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Parenting

Dummy mistake?

9 replies

mermaid101 · 18/10/2014 10:20

I have a 12 week DS. We gave him a dummy when he was about six weeks and it helped with settling him to sleep.
However, at night we have to put it back in every hour almost. He used to go for a good long stretch from about 7-1 without it and then wake every hour or two, which was manageable. Every hour is not sustainable for us.

I'm not sure what to do. Has anyone any experience of this? When might he be able to put it back in himself? Or should we just ditch it? What will that be like? And will it mean he will suck his thumb? My 3 year old is a thumb sucker and the dentist has said it is causing her teeth to be pushed out of shape. I would probably prefer to try to avoid any long term dental problems, but I am exhausted!

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KatyN · 18/10/2014 21:24

Yes we definitely had that! I can't remember when he learnt to put it in himself but it was an amazing night! Does yours have a dummy during the day? Try encouraging him to take it in and out during the day and he might be able to do it sooner in the night. Once he can, put more than one dummy in his bed at night so he can find one.

Good luck

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Griffomais · 18/10/2014 21:34

You can buy glow in the dark dummy for night time they might help.x

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mermaid101 · 19/10/2014 14:01

Thanks for these. He does have a dummy during the day. He can sort of pull it out, but can't get it back in.
From a little research it seems about eight months is when I could expect him to be able to put it bsck in. I can't last till then!

I saw on another thread, a dentist saying that a dummy was much better than a thumb. We were thinking about going "cold turkey" with it, but it might be quite traumatic for everyone, and counterproductive if that is the case.

Does this happen with everyone who uses a dummy? Surely not? How do people survive it? I'm honestly right at the end of my tether.

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strawberrybubblegum · 19/10/2014 21:47

You won't want to hear this, but it to good a looong time for DD to be able to find a dummy and put it back in. Probably closer to a year old before it was reliable. And it still occasionally falls out through the bars: rare now, but for a while the travel cot was noticeably better for that. She definitely got better at keeping it in though, so I wouldn't expect it to be hourly waking for too long. That def isn't sustainable.

Several dummies in the bed does help later, but obviously not at 12 weeks. I've also heard of a dummy bunny that you can velcro extra dummies too, to make them easier to find.

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AmyByTheTrain · 20/10/2014 14:39

I don't have much advice, but can share our experience. DS learnt to put in his own dummy at 7.5mo and there was much rejoicing in our house.

Up until then, it varied a lot how often I needed to get up and put it back in. Most nights it wasn't quite hourly, or at least wasn't all night long. I was fairly ok with it when he was in our room, but it got pretty disruptive to my sleep once he got his own room at 6mo. That 1.5 months of trekking to DS's room in the night was not fun.

Even once he was able to put it in himself, he sometimes still needed help finding it the cot a few times a night at first, but gradually got better. He's 11mo now and it's pretty rare for him to need help, but it does still happen sometimes.

Also, we got some of that breathable cot wrap (the Safe Dreams brand) that helps keep the dummy from flying out between the cot bars.

I definitely have wished on several occasions that we had a thumb-sucker rather than a dummy-user regardless of the dental consequences, but that's just how things turned out when we were desperate for sleep in the early weeks. And once it was established, I couldn't bear the pain of stopping.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

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laura0007 · 23/10/2014 12:09

It was also about 7 months here that ds learnt to put it back in himself. I give him a glow in the dark one for bedtime and he also has one attached to a dummy clip that fastens into ewan the dream sheeps ear so he can always find one!

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Gileswithachainsaw · 23/10/2014 12:12

Glow in dark ones. Attach to dummy clip and spare ones in cot and attached to blanky. Surround him with them

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animalsunited · 23/10/2014 12:43

My dd is six months and just started taking a dummy. She's dc3 and dummies are new to me as eldest wouldn't take one and middle dc was a thumb sucker.

It certainly has made life a bit easier as she's not been a great sleeper and needs the comfort. Tea time has been particularly hard, when she's tired but its too late for a proper nap. With two older ones who need a decent meal and help with homework, after school stuff etc it's great she can be soothed with a dummy and sit in her bouncy chair. Music helps as well, she loves songs and nursery rhymes! I feel bad I can't hold and cuddle her more at this time but she gets lots of attention when older ones are at school.

I do worry about dummy use going forward though.

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Chocolatestain · 23/10/2014 14:38

We had this problem with DS. The dummy bunny (available on Amazon) was a life saver for about a fortnight and the he totally rejected dummies and just woke up anyway! It costs about a tenner and is worth a try.

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