4 month dd needing dummy to go back to sleep

[ENSMUM]

Our baby has a dummy only at night or if she has a nap in her cot during the day. It worked really well to get her to settle early on when we were having problems getting her to sleep on her own at all.

She goes to sleep fine when we put her down for the night and generally wakes for one feed in the night, so pretty good really. However, she keeps waking hourly from about 2.30 am and needing us to put her dummy back in to go to sleep.

Any tips on weaning her off the dummy? What age is a good age to do this? I know younger babies have a need to suck...how long does this last and when does it just become that they're in the habit of having a dummy? Will it get better if we just wait for her to be able to put it back in herself, or is it better to try and get rid early?

Thanks!

Had this with our DS (and probably DD too in a couple of weeks). DS went through a stage for a few months where he wanted/needed the dummy to settle again, but couldn't do it himself. Once he got the hang of it though life was easy and we've never struggled with his sleep (he happily goes off to bed every night at seven and sleeps a min of 11 hours).

I still haven't weaned him off it (20 months now) because of DD (5 months) having one in the house. But, given that he only uses it to get to sleep I don't think we're doing long term harm.

Hi Ensmum
We have spent the last 3 days debating a very similiar situation.
Our DS is 17 weeks....he hasn't been too bothered about a dummy (doesn't suck on it during the day) and we thought we were on top of things as he used it to help him get to sleep for naps and nighttime sleep - sometimes he would go down without it. We would either take it out of his mouth or it would fall out within half an hour of going to sleep and that was that.....
until 4 days ago! He has been waking really frequently looking for it....11 times last night!!
We are going to try and gently remove the need for the dummy because there is no way I can do this "dummy run" for the next few months. My understanding is that they won't really be able to locate and put the dummy back in on their own until about 10 months....eeek.
There is no way we can do any form of controlled crying with him as he is too little and so we are spending a little longer settling him, letting him self soothe and if he get fractious, putting the dummy in until he calms again and then removing it again. Basically this took an hour tonight but I am determined to gently wean him off.....
I found a link on MN to Elizabeth Pantley's technique called the Pantely Pull Off (sorry don't know how to do a link) and essentially this is what we are doing.....
good luck with whatever you decide to do!

PS I think the need to suck is for approx first 13 weeks

Thanks. Think we'll just carry on with it for now. Am finding having to wake a few times far less stressful than the prospect of dealing with her without it!

Hi. We have had this issue for the last two weeks with ds3 (16 weeks). After sleeping through from 7 ish to 7ish with a midnight dream feed he started waking around 2ish for his dummy and this would continue every half hour or so for the rest of the night. This coincided with us dropping his dream feed so you might think it was hunger but he is never ready for his morning bottle until at least 7.30am. I decided three nights ago to try wake to sleep. Instead of the dream feed (which he doesn't need or really want) I have been going into his room at around midnight (just before I go to bed) and waking him up for a few seconds, I wait until his eyes are fully open then I resettle him back to sleep with his dummy. It seems to somehow reset his body clock! The first morning he woke at 5 and the last two he has woken at 7! Apparently you are meant to do this for 3-5 nights then they should sleep through without you waking them. I am not convinced of this yet and as it is a minute of a job before I go to bed and he is not upset by it, I am going to continue it for a while. I know it's only been 3 nights but it seems to work! Also, I am reluctant to get rid of the dummy because it is much harder to get him to sleep in the day and the dummy really helps with this.

Oh the dummy! Best and worst thing we ever did!
DD (now 20 weeks) is a terrible sleeper and has NEVER slept for more than 3.5hrs her whole little life! sob.
I have been doing the Pantley pull-off for weeks (since about 11/12 weeks) and she will happily let me remove the dummy quite soon after she starts to settle - but still wakes several times a night and has never gone down without it. I love the way Pantley brushes over from 'just take it out' when they are sleepy to saying that suddenly they will fall asleep without it ????? I'm sure the waking is more than just the dummy as she has always been so bad, but I'm also sure that it's not really helping now that it is a prop rather than a comfort.
Been thinking for a while that cold turkey is the only way to go but had to get rid of the swaddle first and can't bear to do both together! Just when I think things can't get any worse..........................