Don't fix what isn't broke?

[NoSnotAllowed]

Hi, I'm hoping you could give me your opinions on my boys sleeping habits...

DS1 is 2.2 and uses a dummy for naps and bedtime. He never has them during the day and doesn't ask for them unless he's in bed. He sleeps for 2 hours during the day and 12 hours at night.

Should I take the dummies away now or leave him be?

DS2 is 10 months. He is rocked to sleep in my arms and put down asleep in his cot. He sleeps for 2-3 hours during the day and 12 hours at night unless he's teething.

Should I sleep train him to fall asleep in his own or carry on rocking?

I know they will have to fall asleep by themselves without props eventually, but if it's still working do I just carry on and enjoy the sleep? Or will it make it harder in the long run?

What d'ya reckon?

Does ds1 have his dummy in all the time while asleep, or only while falling asleep? I'd be a bit concerned if he keeps it in all night about the effect on his teeth. So I probably would try to do something about that.

ds2, if he mostly naps well and sleeps all night I wouldn't dare mess tbh. I sleep trained my dd to be able to fall asleep on her own, but she still needs rocking etc when teething so I'm not sure sleep training would improve your position re ds2, his sleep sounds fab. he'll probably grow out of it naturally - you could try very very gradually cutting down the amount of rocking but I wouldn't do more than that.

DS1 didn't do the falling to sleep by himself thing until he was 3 years old - he was just ready for it.

We didn't have to fight for it or have nights of crying or sobbing. We used to always read him stories then sit in the dark with him until he fell asleep. As he was approaching 3 we started suggesting that maybe we could go down after stories and we'd ask him if that was okay. After a few weeks of us making the suggestions one night he said he wanted to go to sleep without us there, and he's done it ever since.

Just wanted to put that out there so you can see that the end of props doesn't have to be horrendous or horrific - if what you're doing is working now and no harm is being done, I wouldn't worry.

DS1 was always rocked/nursed to sleep as a baby, then as he got older (about 2) and stopped nursing (or nursed briefly before sleep) we'd do stories with him then sit until he fell asleep (sometimes 45 minutes, sometimes it would take 90 minutes.

I can't see such brief use of a dummy causing your eldest son any harm. What you might want to do is start suggesting to him that when he is older and ready for it he might want to give his dummy up - then you could sporadically ask him if he wants to give it up, this might get him thinking about it. I know some friends who's kids had bedtime dummies until they were 5 (their teeth and speech were fine), others use the 'fairy dummy' to get their toddlers to give it up - so there are lots of 'soft' approaches you could start trying now, if there is no rush he might give it up in his own time.