Dummy guilt

I’m EBF and know that dummies can interfere with this and baby’s suckle ability but she gets so frustrated of an evening it’s the only way to calm her down. She’s 3 and a half weeks and everything I read says we should wait at least 6 to use a dummy and that mums who use a dummy end up giving up breastfeeding Can anyone share any positive stories against this? Really want to EBF but finding the screaming so hard 😢

Show your support

My midwife told me this isn’t the case as there’s not much research to support it, and they usually recommend not using them in newborn stage for EBF because they can mask feeding cues. I’ve started using a dummy if it soothes her when I know she’s fed enough

Thank you! That’s really good to know and reassuring. We also only use it when we know she’s fed enough. We’ve also found that if she is still hungry she won’t settle down even with the dummy so as soon as we can I feed her and then she goes to sleep without it

We’ve started giving a dummy just to soothe when he needs that extra help to dose off, or when we’re in the car etc and I can’t get my boobs out! I can tell the difference between hungry and needing comfort, and if I try to give him the dummy when he’s hungry he’ll refuse anyway! He was using me as his dummy which wasn’t always practical and means he falls asleep easier now with my partner or on his own! I wouldn’t worry too much about it, as long as you know your baby’s cues you’ll be fine x

We've used a dummy since basically day 1 and I ebf. I use it to buy myself some time if I'm not quite ready to get the boob out yet, or if he's fighting sleep and just needs something to focus on to drop off. He also seems to need to suck when he's having difficulties pooping/farting so I use it then as well. My main concern with it was it affecting his latch but he seems to know the difference between the dummy and the nipple and approaches it differently. He's 4 weeks old 😊

I gave my daughter a dummy from a really young age and exclusively breastfed her, and didn't stop feeding her until she was 21 months old. I've done the same this time round with my son and have no intention of giving up breastfeeding. I guess if it's affecting their latch you might need to reconsider the usage, but it's not an issue we experienced. Go easy on yourself x

I gave my eldest a dummy at 2/3 weeks old and successfully breastfed until he was 19 months 😁

You’re all wonderful. Thank you for reassuring this rather sleep deprived ftm 💜💜

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌