Ditching The Dummy

I started using it at week 4. Why? Because it gave us another settling option. There had been a couple of situations when William was with Ed and wanting food and it helped to string him out quietly.

When William was five weeks old we went away for the weekend with my parents. My Mum (and others) encouraged me to stretch out Williams feeds from every 2 hours to every 3. This helped. Feeds were better, more milk and there was no chance of going to the boob to settle. I was also feeling ‘ready’ to start developing some sort of routine. Mum used the dummy to help stretch William out between feeds.

At about ten weeks we completely ditched the dummy. Why?

Ed and I were often using the dummy to settle William at sleep times and at other times during the day. We didn’t want to create a sleeping problem where William needed the dummy to sleep. Especially because William couldn’t put it in himself.

We were also more confident about knowing what William needed. Making moments when he squawked were less daunting for us. And we didn’t want language or teeth to be damaged by the dummy down the track.

William is15 weeks old now and ditching the dummy seems like the best thing.

I’m a massive believer in babies crying for a reason. I feel like William and I know each other and at least 85% of the time I can work out what he wants if he is squawking.

Would we know each other as well if he was always ‘pacified’?

Plus the best thing ever has started... William is chatting!! It is Ed and my favourite thing in the world to listen to. You can never predict when he will start. Coo’s, Grrrr’s, sighs, smiles and even giggles.... It’s the most amazing thing. We can’t get enough of these interactions. Every sound is like this blissful little moment, we literally hang on every one!

Posted in: Baby 5-8 weeks