Dummies and language development

There’s a lot of debate about whether or not using a dummy is bad for children. Here is some of the evidence both for and against

It seems that it is overuse that does the damage; occasional use is probably not harmful (unless your child’s dentist/speech therapist says otherwise). So if you do let your child use a dummy, have rules.

Suggested dummy rules;

• Don’t let the child have it all the time or speak with it in their mouth
• Make sure it’s removed before they go to sleep (or they won’t learn to sleep without it)
• Keep it in a safe place where the child can reach it – a shelf, or a table – and from where they’re allowed to get it for, say, five minutes as long as they put it back afterwards. If they seem to need it all the time, they’re probably stressed or upset (eg a recent move, too much to do, new people in their lives??), so comfort and reassure them rather than taking away the dummy, which would just worry them more and lead you both into a vicious circle. Give them lots of praise and cuddles when you see them not using it.
• Keep it clean and safe. Make sure it’s sterilised regularly, as you would a bottle. Replace it if it starts coming apart and don’t let them wear it on a string longer than 10cm in case it catches on something and hurts them.
• Never put anything (honey, jam, condensed milk, malt, vitamin C syrups… anything) on dummies, or your dentist will buy a new yacht with the profits.
• Deadline – second teeth usually start coming through at about 6 years old, so dummy use should stop before then. About three is probably a good age to aim for; most three-year-olds can understand about giving things up for good. Some experts say give it up before one year old, but you may end up with a thumb-sucker instead. Work towards a particular day when the dummy can be swapped for something more grown-up; Christmas is a good choice; you can tell the child that Father Christmas takes dummies to give to babies.

The case against

• Dental: some experts say dummies may cause dental problems, as well as incorrect development of some muscles of the mouth. It seems that misaligned teeth aren’t likely to cause long-term problems unless the child is still using the dummy when their second set of teeth comes in
• Speech problems: heavy dummy use has been linked to weakness in the masseter muscles of the mouth, which can sometimes cause speech problems. A leaflet distributed by the Hammersmith & Fulham Primary Care Trust, the Kensington & Chelsea Primary Care Trust, and the Westminster Primary Care Trust refers to a recent study (this study was quoted in the Nursing Times July 23, Volume 93, No 30 1997. The original study is from McNally, J. Speech development and dummy sucking and other comfort habits. Health Visitor 1997; 70:5,191-193) which revealed that 30% of children who sucked dummies developed speech problems compared with only 12% of those who did not use dummies. Using a dummy prevents babies from babbling, which is an important step in learning to talk, and discourages toddlers from chatting, which they need to do to develop their language skills. A baby with a dummy in his/her mouth has fewer opportunities to babble, which is the foundation of speech, and may not communicate with others as readily. An older baby’s ability to swallow may also be impaired, and this can result in difficulties with speech. Once s/he starts to speak, the dummy user may talk from the back of the mouth instead of the front, and get into the habit of saying ‘k’ instead of ‘t’, for example.
• Hygiene: well, these are children we’re talking about; dummies are likely to be cleaner than most things they put in their mouths. Sterilise them regularly; wash them if they fall on the floor.
• Ear infections: researchers in The Netherlands found that recurrent ear infections occurred nearly twice as frequently in babies and young children who used dummies or pacifiers as those who did not and advised doctors to tell parents about the risks.
• Mouth breathing: your child may tend to breathe through their mouth rather than their nose. This is often linked to long-term dribbling
• Safety: replace dummies with loose or damaged pieces. Make sure that any strings around the child’s neck are not longer than 10cm.

The case for:

• They allow harried parents a bit of peace and quiet, which I suspect outweighs most other considerations.
• Sucking is a very soothing habit for stressed kids (though in the long run something should be done about the source of the stress).

All in all, unless your child’s dentist or speech therapist says otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be any need to stop dummy-loving under threes using one in moderation (some children just aren’t interested anyway). Determined little suckers will suck their thumbs if they don’t have dummies, and that habit is harder to break since you can’t remove thumbs (Struwwelpeter notwithstanding…)

When to stop

Again, the experts disagree: the two main camps are “stop them at one” and the “stop them at three”. The one group seem to think that since the only proven benefits of dummies are for children under a year old (settling babies and encouraging strong sucking patterns) they should be removed as soon as possible. This may ignore the dummy’s effect on a child’s feelings of security and comfort; at three-ish, a child can usually understand enough to give it up permanently (eventually…). But even before then dummy use should not be unrestricted; the child must be taught to remove it when speaking, for instance.

So, if they’re not off the dummy by three, it’s time to start phasing out the habit. But do it gently! Nagging and battles will just stress the child (as well as you, and you don’t have a dummy to soothe you) so they’ll just want the dummy more.

How to stop

Start gently breaking them of the habit when they turn three. Use persuasion and reward: cuddles and praise when you see them without the dummy, and gently removing it from their mouth and putting it somewhere safe where they know they can get it if they want to. Point out (or get older children to point out…) that big boys and girls don’t use dummies. If they’re younger and a heavy user, get them to cut down (again, gently) – start by making them remove the dummy when they speak. Making them go cold turkey is very unlikely to work: they’ll find thumbs or blankets or toys to suck instead and, since dummy-sucking is such a soothing habit, breaking it abruptly can severely distress a child. And they’ll make sure everyone around them is distressed too.

In all, take it slowly and gently, giving the child a choice as much as possible. Patience and kindness reaps dividends!

Research by Rachel Carthy and Will Macdonald