The dummy… it amazes me just how much controversy this inocuous piece of plastic causes. 

Both of my children have a dummy. I am not ashamed by this fact nor do I feel like I have made a bad parenting choice in giving my children a dummy. For me the dummy is a necessary piece of equipment!

Baby boy suffered with reflux. He hardly slept, constantly wanted to be held and would scream for hours on end. It took months for any health professional to take me seriously and give him something to help his pain. In those months a dummy was my lifesaver. It soothed my baby and gave me a little bit of peace to do some daily necessities. I could take a shower, which must have been a relief to those around me, I could wash the dishes and I even managed to get dressed on most days! Who would have thought that a piece of plastic would enable all of that! 

However, you would not believe the criticism I received for giving him a dummy. If I listed all of the negative comments I heard then I would probably still be writing this when baby number 4 needs a dummy (only kidding Mum) so I’ll stick to my favourites:

He looks ugly with that thing in his mouth – my child is not ugly and how dare you even insinuate that!

He’ll never speak properly if he has a dummy – ha ha, you were so wrong on that score, his speech is amazing and advanced for his age!

Wouldn’t you rather he suck his thumb? – no I would not. I can take a dummy away and obviously can’t take his thumb away!

Take that dummy out of his mouth, I want to look at him properly – 1. I will not upset my child just so you can look at him and 2. his dummy does not affect your eyes!

Argh, it is so annoying that people react so negatively to my parenting choice. I repeat, my CHOICE.

When baby girl was born someone said to me “she’s not going to have a dummy is she?”. I replied that she would if she needed one. “I bet you’d rather that she didn’t have one really” was the response. Well guess what, she does have one. It soothes her (damn you reflux), comforts her and helps her to sleep. Once again the dummy is a necessary piece of equipment in this household.

So say what you like. Say that my child looks ugly, say that I am a lazy parent, say that my child will have wonky teeth and poor speech. I actually don’t care.

Dummies, what are your thoughts?