Dummy, pacifier, binky, the list goes on. Whatever you choose to call them, I have (against my initial plans) found this little piece of plastic very useful!
Before giving birth I was adamant I would never use one. Mainly because I had uneven teeth growing up (and ended up spending a lot of money on braces), and was anxious my daughter would inherit my delightful dental genetics, which in my anxious mind would be exacerbated by using a dummy.
I was aware of the potential risks to teeth growth and speech development and this fuelled my strong yet arguably ignorant opinion against dummies. It wasn’t until recently, I found myself relying on them for comfort both to myself and my baby.
My daughter, like many babies suffers with terrible reflux paired with a cyclical daily colic bout between 3-6pm most days. Being a new parent, this has not only been a swift learning curve, but a struggle to say the least.
My partner and I have spent many an hour comforting and distracting our daughter from hysterical crying and discomfort. We have tried all the tricks in the book – changing my diet, colic drops, gripe water, massage, baths and playing music. You name it. Some of which have been (moderately) effective.
However, it got to the point one rainy, cold sleep deprived Monday afternoon in January where nothing, and I mean NOTHING was working! She was crying, I was crying, and we were both well and truly fed up. I remember I had a pack of orthodontic dummies from a hamper that was given to us before baby was born. I hesitantly decided to give them a try.
It worked! She settled, nuzzling into me (paired with cuddles and lots of sshhussshing). We finally both relaxed and had a much needed nap.
Whatever the ‘downsides’ or so called ‘risks’ of using dummies are, I feel that its more cruel to let my child suffer when I now know that something so simple works.
Becoming a parent has forced me to change my initial plans and expectation on a daily basis. It’s easy to make plans when you don’t have a crying baby to influence you. I’ve taken the pressure off myself and now have the belief that if my baby needs a dummy to feel soothed and ease her pain, then so be it.
Anyone who isn’t your childs’ parent/carer should not judge your parental choices. And that is the opinion now I firmly hold. This doesn’t make unsolicited advice from others any easier though, but that’s another blog post. You do what’s best for your little one and yourself and no-one should think otherwise!
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