Use of a dummy

RadoJo

One thing I have noticed whilst pregnant is that there are a lot of parents who believe their experience with their own children in some way makes them experts on all things childcare related. Clearly most parents are the experts on their own children, but to assume that they can make pronouncements other people's kids is a huge leap and one which is pretty much guaranteed to upset, offend and cause distress to those on the receiving end. I have no idea why people can't just accept that there are as many 'right' ways to do things as there are children in the world, but I hope that I am lucky enough not to encounter the spiteful ways that people seem to express themselves when it comes to other people's children. For the record, I would theoretically prefer my baby not to have a dummy, but I'm certainly not going to rule it out if it proves beneficial.

GobbledyGook

jojo_2012 wrote: »

They can be a complete pain in the !!!! and can completely eff up breastfeeding. I'd like to say I don't judge people and that's true up to a certain age, but my son's half brother is nearly 5 and still has one. He can't speak properly and I think this has set him back hugely.

As for the cot death theory, it's only because it keeps blankets off babies face, stop putting babies to sleep the wrong way and that risk is taken away without a dummy.

The problems had by your son's half-brother (and any other children) due to dummy overuse is not the fault of the dummy - it's the fault of the parent. Any child who is allowed to excessively use a dummy and who is allowed to speak with a dummy in their mouth could face problems, but that is no different to the million other things that 'could' cause problems if the parent doesn't keep on top of it.

Blaming dummies for speech problems is the same as blaming baby walkers for children getting injured falling down stairs in them - it conveniently forgets about the parent who should use an ounce of common sense about how long their child uses a dummy for daily and how close to the stairs they are.


The comment you made about SIDS is completely innacurate. People shouldn't spout things like that as fact without actually reading the guidelines and research.

DanE2010

jojo_2012 wrote: »

They can be a complete pain in the !!!! and can completely eff up breastfeeding. I'd like to say I don't judge people and that's true up to a certain age, but my son's half brother is nearly 5 and still has one. He can't speak properly and I think this has set him back hugely.

As for the cot death theory, it's only because it keeps blankets off babies face, stop putting babies to sleep the wrong way and that risk is taken away without a dummy.

Have you got a link to that info? Ive had a cot death in the family and I know from first hand experience that due to the fact there is no known cause for cot death the mother blames themselves and constantly analyses what they did or didnt do and it was somehow there fault, that statemet above is gonna strike a cord with people closely related to cot death so do you know this as medical fact or is it just your opinion?

And as others have said each to their own, some mothers are so blooming judgemental! What works for some doesnt work for others, everybody is different fgs! My baby personally doesnt have a dummy, ive tried as it would of been helpful to sooth her when she had reflux but she just would spit it out. She does suck her thumb though, and if she finds comfort in sucking her thumb so be it, got more important things to be worrying about than worrying about whether it looks nice etc, as long as she is happy and healthy then im fine with it.

skintanddesperate

Mine is two months and has his for nap-time and bedtime, and if he doesn't want it, he will tell you. It was either the dummy or the fingers, as he's a very "sucky" baby, and with a dummy, we can throw it away.

onlyroz

Cot death and dummy use:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4509240.stm

The thing about dummies keeping the blankets away from the face apparently is correct. However, the article says that if a baby uses a dummy then they are MORE at risk of cot death immediately after the dummy is taken away.

mirrorimage0

RadoJo wrote: »

One thing I have noticed whilst pregnant is that there are a lot of parents who believe their experience with their own children in some way makes them experts on all things childcare related. Clearly most parents are the experts on their own children, but to assume that they can make pronouncements other people's kids is a huge leap and one which is pretty much guaranteed to upset, offend and cause distress to those on the receiving end. I have no idea why people can't just accept that there are as many 'right' ways to do things as there are children in the world, but I hope that I am lucky enough not to encounter the spiteful ways that people seem to express themselves when it comes to other people's children. For the record, I would theoretically prefer my baby not to have a dummy, but I'm certainly not going to rule it out if it proves beneficial.

lol i know what you mean, think i may make up some t-shirts with " if i want your opinion i will ask for it"

seriously though before i had children i had a good job and a life and was able to formulate my own opinions and rational decisions. as a parent to 3 i still have a good job and a good life and can still fromulate my own opinions (although can get confused when sleep deprived :-0 )

i dont mind asking for advice or other peoples way of doing things but hate it being forced upon me by strangers

DanE2010

onlyroz wrote: »

Cot death and dummy use:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4509240.stm

The thing about dummies keeping the blankets away from the face apparently is correct. However, the article says that if a baby uses a dummy then they are MORE at risk of cot death immediately after the dummy is taken away.

This is still not the reason why dummies are advised to prevent cot death, they dont really know how or why dummies reduce the risk. Its called sudden infant death syndrome because they're is no known reason as to why this happens, the advice given is all 'just in case' preventative measures through ongoing research and studies but nobody knows exactly why babies die of cot death and all of the advice is taken from possible factors that research has shown could be a facor in cot death, many mums every year follow the guidence and unfortunately still suffer the loss of their baby. As time goes on and more studies are carried out advice changes. It wasnt too long ago that the advice was to put babies on their front, now that is an absolute no no.

Parents are advised to put babies with their feet touching the foot of the cot anyways with the bedding only coming up so far so the bedding cannot go over their face.

There is also a theory that using a dummy can help strengthen the nerves that control the babies upper airway.

The risk of a baby dying of cot death is significantly reduced after 6 months anyway, so giving your baby a dummy or taking it away after 6 months is not going to make your baby more seceptible to cot death. There is not enough evidence to suggest either way and more research is needed to establish facts.

This article is from 2007 so follows on from the link above which is from 2005.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6229516.stm

and this one is interesting

"However, the UK's Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FIDS) cautions that while the new study appears convincing, the overall picture remains very complicated. For example, the question of whether failing to give a pacifier to a baby who is used to getting one is more risky than never giving a pacifier remains unclear."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8437-pacifiers-dramatically-cut-risk-of-cot-death.html

daska

onlyroz wrote: »

Cot death and dummy use:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4509240.stm

The thing about dummies keeping the blankets away from the face apparently is correct. However, the article says that if a baby uses a dummy then they are more at risk of cot death immediately AFTER the dummy is taken away.

Actually I think the correct bolding and capitalisation would be as above, what you've quoted is essentially saying that the removal of the dummy increases the risk!

onlyroz

daska wrote: »

Actually I think the correct bolding and capitalisation would be as above, what you've quoted is essentially saying that the removal of the dummy increases the risk!

Yes, I think the advice would be to either not use a dummy at all (during the night) or to use one ALL the time (because to have a night without one would increase the risk).

onlyroz

DanE2010 wrote: »

This is still not the reason why dummies are advised to prevent cot death, they dont really know how or why dummies reduce the risk. Its called sudden infant death syndrome because they're is no known reason as to why this happens, the advice given is all 'just in case' preventative measures through ongoing research and studies but nobody knows exactly why babies die of cot death and all of the advice is taken from possible factors that research has shown could be a facor in cot death, many mums every year follow the guidence and unfortunately still suffer the loss of their baby. As time goes on and more studies are carried out advice changes. It wasnt too long ago that the advice was to put babies on their front, now that is an absolute no no.

To say that there is "no known reason" is oversimplifying a bit. There is evidence that certain factors can increase the risk of SIDS (e.g. some cases can be attributed to a drunken or over-tired parent accidentally smothering their child, and the fact that we are advised to sleep babies on their backs indicates that some causes can be attributed to decreased airways, or choking on bedding). Of course you can take all the preventative measures in the world and still suffer a tragedy...