It is the main way babies soothe themselves until they are old enough to soothe themselves in other ways. Possible explanations include pacifiers helping to keep the airways open during sleep and babies sleeping less deeply because they are sucking, making it more likely they will stir when having breathing difficulties.
It is also generally easier to wean a child off a dummy than thumb sucking as a parent can supervise and control access to a dummy although removing a dummy can instigate thumb sucking in some babies who still have the desire to suck on something The cons 1 If introduced too early, using a dummy can prevent your baby from sucking well during breastfeeding and helping mothers to build up a good breastmilk supply, which in some cases can lead to feeding problems.
Encourage your child to stop dummy use Give your child the chance to stop their dummy habit when they are ready. Dummy sucking versus thumb or finger sucking Studies of children who suck their thumb or finger shows they have more difficulty breaking their habit than children who suck a dummy.
Keeping dummies safe Never dip dummies in sweet things such as honey, jams or syrups; this can cause severe tooth decay very quickly. Follow good hygiene procedures. Dummies may cause infection if they are shared with other children or picked up from the floor.
Check that dummies are in good condition and meet Australian safety approval ratings. Where to get help Your dentist Your maternal and child health nurse Dental Health Services Victoria provides public dental services through the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne and community dental clinics, for eligible people.
For information about public dental services call 03 or outside Melbourne metro Australian Dental Association 'Find a Dentist ' or Tel. Dental care for babies , Raising Children Network. Dummies: helping your child let go , Raising Children Network.
Give feedback about this page. Was this page helpful? Yes No. View all babies and toddlers Make it a big celebration or give your child a special reward. Expect there to be some protests. You can offer them a blanket or a teddy for comfort instead.
But try not to go back and give them the dummy again. Remember, sucking a dummy never becomes a lifelong habit. Many children will stop using a dummy by themselves. Comforters are an object that a child uses to help relax and can include blankets, soft toys or thumbs.
If you see that your child is choosing a special blanket or soft toy, you could buy another one like it, so that they can both wear out at the same pace and can be changed when one needs washing. Sucking thumbs or fingers is natural in babies and young children. Most children grow out of finger-sucking around 2 to 4 years of age. Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content. Thumbsucking, or the use of a dummy by a baby, is little cause for concern before permanent teeth appear.
Read more on Queensland Health website. Dummy independence is when babies can put their dummies in by themselves. This helps if your baby uses a dummy to settle. You can teach dummy independence. Read more on raisingchildren. Babies can be at risk of choking or infection from old, poorly made or poorly maintained dummies. Make sure you buy dummies that cannot be easily pulled apart and discard dummies when they start showing signs of wear.
Read more on Product Safety Australia website. Dummies soothe some babies and help them settle. But dummies can be a hard habit to break, and babies also need help to manage them. Get tips for dummy use. Controlled comforting is a sleep-training strategy used to help babies learn to settle themselves.
During stress, eating certain foods seems to make us feel better. Dr Belinda Henry explains the hormones underlying the urge to comfort eat, and why they make us feel less stressed. A Cochrane review, comparing dummy use versus no dummy use in healthy full-term newborns who had initiated breastfeeding, found no significant effects of dummy use at three months and at four months of age A recent systematic review of 29 studies also examined the association between dummies and breastfeeding.
These studies included 4 randomised controlled trials RCTs , 20 cohort studies, and 5 cross-sectional studies Whilst RCTs are generally considered as providing stronger evidence of causality, an acknowledged limitation of this review was that randomisation of mothers to dummy use or non-use may not be truly representative of the behaviours and motivations typically seen in mothers who would make this decision on their own A further review, that included several RCTs, recommended that as dummy use may be associated with early weaning from the breast or may be a marker of breastfeeding difficulties, it should be avoided until breastfeeding is well established 6.
Few studies have examined the effect of thumb or digit sucking on breastfeeding outcomes. Aarts and colleagues 40 conducted a prospective, longitudinal study of mother infant pairs, examining thumb sucking and dummy use on breastfeeding patterns in exclusively breastfed infants. Dummy use was associated with fewer feeds and shorter suckling duration per 24 hours, shorter duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and shorter total breastfeeding duration compared with no dummy use.
These associations were not found for thumb sucking. The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends weaning children from dummies in the second six months of life to prevent otitis media 7.
Infants and children with chronic or recurrent otitis media should be restricted in their use of a dummy 8. Other potential disadvantages include accidents airway obstruction 47 , strangulation by the cord and eye injuries, and dental malocclusion 7,23, A meta-analysis examining dummy use and malocclusion concluded that a longer duration of dummy use was associated with increased incidence of malocclusion This review found adverse dental effects can be evident after two years of age, with the most significant malocclusions experienced by children who continued dummy sucking habits beyond 48 months of age.
Debate continues over dummy use as a strategy to reduce the risk of sudden infant death.
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