So if you fall into the dummy trap, how do you get out if it?

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

DS is 5mo and has a dummy for sleep - it works like a dream and helps him drift off really quickly. However, it does mean that if he wakes in the night he can't drop off without it so we're having to go to him a couple of times every night to pop the dummy in so he can get back off to sleep.

So does it need to be a cold turkey approach, and if so how tough will it be? Or is it worth riding it out until he's old enough to find it himself and put it in - how old would he need to be for this? I'm not against him having it, just wish it didn't mean repeated night getups....

Dd rejected hers herself so this is new territory for us, would love any tips/experience please!

TIA

We got rid of DS's dummy at 6 months. We were given advice from Ngala that this was a good age to do this as the need to suck is gone but its before the attachment to it really starts.
Tbh, it only took one night of it being unsettled, it did seem as if the next night he had forgotten about it. I think the only issue was that my inlaws definitely took it as criticism that I didn't let DS keep it (nephews had their ones all the time until they were gone 3), it took months before they stopped mentioning it. DC2 is about to arrive and I will be following a similar pattern.

Have you tried putting multiple dummies in the cot with DS? So they're easy to find? DS still has his dummy - has always ever been for either nap time or sleep time...and he still has it at 2.5 yrs! For some strange reason he never woke me up for it, but I always found it a life saver for encouraging nap times and sleep times. Now that he understands, the dummy fairy is going to come visiting when we get back from holiday in a couple of weeks' time. Otherwise, if you're keen to give up now, they do say cold turkey is best. I think it usually takes three nights, from friends' experiences. Good luck!

Well, first of all, I never thought of it as a trap but as a way for my son to soothe himself. They are also recommended as an aid against SIDS.

Second of all, I didn't even think about getting rid of it until he was over 3 and that's just during the day.

He still has it at night to sleep and I imagine he will for quite awhile.

when he was younger I put many many dummies in his cot with him. Now he sleeps with just one extra.

But you probably shouldn't listen to me as I didn't bother to get rid of bottles until he was 3 either. Although neither has done him any harm.

Let's let our babies be babies.

I never saw it as a trap. My DD1 is the only one out of four that had a dummy. She was colicky and refluxy and the suckling helped her to relax and eased her tummy. She gave it up happily at three years old when the dummy fairy visited. It did not affect her speech in any way (I didn't let her have it in her mouth all day, just for sleeps/rests) and nor her teeth.

The only downside to dummies for me was having to get up in the night to retrieve them when they fell out of the cot.

I currently have a DS2 that is a finger sucker and I reckon that will be a more difficult habit to break than the dummy was.

I totally understand why you're thinking of getting rid of them. If my DS had woken me up regularly through the night so I could pop his dummy back in, I would have definitely gotten rid of them. Thankfully he didn't, so he still has dummies. But perhaps you could see if you can stop the night wakings by putting lots of dummies in his cot - you can even get luminous ones!

DD was like this. We bought her a Sleepytot, sewed it to the front of her sleeping bag and taught her to put the dummies back in herself by putting them back in her hand each time, not her mouth (unless she was too upset to manage it). We let her play with it in the daytime too. She worked in out within a couple of weeks and by 6 months was replugging herself. Didn't stop her night waking am afraid but that seems (crosses several fingers...) to have tailed off to one short one for small bottle now at 10 months. Good luck! Oh and if you do try this make sure to sew it well obviously, loose threads could be really dangerous. And get dummies that go in either way up so he doesn't have to work out the right way up (if you know what i mean).

Thanks for the replies all - for those not understanding why I would want to get rid of the dummy, I did say I'd be happy for him to keep it, it's just having to get up a few times a night to locate and re-administer that's doing me in at the moment!!!

Weirdly last night he woke and then re-settled himself anyway a couple of times before we managed to get there, so fingers crossed he might keep doing that, problem solved!!

We had the same problem with DD who is 4 months. For the first few nights I tried just not giving it to her unless she got upset rather than her fussing sound. She woke up maybe 8 times and fell asleep herself maybe 4. As the nights went on she slept through without needing me to give her the dummy. At the beginning if she sounded like she wasn't settling herself I would get up and calm her down so it was more work in the beginning but definitely worth it. Now I need to try and get her off the dummy so much during the day....