her the first half of her feed, snooze for a while, burp and change her while i snoozed, then gave her back for the second half. i think it was less disrupting for both of us doing that than trying to get bub to take a bottle would be. i've now been doing the "single mummy" thing for a week and am missing that bit of help, but it's not making that much difference really. as others have said, you'd have to express during that time anyway - and i think that would take more effort and wakefulness. i feed laying in bed (am busty so it works better for us) and even though i'm awake, i'm still very rested while she feeds...

on the dummy front - E was overtired after our walk today - fed and really wanted to sleep after but was so worked up - i gave her the dummy to help her calm down - it lasted all of 2 mins - she was asleep and spat it out before i could even put her down!

[Maruschke]

We introduced a dummy at day 5 and she didn't have any nipple confusion or anything like that. If anything, it saved me from nipple damage because she was comfort sucking all the time.

Sophie - 2 weeks sounds like plenty of time!

I love dummies. They really really help X to settle just before bed. However, I dtry not to use them any other time, because I want to hear her cries and cues. We are going to try and wean the dummy off her by 4 months, but I don't care if she has one until she is 3. They work so well for us .

DD1 will take any dummy now, but the first one she took was the happy baby brand.

[SophieRose]

It's my baby shower today and my best friend rang us yesterday and asked us how we felt on dummies as she was putting together my pressie and wanted to know if we'd use them or not.
So i said it's fine, we'll most likely use them, so she bought us some orthodontic NUK ones.

[~Kaz~]

So for the first fortnight i can get the milk supply up and running without having too much of a routine set in......Would that be long enough to get the milk supply working properly?

I know this is a thread about dummies but I just wanted to let you know that imo 2 weeks is not always long enough to establish your supply, nor your bfing relationship with your baby. It's great that your partner will be around because you will need the help and it's important bonding time for him too but in terms of your milk, you may still be working it all out after he goes back to work. "Everyone" told me it would take 6 weeks for supply/demand and feeding to settle down. My milk came in while I was in hossy and there seemed to be no issues with supply but then when DS was 3 weeks old, my supply dropped (not sure why) and I had to work really hard to get it back up. When DS was 7-8 weeks old we were still having issues with feeding that weren't supply related, I spoke to an ABA counsellor who told me that realistically, it can take up to 12 weeks to really establish supply (not the 6 I'd been told) and a stress free feeding r/ship. I found that by 12 weeks, DS and I were settled into more of a routine.

I wish that I'd been told about the 12 week thing before because I wouldn't have been as stressed when it was taking so long. You might be lucky and get into a feeding routine with your baby quite quickly and I hope you do but as I said during my last post, you won't know until your baby is here! All the best darl.

[SophieRose]

Oh wow, thanks for that Kaz. I guess the plan will have to wait until he's a few months old.

[~*Niadalla*~]

Dummies are by far the best invention for mankind. I hope that whomever invented them was filthy stinking rich and that their family still benefits. I would go MAD without dummies here.
My kids are comfort suckers and they lvoe their dummies. DS is nearly 2 and the only time he uses a dummy is when he goes to bed, and for long car trips (where he will sometimes fall asleep). Life savers really and have made my kids far less stressed out(and mummy and daddy are pretty chilled too).

Dummies have played no part in any infections, speech issues, or even breastfeeding issues. I have no problem with my kids switching between boob and dummy.

I don't see the harm in them at all. I am all for dummies!!

Ooo I forgot to add, dummies were introduced on day 3 with both of my kids