when did you give baby a dummy?

Although I had a baby 18 months ago - for the life of me, I can't remember when I gave him a dummy. I imagine it was fairly early on as he was starving (took a few days to realise I had no milk)... and he was always crying...


But I've just had another baby - who is incredibly placid.
I have been able to breastfeed... although I've had to supplement as well.
She rarely cries... but on the odd occassion that she has, my step-mum has said "have you got a dummy"...

I haven't given her a dummy at all... yet.

I have no issues with a dummy - and would rather that any day to sucking thumbs (terrified of them distorting their teeth). And as my 18mo is proof - a dummy can be very helpful at bedtime. That is the only time my DS has his dummy.

I was just wondering when others gave their babies dummies...

Jodie I was told to give Charlie a dummy early (like when he was a day old) because he was a 'sucky' baby, but he never wanted it. He's 21 months old now and has not missed it so it was for the best anyway in hindsight. If Shelli isn't demanding to suck all the time, maybe she won't ever need one.

Alexa had a dummy at 2 days old... this was because she ws prem & didnt have the whole suck, breathe swallow thing going & was to try & help her get it...

Not sure for full term bubs though...sorry !!!

I gave Oscar a dummy when he was 2 days old. It was the last night we were in hospital and I needed sleep! It helped settle him as he "needed" to suck.

I only used the dummy to settle Pip, but he only really wants it when he's really unsettled and not hungry. Not very often at all!

I don't think we gave him a dummy until he was about 3 weeks old.

thanks for the feedback girls.

I'm fairly sure the hospital gave Shaun a dummy as he was crying so much...

But Shelli feeds well... and settles/sleeps well.... so I haven't felt the need to give her a dummy.
I think I will play it by ear... and when/if she starts to become unsettled, then I will give her one.

I thought about it this morning. After marathon feeding - I lay her down and she started to grizzle after a while. So I went to get a tiny dummy... but when I returned to the basinette - she was asleep. Bless her.

I've tried a couple of times to give Katie one but she just spits it out at me. So not a big success. Oh well, I wasn't fussed either way if she used one and we seem to be coping without it. I think I tried about the 10week mark.

I gave Scarlet a dummy on the 3rd day in hospital, I was adamant i wasn't going to give her one (haha. Yeah right!) night #2 was a nighmare for us, my BB's had nothing in them, she was starving, the midwives refused to help me, i was in tears & the only thing that would calm her was sucking on my pinky so as soon as DF arrived the next morning i sent him on a dummy hunting mission - I thought she'd be sucking it non-stop for years but now she only has it if i can't make her bottle quick enough 'cause when she's ready for a bottle, she's ready RIGHT NOW! lol.

I was the only one in the entire mat ward using a dummy & everytime i heard a bubby screaming non-stop i wished i had a sack full of dummies to hand out like santa! They're an absolute sanity-saver sometimes.

DS didnt take a dummy until about 7 weeks. We offered it to him a few times because he was a very sucky baby but he refused it, until one night he had a screaming fit and DH stuck in his mouth as we had run out of options and he took it and loves it now

Asha had a dummy i think 2nd day home (we came home the next day after birth) she was quite a sucky baby but she had had so much trouble with feeding not gonna go into it too much but she loves her dummy now she was just so unsettled and i said hmm lets give it a try popped it in and she settled straight to sleep.. she loves it now whenever shes tired or grizzly she loves to suck her dummy :) i dnt mind i wasnt feeling one way or the other about the dummy thing just tok the we will wait n see frame of mind... gosh sorry talk about rambling!

We gave Laila a dummy when she was about 2 weeks old I think. She was a refluxy baby so it helped a lot. But 3 weeks ago we weaned her off it as it had really served it purpose for us.

They are definitely great on making things a lot easier for mum :)

I gave Sage a dummy during week 2 and haven't looked back. I bought so many different types but he likes the Avent ones. He hasn't had any probs as far as nipple confusion goes either. He is b/f but he also has EBM from a bottle at times too. All the things we were told not to do during our parenting classes lol.

I gave Charlie a dummy around day 4, we had just gotten home from the Hosp (they wouldn't let me use it there) & I needed a rest & he wouldn't settle. Bless him, I put the dummy in & he slept for 4hrs!!! Yay.
I honestly think they know if they want it or not & when. If she is not fussing I wouldn't start with it...I used one as it was our saviour when he wouldn't sleep...the FIRST 3 MONTHS arghhhhh. But Charlie knows he doesn't want it for anything but sleep, give it to him during the day & he won't even put it in...he just plays with it & that cracks me up.

Natalie was born at 8:45pm and the midwives asked if they could give her a dummy at around midnight, LOL! She just cried and cried and they wanted me to get some rest. (At least they asked first :) ) But she didn't want it. (They ended up only being able to settle her on her tummy that night.)
She had a dummy for about the first month or so, but then she wouldn't take it and hasn't had one since. Like Sushee said, not all babies need them.

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I think I will play it by ear... and when/if she starts to become unsettled, then I will give her one

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Sounds like a perfect plan!

Laila had a dummy on the 1st day as she would just scream & scream.. so I was told she should have one. We then worked out she had seperation anxiety.. this time #2 can just sit on my boob all day & all night cause im not giving a dummy till we have the BF worked out.

Isabella had one from abou the end of week 1... she just wanted to be forever sucking and i wanted to sleep!! i was determined not to give her one but thankfully some great friend bought them for me anyway and they saved me my sanity!!! in classes they didnt recommend them till the 2 week mark so as not to get nipple confusion, but we never had a problem.

i agree that you should wait and see but, if isabella wasnt so unsettled i wouldnt have offered it to her.

I gave Xavier a dummy a couple of days after being home because we were just way stressed out and I was ready to try anything. It got us through that night, but we didn't actually use it very often for a couple of weeks when I realised that after a feed he was acting like he was still hungry, yet when fed he would overflow and there was no room for more food, so I started giving him the dummy, and it appeared he just wanted to suck. I still don't encourage it and if he spits it and is happy I don't put it back in (have to constantly remind dh of this) but I really would prefer he ditched the dummy sooner rather than later, I don't want him becoming too dependent on it.

We tried at about six weeks when Katrina was crying and wouldn't stop (for hours). She spat it out (virtually across the room). We tried again when all else had failed at around 8 weeks. She didn't really take to it then but I showed her how to put her thumb in her mouth as a book I have recommends that rather than a dummy and says there's no harm to the teeth. Now she sucks her thumb quite a bit to go to sleep and I'm happy with that. One less thing to remember when we go out and I don't want her dependent on a dummy as I've heard some babies then wake up and you have to keep going to get the dummy in the middle of the night. I sometimes use a dummy when she's having a lot of trouble going to sleep, but she still prefers nothing or a thumb.

So yep, just play it by ear.

One of the ladies from MG trained her baby to suck a toy, not a dummy. She bought 2 identical toys (mouses) with pointy noses and would alternate them ... they were just big enough to not fall out of the cot.

I offered Aurelia a binkie a few times when she was a few weeks old, particularly when we were driving around in the car trying to get her to nod off! She took it a few times, but mostly she wouldn't. But now, she's started teething (i think she was 2 1/2 months when she started), and wants it quite often now, particularly when she sleeps.

With DD I waited a week or two I think because being my first baby I was all "my baby will NEVER have a dummy blah blah blah LOL". I was also totally paranoid it would screw up breastfeeding (it didn't). But DD never really got attached to it, she ditched it for good herself at about 7 months.

With DS I took one to the hospital and he had it from day one. He always wanted to suck on something and with a just-turned-two year old as well I couldn't sit on the couch letting him comfort suck all day long. He is still quite attached to his dummy at 15mths - I really want to get rid of it but not sure where to start now LOL.