My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.

Sleep

#Can a baby over 6 months still using a dummy to go to sleep manage to resettle himself right through the night?

13 replies

makamsi · 21/04/2004 11:07

Hi All.

My 8 month old ds (briefly) started to sleep through the night (7.30 - 6.00/6.30 and sometimes going back to sleep till 7.00/7.30 after a little feed and nappy change) at about 7 months - actually what happened was the clocks changed to summer time and a 5.00/5.30 am night waking became morning!
Encouraged I decided to try and "formalise" his daytime naps more. So I put him in his cot in a dark room in his grobag and gave him the dummy (which I used only sometimes at night when he wouldn't settle himself) thinking "this is what he will associate with daytime naps now" and he's been sleeping well in the daytime by his standards - admittedly he only does two naps of 45 mins (at 9.00/9.30 and either at 12.30 or 1.30 depending when he seems tired) and cannot re - settle himself back - although I've never really left him to grizzle a long time so he's never been "trained" to re - settle himself. He tends to have one other nap in the afternoon in the buggy when I am out and about somewhere.
But now of course he can't get to sleep anytime without the dummy (even in his car seat he grizzles for it)
Now he'll go to sleep at 7/7.30 with dummy (which I remove when he is asleep), wake up 45 minutes later grizzling. Maybe I should leave him to settle himself then but I'm getting tired and its about time for dinner so I give him the dummy again and he falls back to sleep. I take out the dummy again once he's asleep and then 10.30 he wakes again. Dummy once again but this time his sleep is so light we can't take it out and by 11 something he's awake again and we can't get him back to sleep without a bottle. He drains 4 ozs and would have more but I deliberately only give him a small bottle - I don't think he's hungry - its just comfort. After the bottle he is more or less asleep and so can go back in his cot - sometimes without his dummy. He will then sleep till 6.00 when I hear him babble( maybe even snooze again - I don't dare go and look!) until we get him (towards 7).
Before he got so dummy dependent he didn't have that unsettled period from 10.30 - midnight - although admittedly he was waking in the night usually about 4 or 5ish and I was giving him the benefit of the doubt and feeding him.
He doesn't have any teeth yet and doesn't seem to be in any obvious teething discomfort so I don't think its that.
Sorry for the long babble. My main question was to those of you with older babies still using dummies to get off to sleep. How do you manage to get them to sleep through the night without needing the dummy again? Or do you just leave them with it all night? I don't have a problem with him using the dummy to settle but I don't like it to be stuck in his mouth the whole night which is why I take it out when he is asleep (also hoping each time that he won't need it when he awakes!). I'd also read that you should limit dummy use in babies over 6 months to what I'm doing (just for settling and then remove)............any advice?

OP posts:
Report
Pook · 21/04/2004 12:43

My dd sleeps with dummy (I leave it in) and she has recently learned how to put it back in if she needs it in the night. Miraculous breakthrough as far as we are concerned. Initially I used to take it away when she was tiny, but then after a while noticed that she was waking to have it put back in - i.e. when she entered lighter sleep she realised things weren't as she remembered when she dropped off, and it seemed that this would actually wake her. Interestinglt, if it happens to fall out rather than be removed, it doesn't seem to have quite as dramatic an effect.

Report
Pook · 21/04/2004 12:44

She's 9 months old

Report
officerdibble · 21/04/2004 13:24

I use a soft dummy clip positioned in the same place every night on the grobag - he learned to plug himself back in at about 7 months. I just leave it to him to decide if he wants it in or not. He's now 12 months.

He started sleeping on his tummy at 10 months old and now uses the dummy a lot less overnight as a result. I used to worry about leaving the dummy in for sleep but in the grand scheme of things I think it's more important to all get a good night's kip and if that's what it takes then so be it.

We also had a short spell of 11pm wakings just before he started to crawl at 11 months. They stopped the day he crawled.

Report
aloha · 21/04/2004 13:40

Oh, let him have his dummy all night! My ds is 2 and a half and sleep beautifully all night. He uses his dummy to go to sleep (we clip it to his sleepingbag) and mostly it falls out during the night, but if he needs it to get back off, he can find it and pop it back in. There are no real downsides to using a dummy - unless your child is still using it as an adult and becomes a social pariah, of couse Some babies just need to suck more than others. What worries you about the dummy?

Report
rolymoly · 21/04/2004 17:12

My sister's son used to use a dummy all night, and slept well with it. He learned to put it back in when he lost it at night. He got to 4.5 still using it, at which point my sister and her dh, on advice from their dentist, decided to take it away. They managed it with some explanation and some protest, and he had accepted the loss of dummy within a week. If your concern is that he will need it forever, I think you can take heart from this story.

Report
popsycal · 21/04/2004 19:42

ds has 3 dummies in his cot - then if he wakes he is bound to find one of them!!

Report
Pook · 22/04/2004 12:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

pollingfold · 22/04/2004 12:23

Have exactly the same problem with DS, but not with dummy, but his soft toy. However can't put 3 of them (spares in case we ever lose one) at the same time otherwise might cause some confusion, so at 18 months still getting up during the night to find "doggie"!!

Sometimes he gets to mad trying to find doggie that he throughs it out of his cot by mistake aaaarrrghhh!

Report
makamsi · 22/04/2004 22:15

Hi again. Have decided that I will surrender to the dummy and just leave it in! Even went and bought a soft clip today but are they safe to use at night officerdibble?
Lets see how we get on.........

OP posts:
Report
mand18 · 07/04/2005 23:55

hi, am having same prob with dummy falling out and baby waking about midnight and sometimes fiveish, will sometimes settle with me putting dummy back or failing that a bottle, she is six months! where do u get these dummy clips?

Report
kama · 08/04/2005 00:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

kama · 08/04/2005 00:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Seona1973 · 08/04/2005 20:03

you can get 'soother savers' in boots, mothercare, etc and the ribbon is not long enough to be able to do any damage. I think they are deliberately short so they wouldnt reach round their neck, etc

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.