Dummies

[1sttimemum]

Ok so i'm very reluctant to give Caitlyn a dummy, No specific reason, i just would like for my daughter to go without - my reasoning is that she doesnt know what one is and therefore isnt missing anything.

YET:
My OH, his mum and my mum keep suggesting i give her one. His mum said to me today:

Have you tried a dummy, its proven to reduce cot death, well if you don't give her a dummy then don't let her suck her thumb My daughter, if she wants to suck her thumb then she can do lol

I think Caitlyn might have a touch of Colic and is ATM only soothed by us holding her tight too our chest.

I did try her with a dummy when she was a couple of days old but she just spat it back at me.

I'm scared to try her again in case she does take it.

What does everyone else think about this???

 

[mary70]

my daughter has had a dummy from being a day old (in scbu) and we have just taken it off her she only has it at night now and i have had no problems i would much rather her have a dummy that suck her thumb

 

[charlie84]

Well i tried my little one with a dummy due to her using my boob as a dummy, but she didnt know what to do with it just chewed it. So she doesnt have one.

But to be honest hun you sound like you dont want to give her one, so dont if you dont want to.

Oh and the thumb sucking thing, if that does happen you can deal with that when it does. I used to suck my thumb when i was younger but stopped when my mum put that horrible tasting nail stuff on

 

[LisaJ1986]

If you don't wanna give her 1 then don't. Your decision. I tried a couple of times but only at night to see if i could get longer to sleep. But she refuses them.
I don't want 1 coz my eldest nephew is almost 4 and they're struggling to take it off him. And not doing well as his brothers are 1 and 5 weeks old so he just takes 1 of theirs.

If you aint happy then it's not a bad thing. If you do give 1 then maybe be strict as to when you use it.

 

[Sherlock]

I'm using one with Galen this past week as he is a boob monster and it helped get him off my boob once fed. I did so after discussing with my HV. It is also helping lots with his colic and sucking is good for helping ease it. Staying on my boob does him no good when he has a bout of colic as he keeps taking in food and aggravating it. The dummy means he get relief and is calmer.

However, I plan to take it away when he is about 4 months old. Apparently until about 5 months they don't 'remember' as such and taking it away before this will mean no long term missing of it. Maybe a day of fussing but they get over it very quickly. Past 5 months of age or so is when they start associating and remembering and it can be much harder to take a dummy away without having LO wanting it. Thumb sucking is easier to get out of the habit from apparently then trying to take away a dummy once they are older.

I got special NUK dummies that imitate the nipple and Galen took to them no problem.

I'd say give a dummy a go and if it helps with the colic then But you can always take it away before she gets to the point of being attached to it as I plan to do.

 

[1sttimemum]

I have said to my OH this evening, if she is bad when she gets up for her feed in the middle of the night (this is the troublesome time of day along with the teatime feed) i will try her!! I am hoping she spits it out again lol.

I just thought it was cruel of his mum to put the cot death thing on me,

 

[LisaJ1986]

That wasn't very nice. I thought it'd only reduce it if they're laid on their tummy anyway.

 

[1sttimemum]

Apparently because they keep suckling on it, its keeping there mouth open and getting air through when they do suckle on it

 

[LisaJ1986]

Oh right. Never knew that. I'm not bothering anymore with Angel. She's tried it, and gagged on it. If she has done fine so far then she will from now on. She's 7 weeks now. I just tried it coz she has quite a few wake ups in the night. Thought we might go for a bit longer. But i manage now.

 

[mummy2be]

Lucy LOVED hers! It was a real godsend in the first few months - my thoughts are you can take away a dummy but not a thumb!

A few weeks ago i got fed up of seeing it in her mouth all the time and felt she was becoming a bit over dependent on it so just stopped it completely. Day 1 was tough but absolutely no problems since. In fact she smiles a lot more now!

One bit of advice though - if they get used to having it at night - when it falls out you will spend all night getting up to put it back in!

 

[Sophie1102]

I have a dummy for my LO but he will only take it when he is tired.

My other two girls had them and I didn't have any problems taking them away, just did it gradually, only having it when ill or bed time, take it out when taking etc, you just have to be consistant and not give it 'just to shut them up' when they get older, it need to be just used as a soother.

My sister sucked her thumb and she still does it now - she's just turned 26!!!

 

[sarah113]

my first two had dummies, my first had a dummy because she was getting really bad colic and a dummy was the only thing to soothe her, my second had a dummy because she kept sucking her thumb and was making it really sore and red. my boys did'nt have dummies at all.
with my girls it took ages to get rid of them my eldest was 3 and my 2nd was 2 but we got there in the end.

 

[BeckyJ]

i havnt ruled out using a dummy but if i do i will try and associate it with night time/sleep time so that they know that its only for naps/sleeps

 

[daftscotslass]

I was the same until colic arrived. Most of the time we can go without but sometimes she just seems to want to comfort suck, especially in the evening when she's upset. We only realised this when we would give her her bottle and she would suck on that and then throw it all back up again because it was more than she could physically take. Becky doesn't need it at all when she's awake (which is most of the time ).

 

[hennaly]

i let mine decide if they want it or not but i cant stand seeing toddlers walking round with dummies.
The ones of mine that didnt have dummies tended to suck their thumbs.

 

[lea m]

All mine had dummies and LOVED them!But if they wouldnt have took to them then I wouldnt have forced them to have one!
At 12 months I took their bottles off them and at 13-15 months I took their dummies off them! They might cry a bit but then they forget!
TBH I cant stand it when kids of like 3-4 have dummies? My niece has one and she is 4 and she looks so silly! I dont see the point of that if Im honest! Theres no need for it to get that far!