Use of a dummy

Redouble

glitter03 wrote: »

I dislike dummies and did not use them with my daughter. She never sucked her thumb either oddly! I am pregnant with my 2nd (due on Monday :eek: ) and won't be giving a dummy to this one either.

However, i don't think negatively of someone who does use them, they just weren't for me

What this poster said (except I am not pregnant :rotfl: )

They are definitely not for me (the dummy is a synthetic nipple, and my personal belief is that if my baby wants to suckle it should be at the breast. I use slings so I could have a life with my baby 'hanging off my tits 24/7' as a previous poster so eloquently put!)

However I completely get that other people make different choices and I don't look at babies with dummies and look down on the parents not my child, not my decision.

(although I do dislike it when a baby cries and the parent is wiggling the dummy in their mouth trying to force them to take it when actually the baby is actively refusing it. But that is not the dummy per sey, rather the action of forcing something upon the baby )

Redouble xx

moomoomama27

Why not!

Isn't there enough for a parent to feel guilty and/or judged on!

Some babies have a really strong sucking reflex, and need one, and used coreectly they pose minimal/no problems. 2 of mine had dummies, one her fingers, used until quite late with the first, and I've had no problems with their teeth or speech, and I'm happy to report none of them have one now or went to school with one!

It is a personal choice, but no-one should feel the need to look down their noses on parents who do/don't use them!

Tigsteroonie

OP, please try not to judge.

Premature babies are often giving dummies in NICU (with parental consent) to help develop the sucking reflex whilst they are being tube-fed. As there are other benefits to dummy usage once baby is home (comfort, reducing tummy discomfort, possible reduction in SIDS numbers) it's not necessarily a priority once home to wean baby back off that dummy.

Torry_Quine

I don't like dummies in older children, if they're old enough to walk that's too old.

neneromanova

I don't mind dummies, but when I see a 3 year old, in a pushchair, talking with it in, that's when it is wrong to me. And don't get me started on the fact its in a pushchair at nearly 4 :rotfl:

an9i77

Kids can't cry and suck at the same time!

Mupette

faerie~spangles wrote: »

Why, why, why are those things plugged into babies mouths?

Are you a parent?

sarahevie

My sister has an underdeveloped jaw due to excessive dummy usage - there is no way my two have ever been given one.

Neither suck their thumbs either.

When my three year old recently started pre school, I was asked whether she had a dummy, I said 'she's three - there's no way that should be allowed.'

I was looked at as if I was from Mars because she didn't have one. I think at three they are too old regardless of anything else.

kettlefish

My DD is now 12 weeks old and we haven't introduced one - she is breastfed and we were advised not to give one until 4 weeks, by which time she'd found her fingers were perfectly adequate.

However I think they definitely have their uses and if she was a more "sucky" baby I'd have had no hesitation in introducing one after the very early weeks. The only thing I don't like is seeing babies with a dummy in to "shut them up" in social situations etc, or instead of interacting with the baby, and 3 year olds trying to talk around a dummy - but for sleep time and at home when still young enough to have a bottle/breastfeed, why not?

moomoomama27

neneromanova wrote: »

I don't mind dummies, but when I see a 3 year old, in a pushchair, talking with it in, that's when it is wrong to me. And don't get me started on the fact its in a pushchair at nearly 4 :rotfl:

My son was in a pushcahir until he was over 4! The reason? He had leg problems, which why he could walk, after several journeys (at the time I was doing 3 school runs a day) his legs wouldn't hold up, so I would use the pushchair!

Never judge a parent without knowing the full reasons behind. I used to get so upset by the judgemental comments, made worse as he was a big 4 yr old.