The great dummy debate

[minikins]

I will probably be shot for putting up this emotive subject but thought it would be interesting.

Just wanted to know your views on using a dummy - do ya or don't ya??

I don't use dummies myself for Dom and don't want to in the future with my future nippers, but I think it's a personal choice for you and your baby, although I would not do it. However, I can understand if you are at the end of your tether and you can't settle your little one then anythings worth a go, I could just not bring myself to do it.

I just don't like the way they look and they can hamper speech development later on so I just try to do other things to settle Dom.

There are good points for and against dummies and all sorts of medical reports and advice saying they are good and they are bad etc. I saw a report just this morning on BBC news on this, hence the thread.

Hopefully this thread will stay in a good debate tone and not go down a your a bad mother for using one thread.

Waddya think ladies?

xx

 

[Dee1985]

And personaly i think this thread would turn nasty,
for example, yes i do use dummies for both my babies and if people say things like, 'they dont look nice'
it will just bug me.

if they want to suck on a dummy... its fine

both my babies had reflux and it easies the pain

and i think they look cute.

 

[minikins]

Hey i agree with you it's a choice thing and that's groovy.

Let's not let it turn nasty it was just a question and we all have opinions and it's good to share wether we agree or not, otherwise what's the point of having this site if we can't share our opinions.

 

[Tiny Sue]

At the start I swore Naomi would never have a soother. Now she does...just to go to sleep or to have from the fridge if she's been teething badly. It seems to work so far as she doesn't have it in her mouth all the time and she isn't totally dependent on it...we were away lastnight and I had forgotten her soother and she slept no problem...

The paediatrician says they do no harm to growing teeth etc if you wean them off by 10 months. Her words were..."you'll have three nights of absolutely no sleep while you're doing that and then it's over."

Wish I could be that confident!!

Sue

 

[Dee1985]

Because people dont want to hear opinions if its negitive to your way of parenting.


i like to see myself as a great mum as do most mums so when some one has some thing bad to say it can just bug others... and makes them dout themselves.

Dior uses a dummy and will be hard to get her of it so il rather not no all these bad things about them
think the poll is abit harsh "no there discusting things"

come on, you seen how my last thread ended up about personal opinions

locked with the key thrown away

or maybe the only answer is. i keep away lol

 

[michelle82]

matthew has dummys all over the house somehow they disappear and re appear but he only has them normally for naps or if he is a bit gripey he sometimes likes to suck a dummy but he's not one of those kids where its permanently in his mouth and as he gets older i just wont give it to him full stop when he understands no that is. but for now i dont see the harm he never has it at night just in the day and not all the time, sometimes hes just not interested in it. I wouldnt want him getting to 3 or 4 though and still wandering around with one. i was watching neighbours the other day and the little boy oscar on there has one and he talks with it in his mouth that would bloody annoy me!

 

[hannahbet20]

all three of mine never had a dummy i didnt see the point in holding them in their mouth because they just spat them out all the time and it felt nasty i only tried a dummy with my first jake because he was a pain to settle at night but the other two i didnt feel the need however most of my friends babies have them so im definatley not judging anyone.

 

[tracyM]

I've sworn every time mine won't have dummies but they've all been 'sucky' babies. Alex just has his at bed time and if he's being cuddly - we only have one dummy. Charlotte had hers plugged in 24/7 and we used to have them all over the house in case she lost one. She sent hers to Santa when she was 3, we tried to get rid when she was 2 but she wasn't ready - her speech is fine, her teeth aren't mishapen.

Like everything else, every baby is different, some are sucky, some aren't - mum tried me with a dummy and I wouldn't take one. My cousins wouldn't have dummys but sucked their thumbs (still do at 25 and 27).

 

[nikki1306]

My kids always refused dummies,I will try this baby though . I agree with Dionne on this one I think they look really cute and you can buy really lovely ones. I have also read that they have been proven to reduce cot death if they have them at night,now that cant be a bad thing xx

 

[emilia]

My eldest had a dummy. He was so unsettled and had bad colic. Initially, I didn't like the thought of it, but it worked for him and us. He give up his dummies at 18 mths and he left them under the Xmas tree for santa... no battle!!!
Today he has THE most perfect teeth I'v ever seen on any kid.

I personally don't like them, because whenever he lost his dummy at night, we would be woken to find it for him. So, I see it as a hassle. My daughter didn't want to take a dummy and neither did Oscar!

Dionne... I know where you're coming from, but don't take it personal. We all do things different. It doesn't make you a bad mom. There are loads of things I will never do and there are loads of things others will... each one to himself. One thing we have in common, is to provide for our babies in the best way WE know.

I've voted...not using, but may in future. Fat chance... Oscar was the last, but I meant that I actually don't dismiss dummies.

Emilia xx

 

[Dee1985]

I personally don't like them, because whenever he lost his dummy at night, we would be woken to find it for him. So, I see it as a hassle. My daughter didn't want to take a dummy and neither did Oscar!

i totaly agree with that, when Diors falls out the cot i have to wake up and give it to her

and she will only have a certain boots dummy

 

[stephlw25]

Jamie has a dummy, mainly at night time, if he wakes in the night for it as long as its next to him he will put it back in himself, when he was younger it was a nightmare as he would wake up everytime it fell out!!

My sister had a dummy until she was 4.....her teeth are perfect and it has not affected her speech in the slightest.

 

[emilia]

A friend recently suggested that the dummy could be attached to the babygro with a dummy clasp. You know the ones I mean? It never occured to me before!

Emilia xx

 

[Kim]

Rubie has one now and again. She hardly ever wants it but when she does I give it to her, I don't see it does any harm if that's what she wants. Babies like and need to suck, some more than others. She definately will not still have it at a year old or when she can talk.

 

[Dee1985]

A friend recently suggested that the dummy could be attached to the babygro with a dummy clasp. You know the ones I mean? It never occured to me before!

Emilia xx

but they cant be used at night, some thing about wrapping them round their neck.

i used to put Diors dummy in and put her teddy close up to her face to hold it in

She definately will not still have it at a year old or when she can talk

yep thats what i said too, now Dior is 15months old

think il wait till christmas, shes teething real bad at the moment, i feel to bad to take her comfort away

 

[emilia]

Dionne... Oscar was given one on a short ribbon. Just long enough to go from chest to mouth. Worth looking out for one... could send you this one?

Anyway... sorry for hijacking the topic. Over to debate!

Emilia xx

 

[K X]

I was totally against them through my pregnancy, and when Rebecca was born I swore I would never use one...But you know what, they are a god send to me.

Rebecca was constantly wanting fed (so Ithought) and I was not getting peace, HV advised me to try one as she might just need a soother, she was right.

I can honestly say they saved my sanity, and in a funny way she looks cute with it in. It helps send her off to sleep. On the plus side recent research shows they reduce the risk of SIDS if used at bed time...

I started using one when becky was 8 weeks old after weeks of pulling my hair out, and nearly pulling hers out too!!!

 

[Kelly G]

Brooke had a dummy till she was about 3, She also had a comfort blanket!

I bought dummys in while i was pregnant, my mum always said get them just incase, if she needs it she needs it, if she doesn't she doesn't! I never understood what she meant by this untill Brooke came!

Brooke was 3 weeks early and was only 4lb, she wanted to be fed every 2 hours and wouldn't settle after a feed, it was one of the midwives that suggested giving her the dummy so i did and it worked to a treat, she was a lot more settled! On the other hand my sisters kids never wanted Dummies! So i found what my mum said was true!

I do agree with the dummy falling out in the night tho, it can be a pain lol! And getting them off the dummy i thought it would be a nightmare but it wasnt actually that bad for me Brooke came off it and never looked back, im sure other mums have had bad experiences tho i suppose i was lucky!

Im sure lots of us have different views but for me and Brooke a dummy worked! I have bought dummies this time around too and if she wants it i will give her it!

 

[michelle82]

my mum swore she would never give me a dummy until she went to the nursery in hospital one day and i had a dummy in my mouth! she asked what they thought they were doing and the nurses said take a look at her thumb, apparently my thumb was permently in my mouth from the start and it was all blistered so they gave me a dummy instead. it was never a problem getting it off me when i got older

 

[Rosieroo]

I didn't want to use one with Ella. I don't like the way they look on older children (by that I mean past toddlerdom!).

I had dummies til I was old enough that I can remember my stepdad burning the teats off of them.

I gave Ella one when she was 7 weeks old as she was a comfort sucker, but she no longer has it. It helped with that time of her life, but now she doesn't want it and hasn't had it for weeks.