The Dummy/Pacifier

Does your baby have a ‘dummy’ ‘pacifier’, ‘soother’, or ‘binky’ (Many names for it, depending on where in the world you are!) or are you thinking of introducing one?

The benefits of using a dummy

Soothing purposes: Both feeding and non-nutritive (aka using the dummy) methods provide a source of comfort for babies. Sucking turns on the calming reflex, it can lower the heart rate and stress levels and can be useful in situations like car trips or after vaccinations.

SIDS reduction: Research has shown that using a dummy for sleep can reduce the risk of SIDS for newborns, even if your baby spits it out during sleep, and the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommend a dummy to be part of their nap and bedtime routine.

When to introduce a dummy?

You can start from birth with bottle-fed babies and with breastfed babies you can introduce once nursing is properly established. Not all babies will take to the dummy either. In our house, our first daughter loved her dummy beyond belief and our second daughter snubbed it from day one!

When can the dummy cause problems?

Generally speaking, if the dummy is working for you and your baby, then there is no problem! However, if you find your baby waking up after a sleep cycle or multiple times overnight and needing the dummy to be replaced, then I would consider removing it altogether. We don’t want to see the dummy interfering with sleep consolidation.

When is best to remove the dummy?

If the dummy causes frequent wake-ups and is more of a hindrance than a help, I would ideally consider 2 ages. Before 7/8 months:  Your baby hasn’t gotten a deep, emotional attachment to it yet, so if it’s causing issues before this age, get rid of it! I recommend removing it completely, as it will quickly be forgotten. You can replace it with another positive sleep association, like white noise. If they are still around the 3 or 4-month mark, you can add in some assisted patting to settle them for sleep if they need it. After 7/8 months, your baby will have a deeper attachment to the dummy, so we generally advise to keep it. By this age, your baby can replace the dummy by themselves, and you can teach them how to do this by guiding their hand to the dummy when it has dropped out and guiding their hand to their mouth. You can also place a few dummies around the cot so they can easily find them if they wake up. If you have decided to keep the dummy, the best age to get rid of it is between the ages of 2 and 3. Dentists say prolonged use beyond this age can lead to misaligned teeth and potential speech delays. Often, when babies keep the dummy until toddlerhood, they tend to keep it in their mouth for comfort outside of sleeping, which could then impact their speech. We certainly had to be mindful of taking the dummy out of my daughter’s mouth; otherwise, she would’ve been happy to keep it all day! In By the age of 3, your child will understand why it is being removed, and parents can get very creative in their ways of doing so. The dummy fairy came to visit our house when we weaned my daughter off it. She chose a toy, and the dummy fairy kindly granted her request! She didn’t give the dummy another thought. Some children, however, may be more sensitive or reluctant about removing it. You may need to build up to the point of ditching it. Reading a story about it can help a child realize they are not alone in going through this. “Bea Gives Up Her Pacifier” by Jenny Album and “Pacifiers Are Not Forever” by Elizabeth Verdick are two lovely books that you can read with your child. They explain the process of removing the dummy in various ways.