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How to teach a baby to a dummy
Last reviewed: 19.10.2021
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Many mothers whose children eat too much or are too restless often ask: how to accustom the child to the soother? This will give the opportunity to feel more psychologically comfortable, to regulate the weight of the child and the time of his feeding, as well as to calm him down while crying. Many of the pediatric gastroenterologists believe that sucking a pacifier helps the child to establish the work of the gastrointestinal tract and the discharge of gases.
Why the child does not take a pacifier?
Soothers come in different sizes and shapes. If the child is accustomed to a certain configuration of her mother's nipples, he may not take a pacifier, which is significantly larger in size and density. In addition, the baby may not like the taste of the pacifier. Therefore, to accustom the child to the pacifier, you need to use several tricks to help him get used to this subject.
How to choose a dummy?
First of all, read the label: there are recommendations on the age for which the soother is intended, and the material from which it is made. This will help you choose a pacifier individually for your baby.
Pay attention to the size of the dummy. They come in three sizes: 1, 2, 3 - for ages from birth to three months, from three months to six months and from six months to one and a half years. But when choosing a dummy you need to pay attention not only to the child’s age, but also to his complexion. If the baby is large, it may not be more suitable for the smallest dummy, but the largest or medium.
To determine which dummy is best for your child, give them 1, 2, and 3 dummies in turn. Maybe the child likes it when his whole mouth is busy. In this case, he can choose a pacifier at number three, but you constantly slipped an uncomfortable “first” one to him.
It is possible to diversify the purpose of pacifiers, and then the baby can stop refusing from it. For example, an orthopedic soother can be used to nibble it. This can happily suck the children who have teething.
Experiment with the material from which the dummy is made. It may be latex or silicone. If the latex baby does not want to take, maybe he will like silicone.
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Alternative methods for teaching the baby to the pacifier
- If no method for the selection of the shape, size and purpose of the dummy does not work, go to the trick. Grease the pacifier with something sweet, such as honey or jam. This simple ancient method can help very quickly - the child will take a tasty soother and will gradually get used to it.
- Honey needs to be very careful because it often causes allergies, especially in babies. You can lubricate the pacifier not with jam, but with mother's milk - this habitual taste can stimulate the baby to suck.
- To take the baby’s soother more familiar, you can give it in the position in which the baby usually receives breast milk.
- If you feed the child, you can give him a bottle of milk, then the child will be more accustomed to take a pacifier - it will become a source of pleasure for him.
In order to properly accustom the child to the pacifier, you can contact your pediatrician. He will tell you why the child does not want to take a pacifier. Also, the doctor may recommend the best ways to teach a baby to a dummy. Moreover, this process is based on the most important unconditioned reflex for the baby - sucking.
Why does a child need a dummy?
It is very important to teach the baby to the pacifier, if he is psychologically comfortable in the process of sucking. Without a pacifier, the child will constantly require her mother's breast. And thus, it takes a lot of time for the mother, who is freed with a pacifier. And even a dummy can be given to adjust the amount of breast milk that the baby receives during the day.
- The baby's dummy will help out when the mother is in public places with the child. For example, in the store, pharmacy, kindergarten, on a walk, in the clinic.
- A dummy will be useful when a small child plays in the public sandbox in the summer. Then the baby will not pull into his mouth whatever he wants - because he will be busy with a pacifier.
- The baby's dummy helps the baby get used to the scheduled feeding. It is especially relevant when the child is left not with the mother, but with other relatives. Statistics show that sucking a pacifier gives more psychological comfort to the baby, it becomes less restless and irritable.
- As the child grows, he increasingly tries to suck on foreign objects: cams, toys, the edge of the crib. To protect the baby from harmful bacteria, it is better to put a boiled dummy in his mouth.
- During teething, a dummy can do a good job, because it does not injure the teeth and meets the needs of the baby to gnaw something.
How to teach a child to a dummy - parents can now decide for themselves, using our advice. Let your baby grow healthy!