Buying dummies for babies..

Katinkka

missk_ensington wrote:

I had a dummy as a kid, and I still had it when I was 11. How embarrassing do you think that was at 'sleepovers'!!! It hasn't had too much effect on my teeth luckily, but I've vowed not to give my little boy one. He;s now 2 and he's never had one, and hell am I glad. My best mate's baby is the same age almost to the day and he has a dummy, I've seen her walk to the shops at 10pm in the pouring rain to get him one when he's lost it, Ive seen her pick gloopy sick off it (Im gagging just writing it!) pick it off the floor and have to clean it, he's now getting cheeky and throwing it out of his cot/pram and she has to keep going back upstairs every 5 minutes from 8pm to 10pm, when she tries to take it away you've never seen tantrums like it!

Luckily I have none of this, I had to suffer as a single parent a few weeks of very sleepless nights (worse cos I had my A-level exams at the time!) and once or twice nearly threw the towel in, but I'm so glad I didn't!!! Besides it looks horrible anything past 6 months!

All mine have had dummies. It helps calm them. All the things you list above could be avoided by having more than one dummy so you always have a clean one to hand. I must have about 15 dummies for my baby and my 3 yr old still has his at night. Honestly, I don't get what the big deal is. As for throwing it out of pram, I just use those things that clip onto clothes so they cant be lost.

Anniek1969

My 3 all had dummys and I never had any problem getting them off them. They had them as babies but as soon as they started toddling they only got them when they were tired. If your baby still likes the 0-3 months then that's fine they'll let you know when they want a change.

On the subject of picking the dummy up and sticking in your mouth I must admit that I have done this a few times when there was no other option, I do think that we live in a very sterile world and things can be taken too far. My niece is 4 months younger than my youngest daughter and they are trying to do everything by the book, won't take any advice from anyone as they know best, she was breast fed but because my SIL couldn't wait to get back to work she was weaned at around 3 months but they still insisted that it was better for her health even for this short amount of time. I don't disagree with this but I don't think that you should be looked down on if you chose to bottle feed, but it obviously didn't work in their case as she has been at the doctors more times than my 3 put together. She's never had a dummy but constantly puts things in her mouth even now when she's nearly 3. When she started nursery because she was never encouraged to interact with other kids she has had one illness after another. So sometimes you're not doing them any favours by trying to protect them from the big bad world.

On the subject of dummys and teeth, as I said all of mine have had dummys as have most of my nieces and nephews and none of them have bad teeth. Mine see the dentist every six months and have never had any treatment. I do agree that giving a dummy to a kid for too long can affect their speach but so can sucking their thumb.

jellyhead

lots of things might affect speech development i suppose. my boy who didn't have a dummy and didn't suck his thumb, didn't suck anything was very late to talk. it was suggested that not eating lumpy food might have contributed - he was a late weaner and never wanted lumps. i was advised with baby roo to try to get him onto lumps - he started on puree at 6 months and the health visaitor wanted him on lumps at 7 months because the chewing helps develop the muscles needed for speech.

having a bottle past 12 months and sucking on those anyway up cups with a valve is probably just as bad as having a dummy. i know some mums who sneer at babies with dummies but their kids suck on cups with valves all day.

garret1

i was really anti dummies until i had my twins:eek: and then i bowed before the god of dummy makers. i had to put at least 6 in their cot at night so they could just reach out and grab one if they fell out. Unfortunately they used them as missiles at me when I put them to bed:D
When they reached about a year we only had them at night. i told them the dodi fairy took them during the day and left them under their pillows at bedtime. When they were two and a half the dodi fairy left them a lovely letter and a new nighty and explained that she had to give their dodies to new babies. they accepted this without question and never looked back;)
I on the other hand am 32 and still suck my thumb in bed and occasionally while stuck in traffic. Neither they nor I have got buck teeth and nor is my thumb about to fall off as I was threatened as a child :rolleyes:
So there.....
Do not repeat not do what my in laws did when my OH's baby brother was born they told OH he had to be a big boy now and threw his dummy in a lake:eek: Serious psycholgical trauma and I swear it explains alot;)

jellyhead

awww, poor thing! did he resent his baby brother?

when you tell an older child that the dummy is only for bedtime do they notice that there are lots of large walking talking children with dummies in the daytime everywhere they go? or do they think the dodi fairy only visits certain children? just curious.

Spendless

I have already mentioned some of this but today my sister told me what the dentist said today about 5 yr old neice sucking her thumb. Me and my kids and sis and her kids all have same dentist. My daughter sucks a dummy which have made her have buck front teeth and my neice sucks her thumb which have also given her buck teeth. The dentist has mentioned it to me but told me not to worry as DD should be out of dummies by time 2nd teeth come thru but has told neice she shouldn't be sucking her thumb. I'm guessing cos it's not as likely that the thumb sucking will stop by the time 2nd teeth came thru. So looks like if you have a baby that likes to suck a dummy is best. I should add that not all babies who don't have dummies will suck thumbs my son never has and never had a dummy either.

garret1

jellyhead wrote:

awww, poor thing! did he resent his baby brother?

when you tell an older child that the dummy is only for bedtime do they notice that there are lots of large walking talking children with dummies in the daytime everywhere they go? or do they think the dodi fairy only visits certain children? just curious.

Not really... think he just resents his mother!!!

Funny enough the girls never asked about other kids having dummies during the day...but I do think they felt a bit superior;)

gravitytolls

Maybe it's best not to buy a 3-6 mth dummy, and let dummy use tail off while baby is still young.

jellyhead

if possible then yes it probably is best to tail off before the baby gets too used to it. but if they then take up thumb sucking, give the dummy back

i don't know why some babies need a dummy, really really need one, but they do. when it happens you know about it :rotfl: