Dummies- blessing or a curse!?

[Mamaro]

I have a 6 week old and we introduced a dummy in the first couple of weeks as it helped my husband to settle him to sleep. I usually just fed him to sleep. He slept reasonably well for a newborn- woke twice for a feed and went back down- often with a 4 hour stretch at the start of the night. Since last week (when he was 5 weeks old) I’ve been giving him his dummy to settle in the night as he really loves it and goes to sleep with it. But I’m now finding he sleeps in 45 min/1 hour bursts and I have to either put the dummy back in or feed him (of course I am fine with feeding him when he needs it!). I’m just finding that he doesn’t get into a sleep deep enough to sleep past 45 mins!!!

I can’t decide whether the dummy is to blame as admittedly we are using it more and more to help settle him (I also have a toddler so don’t have time to settle him on a boob or hold him for every sleep). But waking up so often every night is staring to feel impossible and he’s seeming agitated in the night as it seems like he wants to stay sleeping for longer!

Im wondering for those who use dummies- do your babies go to sleep using it and sleep for longer stretches than 45-60 mins? And if so I’m wondering if it’s worth sticking with the dummy in the hope that his sleep settles into longer stretches again as I am aware 6 weeks can be a particularly fussy time. Or if people find they have to put the dummy back in loads all night!?

Any thoughts/experiences welcome 🙏🏻

For us, a dummy was a last resort because he really struggled with his skin conditions for the first 6 months or so, and it was one of the few things that seemed to genuinely sooth him

Then it became just a bed time thing. We reduced using it during the day to never, and he associated it only as a part of the bed time routine.

It never caused him to wake up in the night though.. and unless he was poorly, he didn't need the dummy to go back to sleep if he was already half asleep, so perhaps that is unrelated? Plenty of kids without dummies go through phases where they struggle to sleep.

We removed it complelty after his 2nd birthday. He was heavily into toy cars then, so I ordered a cheap bulk pack of 30 online. Put them on a shelf. One for every night with no dummy. First night was perfect, then 2-5 were a little hard. Dummy was easily forgotten complelty way before he got all the cars, and he has never mentioned it again since.

I know bribary is often looked down on, but it worked like magic.

You'll get strong opinions on dummies, but sometimes they are better than the alternative.

Blessing for us. I thought anyone saying it would confuse him when he was cluster feeding was just absolute waffle. A hungry baby will let you know when they need milk and I trusted my instincts.

Breastfed until 2 years old and the dummy was a godsend for a baby and toddler who suffered respiratory issues. The dummy soothed him through the worst of times. We didn’t take it off him for that reason but he had it only for sleeping, especially after the age of one, and otherwise only when he was unwell and needed the comfort. It was a god send.

After he dropped naps he was only using it to fall asleep at night, so maybe 10 minutes or so of dummy a day as it would fall out in his sleep. He gave up breastfeeding at 2 on his own, and the dummy just before he turned 3 on his own with no input from us. We just never mentioned it again.

I used a dummy for all my children and they were brilliant sleepers, even at an early age and easy to settle. Once asleep, they did not wake up unless needing a feed even when the dummy fell out.

They never had the dummy when awake, only at nap times, in the cot or pram so I think associated them with sleep. They did try to sneak them out sometimes though and I had to put them back!

They were removed by the “Dummy Fairy” on their second birthday without a problem, my third child had given up using one before then.

Blessing for us and DD decided they weren’t for her when she was just over 18months (thankful for this as didn’t want to deal with taking her soothie away!!)