Ewan the dream sheep: cold turkey or gentle weaning off?

[ecofreckle]

I have a 14 week old DD (pfb so am clueless). She was a super sleeper week 2 to week 11 ish. Put her down, popped on Ewan the Dream Sheep, went to sleep, only awoke couple of times a night, which dwindled to once a night in week 10 and sleeping through in week 11. Week 12 came and we?re back to 2 or 3 night feeds (she?s bf so that?s probably normal and ok), but she?s waking up at other times too, chatting/shouting/squealing/sometimes crying. The only way I can get her back to sleep is to put Ewan and stroke her tummy. Ewan = time to sleep.

This is ok but the books suggest that after 3 months you should cease using ?sleep prompts? such as Ewan the Dream Sleep so that your baby doesn?t become reliant upon it (like Wayne Rooney with his hoover). Am I building rod for own back?

Has anyone else had great success with Ewan (or similar) and then managed to wean their baby off? What was your tactic?

Thank you all!

I would carry on with Ewan.
Three out of my four have had comforters for bed from an early age, two of them have weaned themselves off them naturally at around three. DS3 is only 14 months and still needs a muslin to snuzzle to get him off to sleep.
I don't see it as a rod, I find it helpful as they have something familiar for when they stay at GP's houses.

notso, my ds1 had a muslin till he was nearly 6! Only when he went into hospital with asthma and they wouldn't let him have it because it wasn't helping his breathing, did it get removed.

I would suggest if you have to get up, put a cd on and stroke her tummy, then it's not going to work long term! Try the muslin...or something she can do herself to self soothe back to sleep.

Also, is she sleeping too much in the day? Because it's fairly unsual (I think) to be waking up if not for hunger.

MerryMarigold I sucked my thumb and rubbed the label of a blanket until I was 19 and pg with DD My Mum used to joke that I wouldn't need gas and air just my comforter!!

Ignore that OP!!

Aw bless. Now you don't need to self soothe. Head hits pillow and bam!

Yes there's nothing like the perma-knackered feeling DC can give you!

Sorry eco, we digress!

Yes apologies for the hijack eco at least it's bumping the thread for you!

Who is Ewan? Sounds like a very helpful sheep. We use white noise, and if it's working then would carry on. Although DD only 12 weeks so might not be qualified to speak about rods and

Who is Ewan? Sounds like a very helpful sheep. We use white noise, and if it's working then would carry on. Although DD only 12 weeks so might not be qualified to speak about rods and backs. Also growth spurt around 12 weeks is expected and could be unsettling her? Has anything else changed - moses basket to cot? Maybe she has just found her voice and is wanting a chat? You could always try phasing out ewan during the day whenyou've got more energy to do more soothing - picking up and putting down etc

Ask on our pn thread? I know plonko had a Ewan so may have some advice.

If she's awake and noisy but not distressed, have you tried just leaving her to it? DD often wants to get up at five in the sodding morning, but left to her own devices she's back to sleep within fifteen minutes usually.

Also, is she sleeping too much in the day? Because it's fairly unsual (I think) to be waking up if not for hunger

really , merrymarigold ?! Then my DS is v unusual as he wakes up ALL the bloody time and he's not hungry!! And doesn't sleep too much in day either, I don't think... Fwiw we have Ewan the sheep- he's great, that's what gets ds2 back to sleep with his interminable night time waking. He's 7 months. We used to play music for ds2 that was on his monitor every single night of his life til it broke when he was about 2.5- I panicked thinking how will he settle now?? He never even noticed! He must've been sick to death of thy nasty tinny music!
In short, I would say don't mess with a system that's working. Take that advice from a seriously sleep deprived mother- if it ain't broke etc etc. he won't be listening to Ewan the sheep by the time he goes to school- promise!!

Sorry I meant we played music for ds1 for 2.5 yrs... It's the lack of sleep causing me to type garbage

I think sleep aids are fine as long as they are sustainable. So you probably won't want to be rocking/feeding to sleep indefinitely, but something like ewan is fine. Really handy in fact, because he is portable. My 3yo still likes her musical lightbox thing and it causes no problem.

14 weeks!?!?!

I would have thought a child was perfectly allowed to keep Ewan until he stopped making a notice and fell apart.

DDs 16 year old DF still has the bear I gave her when she was born (he was a soft vellor one and he looks very scruffy)

Your DD may stop worrying about the noises, but she'll go on loving her sheep especially when she learns to work him herself.

Honestly relax, you are being very PFB.

I second what fruit salad says. Exactly true in my experience. It's things like feeding to sleep which can be tricky to wean baby off. White noise, Comforters. Fantastic.

Only unusual for my 3 kids then.

Btw. My two year old one day out of the blue said no to the white noise. Still likes her blanket and teddy. Great for holidays and trips in the car and pram when you want then to take usual naps.

merry we're aiming for three hours of naps a day ('the book' suggests a minimum of this but that's probably pfb of me too!) so don't think it's too much. She's usually whacked by 1800 ish and sleeps like a statue until her first waking at 0030/0100 ish. You and notso sound like seasoned pros so thanks for the encouragement.
flossy ewan the dream sheep is cuddly sheep who has hooves which when pressed play different sounds (for 20 mins I think): womb, heartbeat, white nosie and a tune. He also has a red womb like light. Bit creepy looking with big eyes: www.amazon.co.uk/Easidream-Ewan-the-Dream-Sheep/dp/B0040JSN7Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372941922&sr=8-1&keywords=ewan+the+sheep
stormy hello! small mn world. I will ask plonk. couldn't recall any of us having one. Having asked our dear pn thread about the ethics of leaving a content baby we jumped right on that and it has served us well in the 0600/0700 slot until now. Also, the 'chat' escalates after a while to crying. Which either Ewan or my boob solves.
bingo sedgie fruit I think from what I've read I think we'll continue with Ewan. It's good to check in with the grounded wisdom of people who have done this before.

Thank you all. And bring on the day when DD can indeed reach out and tickle his hooves herself :-)

Sorry merry wasn't meaning to be confrontational... Just jealous, perhaps!

Glad you decided to keep Ewan - but stop reading books, you'll just end up worrying about daft things!

It's normal for young babies to randomly start waking in the night again, they're normally on a growth spurt and want extra milk.

Bingo, no need to be jealous. My twins used to wake at least 2-3x per night (each) until they were past 18 months. They always had a good yell and wanted a good drink though. Can't imagine chatting in middle of night!

We love Ewan and DS is 7 months. I think it's fine - in fact it's a good sleep cue because he is a) portable, b) replaceable, c) semi-independent (once he's on you can leave, and eventually the child can turn him on themselves), and d) very simple for anyone else to operate as well (e.g. no special stroking technique known only to Mummy and Daddy).

In fact, we now send Ewan to all new parents we know.