Nursery World - Positive Relationships: A parent's guide to... Dummy use

Should you give your child a dummy? It's a seemingly simple question but a difficult one to answer. Only you can decide whether your child should have one, but it is worth weighing up the pros and cons.

Q: Why do parents give their children dummies?

Most babies have a strong sucking reflex. Giving babies a dummy can soothe them and help them to settle more quickly, as part of the sleep routine. It has been found that during the first six months, putting a child to sleep with a dummy can halve the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (cot death), though the reason for this is still unknown.

The Department of Health and the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) recommend putting a dummy in a baby's mouth as they are going to sleep. If a baby wakes during the night, the dummy should be put back in, but there is no need to replace it if it falls out while the baby is sleeping.

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