The DUMMY dilemma!!

little me

hello!

I was looking for some people's opinion on whether to use a dummy or not?!
I have a 14 wk old that doesn't use a dummy much and can go to bed without it! But she has started teething, which is causing her pain in the gums and i'm finding the dummy really soothes her for a while before she gets fed.

I know its a bad habit to start using the dummy but she is soo young and she is starting to like the comfort of sucking when her teeth are at her. So the big question is should I let her use her dummy as wee babies love to suck or should I be "strict mammy" and not let her get into a habit with it????????

Also, sometimes she's starting to put her hands into her mouth at night, which might end up with her thumb sucking. So would it be better for her to use a dummy that I will eventually wean her off rather than the longer affects of thumb sucking???

Thanks for all your advice on this! xxx

January

Give her the soother! You're not being mean if you don't give to her and you're not mean if you do give it to her. It's your own choice. There's research that shows sucking a soother reduces the risk of cot death also.

My first daughter has a soother, is 18 months and loves it, her birthday is in December so I am going to wean her off on her second birthday and use the giving soother to Santa trick hopefully!!

My second daughter has a soother but to be honest she's not totally bothered with it unless I dip it in gripe water and then she'll suck it till the gripe water is gone, spit it out and stick her thumb in her mouth anyways... if they're going to thumb suck they're going to thumb suck whether you like it or not!

Grawns

A dummy is fine I think and better than hands or thumb. My daughter never bothered with one or sucked her thumb or hands but now she bites her nails. ( saves me cutting them:) ). As long as you only give it when she needs it I don't think it's a problem.

Personally if I thought Bridge was in discomfort, out came the calpol. Also the teetha graules seemed to help. She is now getting her molars and is sometimes in great discomfort. Neurofen is our best friend

KillerKity

I'm not a parent myself but my parents had terrible trouble getting me away from my dummy. I was almost 5 when I let go of it (woops!) I'm in my 20's and to this day I remember the comfort it brought me although it may have left my teeth messed up! If your lil one wants it then there's no harm really, just don't make the mistake my parents made!

January

Grawns wrote: »

Personally if I thought Bridge was in discomfort, out came the calpol. Also the teetha graules seemed to help. She is now getting her molars and is sometimes in great discomfort. Neurofen is our best friend

This! There is nothing wrong with medicating your child if you feel they are in pain. Calpol and Neurofen are godsends when children are teething it helps them get the sleep they need. Nelsons Teetha Granules are also fantastic, if there were shares going in that company I'd buy some! The amount of it I've bought between my two I think I may already have them!

caprilicious

I use a soother for my little lady, she's 4 months and I gave it to her at I think 6 weeks.
It was the difference between her sleeping 4-5 hours at night without it or 9 - 11 hours with it
She was a really sucky baby, always sucking her fingers the soother gave her so much comfort and she sleeps so much better with it.

I did have a had a few people comment that I shouldn't give my baby a soother, but ultimately its your baby and your business.
If it gives the little person some relief, especially through the horrible pain of teething then its well worth it

I decided to use a soother as an alternative to her sucking her thumb, because my lil sister sucked her thumb til she was 4/5.
It was very hard for my mum to wean her off it & to this date her teeth are quite crooked still from sucking her thumb.

If you would prefer for her not to use a dummy you could always try a teething ring during the day and see if she'll continue without it at night?

January

caprilicious wrote: »

I use a soother for my little lady, she's 4 months and I gave it to her at I think 6 weeks.
It was the difference between her sleeping 4-5 hours at night without it or 9 - 11 hours with it
She was a really sucky baby, always sucking her fingers the soother gave her so much comfort and she sleeps so much better with it.

I did have a had a few people comment that I shouldn't give my baby a soother, but ultimately its your baby and your business.
If it gives the little person some relief, especially through the horrible pain of teething then its well worth it

I decided to use a soother as an alternative to her sucking her thumb, because my lil sister sucked her thumb til she was 4/5.
It was very hard for my mum to wean her off it & to this date her teeth are quite crooked still from sucking her thumb.

If you would prefer for her not to use a dummy you could always try a teething ring during the day and see if she'll continue without it at night?

Don't tell me that! I'm trying to deter Saoirse from sucking her thumb but she prefers it a thousand times over to the soother

caprilicious

I think my sis just took it to the extremes, literally would spend the day chomping on her thumb!

Rose sucks her thumb a bit too or when her teeth are driving her particularly mad tried to suck thumb AND soother at the same time

trish23

The poor mite! Yes, if it works I'd let her have the comfort of it. But the problem is when they become too attached. I have a 3 year old little girl & I'm dreading the thoughts of the 'dodee fairy'! If she'll go to sleep without it then let her but if she wants it for comfort & pain relief then I wouldn't stop that either.

athlone M

When my daughter started teething first she was inbelievably cross she had colic along with it so she was inbearable and the only thing that would calm her was to give her the doodee and she loved to chew on it ( I tried loads of other things like a carrot or a teething ring or a wet face cloth none of which worked) and I used to give her calpol and the teetha anything for a bit of peace for her and us. My daughter is now 14 months and she doesn't bother with a doodee at all and hasn't for about 5 - 6 months, if she isn't sucking it she may just decide herself that she has no interest and if she sucks it she may just take a dislike to it in a few months as some children do. But for now if it gives he some comfort and you some peace theres nothing wrong with that hth

Das Kitty

Santy can always take the dummy away if it gets to that stage!

gogo

Santa owns a lot of dummies:p,
Seen another technique on Supernanny, the dummy fairy, you make a big deal of collecting all the dummies, leaving them in a pretty bag for the fairy to take and in return the fairy will leave a present.
Thought this was a good idea, as a couple of friends of mine said they didnt have the heart to keep the dummies when their child was crying on christmas day. Probably have a lot more patience on a day that you chose.

January

The dodi fairy takes them away to new babies who need dodi's

ebmma

I considered a soother in the early days (got a half a dozen of them as presents ) but anytime I thought of it I remembered that I didn't know how to use a steriliser yet and just didn't bother.;)

Little man is a bit over 4 months old now and really smiley, sociable and makes all sorts of noises and at this stage tbh I'm used to seeing his face and will not block half of it with a soother
he sleeps 10pm till 5 am and then till 8am after a feed so I can't complain there.

Eoineo

I was totally against soothers before I had ds. They are now recommended for newborns as an aid to prevent cotdeath by the way.

Ds is 21 months now and still uses his soother. He is only allowed it if his teeth are at him and as a comfort at night. It's rare that we give him one during the day. His back teeth are giving him terrible trouble but once teething is done with the soother will be gone.

Personally I'd only be worried if your child had the soother in all the time and it was getting in the way of speech etc.

Karlos13

All things in moderation!

Grawns

Eoineo wrote: »

I was totally against soothers before I had ds. They are now recommended for newborns as an aid to prevent cotdeath by the way.

They are not recommended for the 1st few weeks of breastfeeding until breastfeeding is well established. At that time they might reject a soother anyway. Mine had no interest.

implausible

Like Eoino, I was against using a dummy, but have started to use one for a while each day with my wee man and I have to say it's great. He was on the boob for ages and wouldn't really be feeding at the end of a feed. Now I find he's feeding more efficiently (for want of a better word) and the feedings aren't constant. I was feeding him every time he squalled and I reckon all he wanted was a suck. It means I can get a wee bit done during the day and I don't feel guilty about 'plugging' him, which I thought I would.

As well as that, I don't think he's going to get too attached to it, as he doesn't roar when it falls out. A few minutes using it seems to settle him.