Should a baby use a dummy — and when should they stop?

It's often the first possession that children recognise as their own, but when should parents call time on soothers? 

Although there's nothing wrong with giving your child a soother, it raises the likelihood of orthodontic problems down the line. 

At least half of young children seen by paediatric dentist, Dr Jennifer McCafferty, are soother-users or thumb-suckers.

It’s a statistic that bears out in Britain too, with a recent study showing that more than half of people there don’t know the right time for children to give up the dummy (soother).