{"id":403,"date":"2012-11-15T16:23:22","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T16:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/?p=403"},"modified":"2012-11-15T16:23:22","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T16:23:22","slug":"the-dummy-debate-pros-and-cons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/the-dummy-debate-pros-and-cons\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dummy Debate: Pro&#8217;s And Cons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The issue is far from black and white. You\u2019ll hear parents raving about dummies or reviling them. We look at expert Wendy C. Fries&#8217; arguments over the pros and cons of dummies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>The pros: A few reasons to use a dummy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There are many good reasons to use dummies &#8211; just ask any parent who\u2019s managed to get a moment of peace with the judicious use of one. But a bit of peace isn\u2019t the only plus. Others include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Possible protection against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The Department of Health advises that giving your baby a dummy at the start of any sleep period may reduce the risk of SIDS. Use the dummy when putting baby down to sleep &#8211; don&#8217;t put it back in baby&#8217;s mouth once he&#8217;s already asleep.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Helping babies pacify themselves. Infants need ways to help soothe themselves and a dummy can be a source of comfort for a crying or colicky baby.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>It satisfies the suck reflex. Some babies have a need to suck that exceeds the time they get on the bottle or breast. For these infants, a dummy can meet this very real need.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Easier weaning. When you\u2019re ready for a child to stop, it\u2019s much easier to wean them from a dummy than off their thumb.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Cons: Reasons to avoid a dummy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While some parents hope to avoid dummies altogether, many experts don&#8217;t think that\u2019s necessary. Yet there are a few issues to watch for when using a dummy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Research has suggested that there may be a link between use of a dummy and recurrent ear infections in young children. Researchers aren\u2019t sure why this happens, but suspect it may be due to a change in pressure between the middle ear and upper throat. The Department of Health advises that parents who give their child a dummy should not be overly concerned by these research findings. It was not clear, it notes, whether parents participating in the research had a tendency to use dummies to soothe young children who were prone to recurrent ear infections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>If a dummy is introduced too early, there\u2019s the risk of nipple confusion for a baby who\u2019s just learning to suckle. When a baby is being breastfed, it\u2019s best not to give a dummy until breastfeeding is well established, usually at about one month old.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Parents can mistakenly offer a dummy when the baby really needs nutrition-based sucking, such as a breast or bottle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Babies who are overzealous suckers, or who use a dummy for long periods, may have problems as their teeth grow and develop.\u00a0 Overuse of a dummy can also hinder speech development, which is why it\u2019s recommended that you try to limit the times your baby uses a dummy, and to wean your baby off the dummy completely by the age of one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<em>Wendy C. Fries is senior editor with WebMD<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Source: <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.webmd.boots.com\"><em>www.webmd.boots.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The issue is far from black and white. Youll hear parents raving about dummies or reviling them. We look at expert Wendy C. Fries&rsquo; arguments over the pros and cons of dummies. The pros: A few reasons to use a dummy There are many good reasons to use dummies &ndash; just ask any parent whos &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/the-dummy-debate-pros-and-cons\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Dummy Debate: Pro&#8217;s And Cons&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,5,6,8,14,16,17,18,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agencies","category-au-pairs","category-babysitters","category-childcare","category-childminders","category-education","category-jobs","category-nannies","category-nurseries","category-nurses","category-parents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}