Dummy?

[YorksLass]

Advice would be appreciated - we're confused! Obviously some self soothing is a good thing, but not sure what to do, our LO has taken to sucking our little fingers to soothe when not on the breast, she's also trying to find her thumb a bit but isn't quite coordinated enough with her hands and I worry about her scratching her eyes/face... my partner is getting tired of constantly having his finger in her mouth and wants to offer a dummy, but I'm not sure.
She's exclusively bfed and a week old... what would be recommended? I was going to avoid a dummy, but if it's going to help her settle and our sanity...?

 

[Phoenix85]

Hmm, personally I'd keep offering the breast rather than a finger.
Also with the dummy I'd avoid it in the first 6 weeks because they interfere with breastfeeding and can cause supply issues because the dummy can pacify them at times they are really wanting milk (or needing to suckle to stimulate your breasts to make more milk).

 

[YorksLass]

This is what I keep telling my partner regarding the bfing, he just feels a bit helpless, like I'm doing everything!

 

[Phoenix85]

Put him in charge of nappies... and bringing you snacks haha.

I know, it's rough, you just want to avoid causing problems with breastfeeding when it's still early days.

There's a growth spurt coming up as well at around 2 or 3 weeks (can't remember now if it's 12 days or 21 days) but they want to feed like it's going out of fashion, lol. It should boost supply though.

It won't be forever, another few weeks and she'll start going longer between feeds and should start having more alert times as well.

For now your OH will have to be content doing the bathing and the nappy changes and having cuddles when she's just been fed lol x

 

[Blueclass]

My little one won't take the dummy, I wish she would. I'm still trying to bf and cut back on formula. Today she has spent the whole day on my boob. She won't self soothe or take our fingers she constantly wants my boob. Had the bf lady over today and she said she is going to hit or is going through a growth spurt around now (nearly 3 weeks). I was only going to give the dummy at night to help her sleep then take it of her but as I say she won't take it and therefore keeps me up lol x

 

[YorksLass]

Looking forward to that growth spurt then haha!

 

[flexilexi394]

What Phoenix said, with BF it takes 6 weeks to completely crack it, and yes they feed frequently within those 6 weeks and you start to feel like a milk maid, but it does get better and they do tend to just want to suck and suck lol, but I promise it does get easier. Once I had established breast feeding, I only offered a dummy 3 times in her whole little life, literally to settle her a couple of times in her cot and once when out shopping because she was due a feed and I gave her a dummy just until I got somewhere I could sit and feed.

I probably wouldn't offer a dummy just yet, it might be a pain in the backside but breastmilk isn't as thick as formula and they are able to digest it quickly because it is sooo specially designed for that baby that they do need feeding a little more often in the early stages.

After 6 ish weeks my little girl fed every 3 hours on the dot and at 9 weeks dropped a night feed, for a breastfed baby that was amazing!

I am hoping I have the same success again with this baby. xx

 

[BunnyN]

Both ours liked to suck on our fingers. DD grew out of it herself and used the breast to settle instead after a couple of months. DS still wants to suck on my finger to fall asleep and he is 18 months. He never fell settlled on the breast which I think was because he had some feeding and latch issues so BFing was alway a it of a battle with him. We gave in and offered a dummy to both of them after a week or so but neither of them was interested.

Babies with reflux tend to like sucking to fall asleap. Feeding wont always help because it makes the reflux worse. I think this was part our issue.

 

[YorksLass]

Boob definitely seems to be what she wants! It's a little tricky the last days as I'm on these antibiotics that are fine for bfing, but apparently can change the taste if the milk slightly, so I have a bit of a battle with her pulling away a lot before actually attaching properly.
I'm sure it's just a case of carrying on as I am, it's just difficult when my partner keeps wanting to find alternatives to make things easier on me! I know he just means well and is thinking of me, I just need the resolution not to cave in...

 

[flexilexi394]

Yeah I can totally understand that, your partner just wants the best for you but it's very early days, you will get there. It is such a massive learning curve, they aren't joking when they say the first few weeks are the absolute hardest! I hope you can sort it one way or another, and once your course of antibiotics have finished then you can hopefully go on to feed and she will prefer the taste lol! xxx

 

[Rose83]

Both mine did the finger sucking thing. With my daughter we both reached a point at about 2 or 3 weeks where we both said 'why are we not giving her a dummy?' And just decided to try it. She is now 18 months and I'm trying to wean her off it. She was exclusively breastfed until about 5 weeks until I got thrush and she started refusing so she was exclusively express breast fed. The dummy never interfered with her.

My son is 14 weeks and I tried a dummy on day three with him! He is exclusively breast fed and wasn't keen on a dummy at all, then I tried different shapes and he took the avent ones but it took a few weeks for him to really get the hang of using it at all and still isn't particularly keen. But it never made a difference to his feeding and I've not had any of the problems I had with my daughter when feeding (I basically got every problem with her) but he is easy.

Just do whatever you think is best to keep you all calm is my advice! X