I have a 3 1/2 week old baby and have made the mistake of giving him a dummy. Now he totally relies on it and screams when he hasnt got it or when he spits it out. Is there anything i can do b4 he starts screaming the house down morning & night?!
Thanx
2007-10-02 07:30:52 · 36 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
Two things come to mind:
- Why are you not wanting him to have it? Most babies will over time (3 1/2 weeks is REALLY young) stop relying on it exclusively when they're ready. You are NOT just "shutting him up" etc. by letting him have it - it is a source of great comfort to him. You can wean him off of it at any time, and it won't hurt his teeth until after one year or later.
- You might try substituting another "lovey" like a blanket, stuffed animal, rattle, special toy, etc.
Good luck! (:
2007-10-02 07:38:44 · answer #1 · answered by Hoosier Mom 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I don't think it's a mistake to give him a dummy. I didn't with my first, but did right from the word go with my second, even though I got some funny looks on the maternity ward. My second was a much calmer baby.
He's probably screaming for some other reason. They do at that age.
Don't worry about getting him off the dummy when he's older. When he's ready he'll give it up. Mine gave up easily as soon as he had a few teeth and was biting it more than sucking it.
2007-10-02 11:06:41 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
In the early weeks, your baby’s sucking stimulates your breasts to make exactly the right amount of milk for him. If your baby needs to suck in order to make more milk, and you give him a dummy instead, you could reduce the amount of milk you are making. This will mean that your baby will not be satisfied at the next feed and may become so fractious that you give him a dummy again, leading to a vicious circle of insufficient milk and a restless baby.
For this reason, it’s important to try to do without, or at least seriously limit, dummy use for the first six weeks. You may feel you're being used ‘like a dummy’ at this stage - but bear in mind that this is a short-term problem, and that by the time he’s three or four months old, your breastfed baby will be able to get all the milk he needs with much shorter feeds than at present.
By that time, giving your baby a dummy occasionally won’t affect breastfeeding in the same way. However, babies still have occasional ‘sucky’ days, when they need a lot of time at the breast in order to up the amount of milk available because their needs have increased
www tinyike com
Ive always called then binky, kinda sounds better then dummy. LOL
Your fix would be, replace the 'binky' with you. Once he is fat and happy, he will goto sleep and not even think of the dummy.
2007-10-02 07:35:55 · answer #3 · answered by Jamin 3 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Sorry but why did you give him a dummy in the first place if you were going to take it away after a few weeks? If your baby is settled with it then why do you feel the need to take it away? My little boy is 4 months old and has a dummy which he finds comfort in, and we will probably take it away when he's a bit older and knows what's going on.
2007-10-02 10:51:01 · answer #4 · answered by jpfaetheshire 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You haven't made a mistake, so don't worry about it for starters.
The latest recommendation from the Government is that babies should be given a dummy at night as it reduces the risk of S.I.D.S. (cot death) by up to 90%.
Having a dummy at a young age will affect neither your babies speech, nor the development of the childs mouth. It will only become a problem if they continue to rely on the dummy when they reach 3 years of age or so. At this time, you will need to help your child learn to cope without the dummy but they will be old enough that you will be able to 'trade' with them and gradually decrease their reliance on it.
Bear in mind too, that it is impossible to 'spoil' a child before they reach six months of age - picking up a crying baby will not encourage them to repeat this behaviour for further attention. At this tender age, babies thought patterns are not sophisticated enough to plan ahead. Finally, remember that your child will also respond to you on a subconscious level - if you and your partner are stressed around the baby then he will pick up on this and it will make him fretful too.
Good luck.
2007-10-02 07:39:12 · answer #5 · answered by RattleheadUK 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I know how you feel. My son was in the NICU. The nurses there got him stuck on his pacifier. When he came home he would scream like crazy for that thing. He would get mad when he spit it out. He is almost 3 months now and has started to chew and suck on his wrist to soothe himself without the pacifier. He doesn't use it as much anymore. I don't go rush in to put it in his mouth if he wants it. I let him cry for a few minutes and he usually just forgets he wants it. Since your baby is only a few weeks old I'm not sure what to tell you.
2007-10-03 03:14:42 · answer #6 · answered by *adria* 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only thing I can think of is to slowly wean him away from it-this may mean letting him cry for a little while before giving it to him. Let him cry that little bit longer each time he does cry and eventually he won't cry for it as much.
Give him comfort cuddles yourself, and invest in a cuddle toy with a small blankie attached (I got mine from Babies R Us and it's made by Bruin)
Try sleeping with it in your bed with you for a couple of nights so your smell comes off on it and then pop it in the little fella's moses basket/cot. This has worked a treat with my baby boy who is the same sort of age as yours-he was born the 13th September!! As soon as he started acting up over the dummy I gave him a comfort toy. Watch him with it though and don't leave it in his bed overnight-it's only there while he's nodding off.
He'll associate you with toy eventually and get comfort from this instead of dummy.
Apart from this, try giving it to him only when he sleeps at night so that he associates dummy with bedtime. Again though, this'll mean letting him cry during the day, giving him cuddles and/or a comfort toy.
It's not a mistake to give him a dummy at the moment though according to FSID (the research team behind SIDS) who tell us at the moment the giving baby a dummy to sleep can prevent cot death by keeping the airways open and by not letting baby fall into a sleep that is too deep for them rouse from if they are uncomfortable.
2007-10-05 01:29:16 · answer #7 · answered by Loulla 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is a dummy the same as a binkie or pacifier.
I will answer as if it is. Both of my children have binkies and we chose this because on the advise of my mother-in-law a binkie is easier to take away than a thumb.
Now, your little one may want this right now because he/she might be teething. Yes it can happen this early.
The only thing that may present a problem is if he/she is refusing to nurse or take a bottle in preference to the binkie.
There are many people with strong opinions on binkies - some even say it ruins their teeth. But, that is not their decision, it is yours. Why are you so against him/her having a binkie - did you hear something from an old wives tale against their use.
2007-10-02 08:09:39 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
At this age it isn't really a problem. Babies are born with a suckling instinct and rather than becoming a human dummy or constantly feeding the baby a dummy is a good alternative.
It only becomes a problem if it becomes a habit after the baby is 6 months old.
2007-10-02 09:33:28 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
even super nanny reccommends giving your baby a dummy, so let the little mite suck away. check the web site out, i dont have a link but i am sure you will find it. basically she says if you give baby dummy, the baby learns to self soothe, and you just gradually take it away from 1 yr old.
i would just give your baby the dummy and let him go nuts. my son had a dummy from brth to 4 yr old and is fine, speech is great and teeth are fine, so good luck
hope i helped
paulax
2007-10-03 13:47:56 · answer #10 · answered by paula k 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋