To use a dummy or not?

WATTY1978

She'll do what she needs to do when shes ready.
I swore mine would never have a dummy but after weeks of crying from colic i gave in. It helped for a few weeks despite being breastfed but as soon as he grew out of the colic at 12 weeks he didnt bother with the dummy either. Sometime i wish he would take one to get off to sleep sometimes and ive caught him sucking his thumb lately which i hate even more!
im sure you daughter will find her own way and she'll turn to you for advice when shes ready too.
Enjoy x

mountainofdebt

rachbc wrote: »

OP I know you are concerned for your daughter but you are constantly questioning her decisions on this forum (wipes, dummies, feeding), and I can't help but wonder if this lack of faith in her parenting style is being transmitted irl too - and if it is it certainly won't be helping your poor dd who it seems is not having the easiest time atm.

I'm not sure whether it is that or perhaps its case of 'they didn't do that in my day .....is that the norm these days?'

Hopefully its the later.

As for being a mum , whatever area of childcare it is, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

moomoomama27

Two of my children had dummies, DD1 from about a week old until about the age of 3. DD2 had a dummy for about 2 days until she found her fingers, which at almost 8 she still sucks, so I would say a dummy would have been a better option. DS had a dummy from a couple of days old (upon recommendation as he suffered from suspected apneoa, until he was 3.

I had no problem with the dummy users (babies), they had them at bedtime and naptime, didn't talk with them in or around them, and have never had any problems with their speech, teeth or ''jaw development''. They were happy contented babies, I was a relaxed mum!

Not giving your baby a dummy doesn't make you supermum, just like mums who use dummies are not failures. Some babies have a need to suck, suck, suck, and only a dummy can fulfill that need. It's whatever works best for the baby/toddler and family. There is enough judgement when you're a parent without the anti dummy brigade trying to make people feel bad about their choices (in general day to day life, not necassarily here.)

zaksmum

rachbc wrote: »

OP I know you are concerned for your daughter but you are constantly questioning her decisions on this forum (wipes, dummies, feeding), and I can't help but wonder if this lack of faith in her parenting style is being transmitted irl too - and if it is it certainly won't be helping your poor dd who it seems is not having the easiest time atm.

My only advise to you would be to unconditionally support your dd whatever her decision.

I'm not questioning my daughter's decisions at all...she's absolutely brilliant with baby and I'm in awe of her! She's coping incredibly well on very little sleep and is a wonderful first time mum.

I'm just curious, for want of a better word, about today's parenting standards and how much things have changed, and I'm learning how to be a better nan in advance of my first babysitting duties:):) thanks to all the opinions and advice from people on here whose baby knowledge is much better and more recent than mine!

skintchick

Apricot wrote: »

Do you have any articles regarding this please? Not so much the speech development but the jaw development I haven't heard.

I think I should havee used the word malocclusion, rather than jaw development, but anyway, here's some stuff:

Research has highlighted adverse outcomes of pacifier use in relation to dentition, the
development of malocclusion, and the development of dental caries. A consistent finding has
been a positive association with pacifier non-nutritive sucking and malocclusion (Bowden, 1966;
Paunio, Rautava & Sillanpaa, 1993; Karjalainen, Ronning, et al, 1999). There is also some
evidence that non-nutritive sucking contributes to the early development of dental caries (Ollila,
Niemela, et al, 1998; Gizani, Vinckier & Declerck, 1999).

and

Other child health outcomes that have been associated with pacifier use are: increased oral and
gastro-intestinal flora leading to infection (Manning, Coughlin & Poskitt, 1985; Hannula, Saarela,
et al, 1999); otitis media (Niemela, Uhari & Motytonen, 1995; Jackson & Mourina, 1999);
changes in oro-facial development (Drane, 1996); and speech development (Barlow et al,
1992).

From here http://www.joannabriggs.edu.au/protocols/pacifier.pdf

It references other research as you can see, you could Google for those.

and
Persistent and long term sucking especially after permanent teeth began to come, around six can cause the following

• Roof of mouth too narrowed
• Mal alignment of upper and lower jaw.
• Upper front teeth to slant out.
• Lower teeth tilt in

from here http://www.identalhub.com/article_what-is-pacifier-or-soother-or-dummy-424.aspx

which seems to feel the danger is when the permanent teeth some in, but I have read otherwise but OH wiped my favourites when he tried to mend my computer and I no longer have the links :mad:

and this is just an interesitng article by a friend of mine who reads a LOT of research, on the subject of dummies
http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/09/baby-is-using-you-as-dummy-its-just-for.html