Introducing a dummy at 5 months, how to manage?

[twinklespells]

DD is five months and I've started feeding her to sleep upstairs around 8 ish, then coming downstairs to spend time with DH for an hour or two. We have a video monitor set up and co sleep when I go to bed.

DD likes to suckle for comfort but never took to a dummy. Last night I managed to swap my boob for a dummy when she fell asleep, and it seems to do the trick! Wasn't in her mouth the whole time but she could wriggle and get it back into her mouth when it was next to her. This morning when she was awake I gave it to her to see what she did and she instantly spat it out!

So my question is, am I fool introducing a dummy at this stage? Would you take it away when you go up to bed and co sleep with her as she can feed/suckle from me when she wants, or would you leave her with the dummy in all night?

Also, if I only use the dummy at bed time like this, am I likely to be introducing something that will be very hard to remove at a later date? Without the dummy she wakes up quite frequently looking for me, I think when she wakes the suckling gets her to drift back off again, so either me or the dummy need to be there.

Any thoughts of experiences welcome, feeling very unsure of what the best approach is!

[emeraldcity2000]

I used a dummy with my first and my second didn't want one. My daughter definitely used it to settle which was a bit of a double edged sword - it meant quite a lot of replacing it during the night until she was old enough to find it herself - if you are cosleeping this might not be an issue... I dreaded getting rid of it but actually that bit was fine. We just swapped it for a toy the dummy fairy left behind and she never mentioned them again - think we got lucky! If my second would have taken one, I'd happily have given it!

[mimmi91]

My DD is only 3 months old, but I bless the dummy. It can be a real lifesaver, as she has really taken to it as a way to soothe herself (I introduced it when she was 2w old but it took about a week for her to finally accept it).
It is however annoying at night because I do need to pop it back into her mouth multiple times every night, which obviously impacts my sleep. But at least I don’t need to rock her to sleep...

[MagicMatilda]

Don’t go there! I was up every two minutes putting it back in. Luckily he got rid of it himself at 6 months.

[Sam478]

I’m in a similar situation and thinking the same. My 5 month old has now starting waking between every 20-60minutes, looking for the boob he’ll then go back to sleep once I feed him but so hard getting him off. My friends have suggested trying a dummy again as he wouldn’t take when we tired before but I feel I’ve managed this far without it and they recommend trying to wean them off it 6-12 months but really feel he would sleep so much better if he would have one.

[MotherHaryy]

Please can you update? Is baby still sleeping through with the dummy? Am tempted to give one to my little one!