Newborns first soother

Eircom_Sucks

hey all , my gf gave birth to a healthy boy 6.2 lbs 8 days ago and she's breast feeding him every 3hrs and he usually feeds for 30-40 mins and when we left the hospital on monday he was just under 6lbs and today we had him weighed at the local clinic and he has put on just over 2.5 ounces , we were told we can give him a soother pretty much asap as at night he gets unsettled , sleeps great during the day but at night whinges for a bit

my question is , if we give him the soother to help him at night , how do we know when he's hungry or wants his soother , i mean if he crys do we give him the soother or do we feed him ???

we dont want to make a hains of it

first time parents

wolfpawnat

What I did is I would give my fella his soother, if he was hungry he would just spit it out and cry in frustration and you know then that its food he wants. Don't worry, you'll learn every single different cry soon enough And congrats

Das Kitty

They won't settle for the soother if they're hungry!

wolfpawnat

The first few weeks (and I am beginning to see also a lot after that) is trial and error!

As Das Kitty said, no way is baby going to take a soother if they are hungry!

Your doing great to say you are willing to ask for help on stuff you are not too familiar on

shamrock55

dont give him a soother full stop there is no need for them at all you will have a job getting them off it unless you want a 5 year old walking around with a dummy in its mouth we never gave one to our first and we due another since yesterday and that baby wont be getting one either i hate the site of them there is no need for them whatsoever oh and congrats and best of luck;)

wolfpawnat

I have to disagree shamrock. I gave my fella one the day he was born and at 13 months old I just weaned him onto naps only and then weaned him off them altogether. He found one the other day and just gave it to me and walked off. They can be very helpful when teaching babies with problems with sucking.

Besides, no one allows it go to aged 5 these days, the dodie fairies come and take them away for other babies and your child gets a small present at about 2yo. Well that's the most common weaning story I hear:) Genius really!

Das Kitty

shamrock55 wrote: »

dont give him a soother full stop there is no need for them at all you will have a job getting them off it unless you want a 5 year old walking around with a dummy in its mouth we never gave one to our first and we due another since yesterday and that baby wont be getting one either i hate the site of them there is no need for them whatsoever oh and congrats and best of luck;)

Pfft!

Any of my friend's who've used them have removed them with little hassle well before the age of 5. Babies are soothed by sucking, they enjoy it. Anything that allows frazzled parents to get a little extra sleep is a wonderful thing in my book.

implausible

I was very anti-soother myself at the beginning, but my wee man was whinging at night-time a lot around 5/6 weeks and when I'd take him into the bed, he'd only suck for a minute and fall asleep! Frustrating doesn't cover it! I started giving him the dodie when he'd wake and that was the end of that problem. He was sleeping through the night within a week! Even now, at 7 months, it's a cure-all and a sleep aid.

January

I was anti-dodi at the start too! But then I spent my first 36 hours with my first daughter and her sucking on my finger most of the time until a midwife brought a soother to me and asked me try it, I was dead against it, but needed a rest myself and she took right to it. I'm going to start to wean her off it soon, and besides, it's much easier to remove a soother than it is to remove a thumb, which is what my second daughter sucks on 24/7 and it's like a little vacuum trying to get the seal broken around her mouth sometimes.

Moonbeam

I was anti soother and my child was never getting one, then at a couple of weeks old I gave in and gave her one as she just wanted to suck on anything.
I took it back from her with very little difficulty when she was about 5/6 months old and was no longer being breast fed,had teeth and was starting solid food.
If this baby is as sucky as she was and it brings them comfort then he/she will get one too but it will also be taken from them at around the same time.
I really don't like seeing big children with soothers in their mouths.

Eircom_Sucks

shamrock55 wrote: »

dont give him a soother full stop there is no need for them at all you will have a job getting them off it unless you want a 5 year old walking around with a dummy in its mouth we never gave one to our first and we due another since yesterday and that baby wont be getting one either i hate the site of them there is no need for them whatsoever oh and congrats and best of luck;)

cheers and congrats

this little fellow will suck on anything , his vest , babygrow , hands , your chest etc

Grawns

Using a soother interferes with breastfeeding as it satisfies the babies need to suck and then they spend less time on the breast leading to an inbalance in milk supply with demand. You should wait until he is 6 weeks old and breastfeeding is well established.

I am very surprised the health nurse didn't inform you of this fact.

Congratulations!

See Link
• Using a soother on a daily basis interferes with breastfeeding - there is strong evidence that women who use pacifiers are more likely to wean their babies off the breast earlier than breastfeeding mothers who don't use pacifiers on a daily basis. One study also found that mothers who used a soothery for their baby were more likely to breastfeed exclusively for a shorter amount of time, or to report a lack of milk when the baby was at least one month old.

Whether the use of soothers is a causal factor in women giving up breastfeeding is a controversial area. Some argue that mothers use soothers because they are having problems breastfeeding or because they don't really want to breastfeed. Another school of thought is that babies find it difficult to switch from sucking on a soother or artificial nipple back to sucking on the breast - sometimes called nipple confusion. Others argue that sucking on a dummy instead of the breast results in lack of stimulation to the breast to produce prolactin, which then results in a reduced milk supply. Women who give up breastfeeding in the first six months often give "lack of milk" as their reason for stopping.

Whatever the reason, the use of sootherss on a daily basis is linked to giving up breastfeeding before the baby is three months old. Both the Canadian Pediatric Society and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that all babies breastfeed exclusively for the first six months because there are so many benefits of breastfeeding. Both the WHO and the United Nations Children's Fund, therefore, strongly discourage the use of soothers or pacifiers. To back this up, step nine of the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative "Ten steps to successful breastfeeding" advises that no artificial nipples are given to breastfed babies.

cynder

I breast fed and tried to give my lady a soother not a hope would she take it, i breast fed her till she was 2 and a half i had to put mustard on my nipple and tell her the milk had gone yucky, she only then took the soother as she needed something to comfort her instead of the breast. she had the soother till she was 4.5 years.

My second child spit the soother out just after his first birthday he was bottle fed.

My 3rd had the soother until just before his 4th birthday and he still has the bottle.

Cat Melodeon

I was totally anti-dodi but stuck one in my boy's mouth in a moment of frustration on his 4th night in the world. I couldn't take any more and it was that or stop breastfeeding. It worked, he got nothing but breastmilk until he was 13 months so no ill effects. If it's mealtime, offer boob. If it's not but baby seems hungry (ie growth spurt) offer boob. If you need a break, stick in dodi.

My lad lost interest in his at 11 months, hasn't used one since.

rylie

First of all- congrats on your new baby op

We gave baby rylie a dodie when he was around a week old. I breastfed him without any supply problems until he was 8 months old so I'd take that article with a pinch of salt tbh.

In our experience, if he was hungry the dodie would be spat out immediately so it was fairly easy to distinguish between hunger and just needing to suck.

We never gave him his dodie outside of nap times, so he's not wandering around with it stuck in his mouth. We plan on a visit from the dodie fairy next christmas so he'll be 2.5 giving it up.

ebmma

I wouldn't disregard the no soother advice to be honest. Some babies are perfectly happy to switch back and forth from soother to breast with no problems and have no supply issues. But for some people it does affect the supply negatively (especially if baby is a bit on a sleepy side).

If you feel that you really want to introduce a soother sooner rather than later try it, but if your gf notices that baby feeds 'oddly' at the breast and has any pain/discomfort I'd drop the soother immediately and try in a few weeks time. Some babies get nipple confusion in the early days and can start sucking the breast same way they suck on soother/bottle and cause pain for mum. Also drop the soother if there are any weight gain issues - it means that baby is sucking on it too much and on breast too little and doesn't stimulate supply enough.

Hope that makes some sense.