Key health professionals for delivering this care:
Midwives
Health visitors
Nursery nurses
Key messages:
It's fine to give your baby a dummy but avoid using them after 12 months of age. Using dummies or thumb-sucking can cause the top and bottom front teeth to move to make space for the dummy/thumb, making a gap. Your child's speech development can also be affected
Discourage your child from running around, talking or making sounds with a dummy or their thumb in their mouth, and don't dip dummies in anything sweet, such as sugar or jam
Never suck your baby’s dummy to ‘clean’ it as this will spread germs between you and your baby. Keep plenty of spares instead
