Contemplating a dummy

We used a dummy from birth as it helped her to latch into the nipple. She still sucks her hand and only has dummy to drift off to sleep and then will spit it out in her sleep. She prefers to suck her hand and only uses dummy sometimes when fighting sleep or for comfort

My son is 3 and a half months and his thumb calms him down but I know other mums in my NCT class who prefer dummies as that's easier to take away than a thumb. I'm trying to avoid it personally as I believe they often fall out and then you might be up in the night popping it back in, whereas a thumb is always to hand 🥁

It's certainly helped recently when he's woken slightly after being put down, he just sucks his thumb till he's back to sleep

It’s completely up to you whether you use a dummy or not. I have 4 children and have never used a dummy, but that’s me. You definitely don’t *need* to use one. You may choose to use one if you would like. As with all things, there are pros and cons.

My main reason for not using a dummy was that I didn’t want it to interfere with breastfeeding and I also was very happy to offer the breast for comfort (in addition to nutrition).

You do what you would like to do (what aligns with your parenting style and values).

People - family members, friends, medical professionals, even strangers - all have opinions and sometimes (often) share them with parents. You don’t need to pay any attention to those opinions if you don’t want to

I would say if you’ve made it three months without one and you’re happy with how you can comfort them then it’s not worth trying to introduce something you’ll eventually have to take away. Our LO just simply doesn’t like them and prefers to suck her hands and doesn’t find comfort from them so there’s also no guarantee baby will even like it.

Thank you all. That’s really helpful. I care for my mum some days and I think I just feel so much pressure as she and my sister used dummies and my sister finds it frustrating that I won’t just try a dummy as she thinks it’s too distressing for my baby when she could just soothe with dummy.
Though I’ve just got on without one in the past and done what I’ve can to settle her to sleep.
I don’t really feel keen to start using one this far in to then just been weaning off in a few months x