Should we or shouldn't we? There really seems to be no middle ground with this one, you either love them or hate them - although obviously, you don't say this to friends who consider them to be heaven sent.  Whichever side of the fence you sit on, it's pretty much guaranteed that there will come a time - and that time is going to be approximately 3:48am on the Monday that you're due back at work, that you will send out your nearest/dearest/most easily available to the all night garage. No, not for condoms this time, but for the first dummy. And yes, there will be a phone call regarding shape, size, colour, flavour of said dummy, compared to nipple (what flavour should dummies come in? Milk, obviously.). When the bearer of the dummy finally retunes and places it into baby's mouth, then the decision is made for you whether you love them i.e. can now sleep, or hate them i.e. baby spits and continues to exercise his lungs.

Old wives would have it that using a dummy leads to excess dribbling, misshapen teeth, delay in speech, dependency, but old wives may have to bite their tongues. The British Medical Foundation now advises that babies who use a dummy may in fact be at less risk of cot death - how this works isn't exactly clear, but research has shown a notable link between the use of a dummy and a reduction in sudden infant death syndrome.

If your baby does use a dummy, then follow a few simple rules and everybody will be happier: