Pacifier Use and Poor weight gain - Nabeelah Allie

January 2025

I would like to share my experience in case it may help another mother.

My baby weighed 4.8 kg when she was 10 weeks old. She  was fond of sucking on her dummy and by 14 weeks she had not picked up much weight; she weighed only 5 kg. My La Leche League Leader suggested that  I stop giving my daughter the dummy and have her go back in one week’s time to check if she had gained weight.

A week later, after not giving her a dummy, she weighed 5.3 kg. You can see the difference between four weeks of giving a dummy and one week of not giving a dummy.

We went back for another weight check the week after that and she weighed 5.6 kg. She was feeding more frequently without the dummy, and was continuing to gain weight. At first she would not want to take the breast because she would prefer the dummy. She cried for a bit but got used to the dummy not being there anymore. 

Just thought I would share my experience with and without the dummy.

[Also see https://www.lllsa.org/cckpacifiers]