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Argh, 15wk old wont nap without his blasted dummy! Help!

3 replies

u32ng · 22/05/2013 09:28

Up until about 3wks ago my DS was good at his naps - I'd read his sleepy signals, put him down & he would settle himself to sleep, occasionally crying but a bit of shush-patting would do the trick.

Now, for some reason his naps have all gone to hell & he cries as soon as I lay him in his Moses basket.

Swaddling doesn't work anymore;
Shush-pat doesn't work anymore;
He just fights it all the way...until I give in and the dummy goes in and then he settles. until the dummy falls out & he wakes up crying

I really want to nip this dummy reliance in the bud before it becomes an even bigger nightmare to wean him off it for naps.

I know some of you will probably think "what's the big deal?? Let him have it & stop worrying about it" but a) he used to be so good at self settling that I really don't want him to lose that ability, and b) he has a shorter, poorer quality sleep in my opinion. He used to have some epic sleeps without it. I miss those days!!

So how can I get back to the no-dummy naps??

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Forgetfulmog · 22/05/2013 09:34

4 month sleep regression.

If I were you I would continue to use the dummy just to get past this point.

Metalhead · 22/05/2013 16:42

I'm not sure you can, not without a lot of crying at least. Does he have the dummy at other times, for example during the night?

We had similar issues with DD, although she was older (about 18 months) and it was getting her off to sleep at night. She'd always managed fine without her dummy, but then suddenly decided she needed it to drop off.

In the end, my mum asked why I was so insistent on not giving it to her at bed time, considering she had it for daytime naps and if she woke during the night... so reluctantly I agreed it might be a bit confusing to DD and gave in!

She still has it now at nearly 3...

GiveMummyTheWhizzer · 23/05/2013 15:11

Just let him have the dummy. 4 month sleep regression and some babies just like to suck to soothe themselves.

DS is 2.9 and has always had a dummy and still does but only ever when he is alseep.

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