Hi all

Re dummies - we have been using one since about day 4. I found L was sucking his fists a lot and also wanting to dummy suck me. Actually he still does and I do keep him on the breast for a lot longer than I should until he is asleep. He only uses the dummy long enough to get comfort and then spits it out. Most of the time it is sitting next to his ear.

I was concerned about dummies and teats given some claims of being orthodontic, peristaltic etc and figured that they must be scientifically better. My step dad specialised in paediatric dentistry. He says that there is no better type of teat or dummy that will help the jaw or mouth develop any better than anything else. I was also concerned that if I let him suck his fingers he would need braces in later childhood. I needed braces when I was a teen and this was due to finger sucking. He said that as long as the finger sucking had stopped around the time the child is 8 years of age there should be no need for orthodontics.

Bad night last night. We did avoid the arsenic hours as he slept from around 7pm to 12am. I then woke him to feed him and this took a while to settle him, got the hiccups, smelly nappy etc. He was then up at around 3, then 5 and then 7. Only took small feeds and would fall asleep at the breast. At 9ish we both managed to get to sleep, at 10 he was awake and I handed him over to Dad. Snoozed until about 11.45am, but don't feel exactly refreshed. Lesson for today, don't leave it so late to feed him.

Anyway, he has been asleep for about 1.5hours so if we can get another hour that would be good.