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Speech and language therapy advice and
guidance from Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS
Trust.
Why do we give our babies a dummy?
Because:
- They need a soother
- It shuts them up
- He/she is used to it
- Habit - I didn't want him/her to have it for this long
but I can't get it off him/her
As babies get older they need to learn to move their mouths
in different ways, to smile, to blow bubbles, to make sounds,
to chew food and eventually to talk. As babies move their
mouths and experiment with babbling sounds they are learning
to make the quick mouth movements needed for speech. The more
practice they get the better their awareness of their mouths
and the better their speech will be.
How do you get rid of a Dummy?
- Wean them off - gradually decrease its use
- Only give the dummy at certain times - bedtime or when
they are not well
- Tell them that big boys/girls put their dummies on the
dummy tree
- Persuade them to give (all) their dummies to their nursery
teacher
- Give rewards (but not sweets)
- Use a star chart to motivate them
, by Jill Murphy
(Walker Books, paperback 2003). This picture book was
the winner of the 1995 Smarties Book prize in the 0-5 category.
It features Marlon the monster who loves his dummies (his
noo-noos) and struggles to give them up. He succeeds in the
end and also manages to grow a noo-noo tree.
During your baby's early months a dummy can help to soothe.
This is understandable, as most babies have a strong sucking
reflex and the dummy can, in many cases, help to settle the
child.
However using the dummy too much can lead to the following
problems:
Teeth:
- incorrect positioning of teeth so that the bottom and
top teeth at the front don't meet properly
- tooth decay (especially the front teeth) if the dummy
is dipped into sweet things
Mouth breathing:
- your child may tend to breathe through their mouth rather
than their nose. This is often linked to long-term dribbling
Speech and language problems:
- your child may not use the full range of tongue movements
that are necessary for making all the speech sound
- your child has fewer opportunities to babble and use sounds
to communicate with you
REMEMBER - the dummy is not a plug!:
1. Don't let a dummy become a habit
2. Use it at set times - when cross & tired or settling down
to sleep
3. Never dip a dummy in drinks, honey, jam etc - this leads
to teeth becoming rotten and decayed
4. Wait until your child needs the dummy rather than automatically
giving it to them
5. Wean your baby off the dummy as soon as you can, preferably
by 12 months old. It is much easier then than at 2-3 years old!
What you should know
- Not all babies need a dummy/bottle.
- Speech and language therapists recommend that children
over 12 months old do not use a dummy/bottles.
- Dummies/bottles are not suitable for breast fed babies
until feeding is established.
- If your child uses a dummy/bottle a lot, it may affect
speech and language development by restricting tongue movements,
making speech sound unclear or causing a gap in the front
teeth that may lead to a lisp.
- Dummies/bottles may also make it more difficult for your
child to swallow and may make your child more "dribbly"
What can you do if your child uses a dummy?
- Aim to get rid of the dummy/bottle around 12 months or
sooner.
- Use a flat teat rather than a cherry teat as this has
less effect on teeth.
- Try cuddling or reading to your child before bedtime instead
of giving the dummy/bottle.
- Remove the dummy/bottle when your child is trying to talk.
- Praise your child if s/he will give up the dummy/bottle.
- Choose the right time to give up - not when you are under
pressure.
- Once you have decided to give up the dummy/bottle, don't
be tempted to give it back and make sure there are none
left around!
Ideas that parents have tried
- Give the dummy/bottle to Santa.
- Swap the dummy/bottle for a gift/cuddly toy/new toothbrush.
- Pretend to give the dummy/bottle to a friend's baby.
- Get the child to throw the dummy/bottle in the bin.
- Hand the dummy/bottle to your local speech and language
therapist who will give your child a sticker or picture
to colour in.
Things parents have told us:
- It wasn't as bad as I thought, I just decided it had to
go.
- He has started talking now so we have gotten rid of the
dummy.
- After a couple of nights he stopped asking for the dummy.
"Give the Dummy a Miss" is the name of the advice
leaflet produced by Sure Start Beaumont Leys and Stocking
Farm, Leicester. It highlights the advantages of reducing/eliminating
dummy use, and goes with a cartoon story book about a child
who gives up his dummy, called Danny and his Dummy.
The leaflets and books are available to order on 0116 295
4550.
Mother & Babies' Health Visitor, Jackie
Welsh writes:
Soothers can prevent children from forming words correctly
and may affect the position of the teeth. The success of weaning
your little one off hers depends entirely on both you and
your partner being determined not to give in. And while you
may prefer the idea of weaning your child off her soother
gradually, you'll just be prolonging the agony because you'll
have to take it away eventually. The best thing to do is confiscate
her dummies completely, and take it one step further by throwing
them all away so you're not tempted to give in at any stage.
It'll take a few nights for your child to accept that her
dummy's gone, but if you give in, you'll have to start the
whole process all over again. You need to accept that your
child will get upset and want it back, but to deal with this
you need to distract her and be reassuring. At bedtime, put
her favourite cuddly toy in the cot so she has some comfort
from that.
Alice Hunter, 38, a full-time mum, took Jackie's
advice to wean her daughter Bronwyn, 14 months, off her dummy
in just four days. Bronwyn had used a dummy since she was
five months old because mum Alice found it soothed her when
she was teething. Alice and her husband Steve decided to wean
her off her dummy, as she was depending on it more and more.
Alice's thoughts:
"Bronwyn's now dummy-free but it was a difficult
few days. You and your partner must be in total agreement
about taking your child's soother away or you could end up
making it worse by blaming each other when things get tough.
It's a difficult thing to do, especially when your baby's
distraught and can't be comforted, but it's only for a short
period of time. Do it over a weekend so you can both take
turns in distracting your baby. A few weeks on and I'm sure
Bronwyn doesn't think about her dummy, so it was worth all
the heartache and trauma."
The Times, 24 May 2004
Problem
" I need a foolproof way to persuade my stubborn daughter,
4, to give up her dummy."
Advice
Announce that she is now at an age to say goodbye to the
dummy, because she is a big girl and ready for a pink handbag,
special shoes, Barbie, a little diary - or any present that
gives her the incentive to reach the next stage. Ask your
daughter to choose a day when she is going to put her dummy
in the bin - and have the present ready. At the time it seems
like a big deal; she will have forgotten it before she has
got the wrapping off the gift.
Stephanie Calman, mother and founder
www.badmothersclub.co.uk
Engage your daughter in playing with dolls, one of which
uses a dummy. You can be the voices of the dolls, with one
doll discouraging the other from using a dummy. During these
role-play activities, do not make fun but dwell on how grown-up
the doll looks without the dummy. You could enlist the help
of your daughter's teacher in reinforcing this during circle
time at nursery. Nothing is foolproof but rest assured that
she will grow out of it, if only because she realises that
her friends don't use dummies. Peer pressure is a powerful
thing.
Kathy Sumpter, mother and early years
teacher, Bishop's Stortford
The answer is: don't try. I forced my equally stubborn four-year-old
to give up the dummy and he sucked everything else available:
the cord of his jacket, the collar of his shirt, the strap
of his bag and the neckline of his T-shirt. In fact, I still
catch him sucking the T-shirt occasionally and he is 12 now.
My daughter, on the other hand, reduced her dummy dependency
gradually, as she became embarrassed if anyone else saw her
with it, and so used it only for bedtimes. She voluntarily
binned her dummy the night before she started school and has
never sucked anything else.
Eileen McCallum, mother, Glasgow
Dummies, the controversial accessories that divide parents
and professionals, are bad for babies who breastfeed and should
be avoided, a comprehensive study has concluded. Experts who
reviewed 10 years of research found that the pacifier reduced
or even eliminated a baby's desire to suck on its mother's
breast.
That meant that parents should be advised against the use
of a dummy, said researchers at the Joanna Briggs Institute
in South Australia. The popularity of pacifiers was revived
last year by a study that suggested they cut the risk of cot
death. Researchers in California said the bulky handle of
the dummy could keep bedding away from the baby's face and
reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (Sids).
The latest review, published in this week's Nursing Standard,
also found that dummies reduced the risk of Sids, as incidence
among babies who did not use a dummy were up to five times
that of babies who did. But it concluded that because the
overall risk of the condition was low, dummies should still
be avoided. It added: "The innate sucking reflex of the infant
is satisfied by the pacifier, decreasing or eliminating the
desire for contact with the nipple and breast."
The likelihood of babies developing dental problems could
not be established because not enough research had been done,
it said. Although dummies are unpopular with speech and language
therapists, the British Dental Association said they could
be better than thumb-sucking because they were eventually
thrown away, while children might continue to suck their thumbs
until much later.
Colin Brook, a spokesman for the Foundation for the Study
of Infant Deaths, said: "There is no reason why babies should
be given a dummy, but [if they must be] dummies should not
be introduced until babies are at least a month old."
An Italian study published in 2004 found that babies who
were bottle-fed, who sucked their thumb or a dummy, were twice
as likely to have crooked teeth as breast-fed infants.
(By Amy Iggulden, The Telegraph,
02.06.06)
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