11 week old needs dummy to sleep

[tdlrmummy]

Help!! My 11 week old (DD2) is addicted to her dummy and won't sleep without it. I'm having to replace it SO many times it's ridiculous (especially for naps). Is she too young to expect her to self-soothe if I take it away? I still swaddle her (otherwise her hands flail around everywhere!) so she wouldn't be able to suck on her hand (hasn't found her thumb yet anyway). She's just so reliant on it now to get to sleep and then to get back to sleep when she stirs. Help! I'm at my wits end. Should we cold-turkey it now? Or wait until she's able to find her thumb? We took away DD1's dummy when she was 7 months as she was pretty reliant on it but she was older and so I didn't feel so guilty. Have got to do something with DD2 though as she's totally addicted to it and her sleep (and therefore my sleep) is suffering!
(I only use the dummy for sleep as she doesn't need it when she's awake.)
Any thoughts/advice appreciated!

For starters, she is less than 3 months old. Don't worry about it!

DS had a dummy until he was 4 months old, then one day he decided to spit it out and refused to have it put back in. Sorted.

I would wait until she is 6mo before you start thinking about taking it away. Bummer on having replace it during the night though!

The trouble is I'm having to replace the dummy so many times (especially for naps) it means she's not getting proper sleep and I'm not either. Something's got to change as the problem just seems to be getting worse. She won't nap for longer than half an hour without waking up for the dummy. We're trying not to rush to her to replace it but she's distraught without it. I've tried leaving her hands out of her swaddle blanket but she doesn't get any comfort from sucking on her hands. Sometimes she needs the dummy replacing numerous times as when it falls out she immediately wants it back in again. Seriously can't carry on like this for much longer! Help!!

ps. Am also suffering with postnatal depression and the lack of sleep is definitely making me feel worse :-( And I feel like I'm doing a rubbish job as I've let DD get into such bad habits.

Hmm. Maybe go cold-turkey then. It will mean a few days without much sleep at all for any of you but then it should get better.

I had PND and it is the most awful thing I have ever experienced, right up there with the cancer diagnosis. Get all the help you possibly can and take it easy on yourself - your best you right not is not the same as the one it will be next year.

Please don't worry about bad habits. 22mo DD won't sleep without a dummy, we'll think about weaning her off it once DC2 arrives (concerned that we'll take if off her now and then end up with her needing it again when the baby arrives anyway, would rather only wean her off it once.

Don't give yourself a hard time about it, if you can wean her off it now, then great but if she doesn't settle without it then don't force yourself to keep going - soon enough she'll be able to find the dummy for herself when it falls out anyway which means you won't have to go and give it back every time she wakes up :)

I think it's a case of choosing your battles ... Our dd had her dummy at night til she was 3 and we prepared ourselves for an absolute nightmare when we finally took it away - she was fine! On the other hand having to get up a lot to help her find it can be v draining. There are some clips around which we attached to our dd's baby gro .... Makes it easier to find the dummy/stops it falling on the ground etc. Our dd seemed to work out the dummy was on the end of the clip quite quickly.

Thanks for your posts. Think we're going to reassess in a few weeks and decide where to go from there. She just seems too young to be able to soothe herself in any other way at the moment. It's very tiring though!! What ages did your little ones find their lost dummies in the night themselves?? SHe's also needing the dummy replaced for naps (after 30 min), unless she's out in the pram, so I worry that she might not be getting the benefits of proper deep sleep. And I think she'll get more dependent on using the dummy for sleep as time goes on rather than less unfortunately.

AKMD, thanks for your support re the PND. I had it after DD1 too. It is awful isn't it?! Sometimes it's hard to remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel, especially when baby's sleep is so bad. Sleep deprivation is torture!