When can they put the dummy back in themselves??

[JimJammum]

I have finally managed to stop feeding ds in the night aged 20 weeks, but he wakes every hour and a half and needs dummy to go back to sleep. Heartbreaking trying to stop him from having it, but how long will it be before he can pop it back in himself????

It'll be ages and not because he won't be able to do it himself but because he won't be able to find it! Ds is nearly 16mths and totally capable of putting his dummy abck in himself but he still cries for it in the night if he wakes because it has got stuck in a corner of the cot or fallen down the sides. It's a right PITA!

I am not wanting to sound critical but you said finally so it sounded like you had chosen not to night feed rather than your ds giving it up willingly? Is it possible that as he is waking so frequently that he is maybe needing a feed? Every hour and half does sound like a lot so he is maybe settling with the dummy but is hungry so getting no satisfaction is waking up again.
DS is one and he stil doesn't pop it back in himself in the night he does in the day if he comes across it. He will ocassionaly find one if it is close by or if there are about 5 in with him.

apparently the cherry ones stay in better, or so i've read on here before.

Speaking from experience... drop the dummy now!
Ds1 is 3.5 and still has his.
With ds2 I put my foot down and said no dummy (dh gave it to ds1).

Of the two, ds2 is much easier to deal with re sleep related things. He doesnt even have a special cuddly or anything. He just goes to sleep.
Ds1 was a right PITA, like Chloe said, it took ages for him to be able to find it. He still cant get back to sleep without it if he wakes up in the night. Now he can find it himslef, but my prob now is that he's too old to still have it, but if we take it away it'll be night and nights of no sleep for any of us (the boys share aroom, so ds2 will get woken by all the crying). When he was a baby, we went through a phase of going into his room about 12 times a night just to put the dummy back in . I remember it being one of the firstthings I ever asked for advice about on mumsnet!!

Ds loses his dummy behind the back of the cot as he throws it up the wall in his sleep , so I always put an extra one beside him so he can grab onto it during the night or have one on standby near the cot, it was around 6 months when he started doing this.

Now why didn't I think of that Hotmama!

I've got dd's on a soother holder which I just clip onto the tag on her sleeping bag. The ribbon is just long enough to reach her mouth and not long enough to go around her neck (before anybody asks!).