Dummies – Yes or No? Here Are the Answers You Need to Know

Peace of mind and less stress for the baby and for mum

A dummy’s main function is to soothe your baby. For fussiness, stressful situations, distress, pain, sleep problems and more. So it’s a relief for parents during moments that are often quite tense in themselves – let alone if they happen without a soother. There’s no room for regrets here, so if your baby doesn’t refuse a dummy (which some do), we have a plethora of dummies and pacifiers for you to choose from! 

How to pick the right dummy Take the following criteria into account:

• Size: This is easy to work out, as the manufacturers put the age suitability on the packaging. 
• Materials: you’ll probably see baby soothers made of clear silicone most often, but there are some babies who also like latex dummies (which are a touch more eco-friendly). 
• The shape of the decorative plastic part: completely round dummies can get in the way, hitting the nose when the baby is sucking on it. That’s why the ones with a wavy shape are better, which is especially true when it comes to dummies for newborns. 
• Teat shape: choose one that’s as flat as possible – and not only in the “inflated” part; the part that the baby grips between their gums should also be as thin as possible. And we’ll tell you why.

Orthodontic dummy

The use of a dummy affects your baby’s future bite. And we don’t just mean the bite in the sense of setting the milk teeth, but the bite in the sense of the unchanging position of the jaws (for example, Dr. Michaela Stetinova, who you can follow on Insta as @dentist_for_small, talks about that in more detail).

If you only give it to your baby for a few minutes to fall asleep in a crisis situation, you’ll be fine. But if your baby uses a dummy daily, for hours, all night long and so on, an open bite can easily develop, where a gap forms from copying the dummy when it’s worn. It remains even after the baby has stopped using a dummy.

That’s why the ideal dummy is an orthodontic soother, which usually addresses the anatomical shape of the “inflated” bit so that it fits the palate and tongue well. But the most important thing is to make sure the dummy is as thin as possible at the bite point. 

How long can you leave your baby with a dummy?

The age at which you stop letting your baby have a dummy is also important. The experts suggest a limit of 18 months in terms of the risk of not being able to reverse an open bite. But speech therapists suggest taking dummies away even earlier. The baby’s mouth has a lot to do even earlier. 

Practising chewing, making sounds, smacking and adjusting the mouth and tongue – but if the baby is constantly using a dummy, they can’t do this important work. Similarly, the mouth and tongue cannot relax naturally during the night. Which may, at the age of two and certainly at the age of three, be going to influence the habit of correct pronunciation. 

Weigh up the pros and cons: is a dummy worth it?

PROS

+ The baby falls asleep more easily and wakes up less at night.
+ If your baby is with a babysitter, they’ll stay calmer with a dummy.

+ Overall, it can be calming (when travelling, at the doctor’s, etc.).
+ With a dummy there is no risk of thumb sucking, a habit that’s even harder to break.

CONS

− A dummy can become a major habit, and you should be prepared for the challenging process of weaning the baby off it. 
− Dummies like falling on the floor, adding to hygiene concerns.
− They like getting lost and need to be replaced all the time.
− If you accidentally forget it, your baby is going to be moody and cry a lot. 
− If you offer it every time as a remedy for crying, you may miss other, more significant reasons for your baby’s discontent.
− Long-term dummy use can potentially impede speech development, and if your baby has a pacifier in their mouth for hours every day, it can also have an irreversible effect on jaw alignment and dental health.

How to wean your baby off a dummy so nobody’s heart gets broken

You can find places where there are dummy trees, trees where mothers, together with their babies, hang up dummies. In some families, dummies mysteriously disappear. Elsewhere, they serve as a symbol of responsibility for older siblings, who ceremonially hand over their dummy to their newborn younger brother/sister. And many children part with it after you trim off the most beloved part of their dummy. You know your little one best and can figure out the least painful way of doing it. Be sure to explain everything to them, in a way that’s age-appropriate.

Make sure to set aside more time for your child on the days when you’re saying goodbye to the dummy. Suddenly, even breastfeeding can become challenging, not to mention sleep. So start other soothing routines well in advance that you can initially offer in parallel to the dummy, and then without it, so that at least some of them remain. And most importantly, don’t let your baby replace the dummy with their thumb. They literally have their thumb to hand at all times, and the consequences in terms of bite alignment changes can be truly lasting.

Do you have a clearer picture about dummies now? Great! Every resolved parenting dilemma counts!