Would you ditch the dummy? Constant night waking

[Josie123]

DS is just 6mo and has never slept all night. He does a decent stretch normally at the start (normally 7pm-2am ish) and then is unsettled after that. Whenever he wakes he is unsettled I am just lucky some nights its 4am rather than 1am! Feeding him doesnt settle him, it never has, but I do it on the off chance he is hungry. I have tried calpol to no avail so don't think he is in pain.

He has a dummy and I put this in and he goes over but only for 30-40 mins then I am up and down putting it in all night. He is not properly awake just looking for the dummy I think.

A friend today said I need to get rid of the dummy and after a few days of hell he will be able to self settle in the night and I shouldn't have to be up and down.

I am just scared of ditching his comforter as he loves his dummy and has it in the day for sleeps.

We are away at Butlins next week so I won;t do anything til we are back but what do you think?

Oh and he is on 3 small meals a day now and Goodnight Milk for his last bottle but no change yet.

Same here!

I am going to get brave soon and ditch it, if it wasn't for the bloody dummy I'm certain I would get a full night! Lots of friends have said that the crying will only last 2 days. I went cold turkey with my DS favourite dummy. He cried for 2 hours with the new one but guess what... next day it was all fine. Give it ago and let me know how you get on! :)

Thanks for replying but sorry you are at the same stage as me! I am so scared of the nights of hell!! If I knew it would work and I was going to get a full night;'s sleep I would do it now!! My DS1 who is now 7 had a dummy until he was 3 (night times only from 18mo) and I don't remember having to be up and down putting it in with him which is why I had no qualms about DS2 having one.

He went to sleep at 6.30 and has just been crying so DH went up and put the dummy in - he does this now and then early evening but eventually goes off for a few hours. Its the next awakening I dread, I literally feel my stomach drop when I hear him cry out.

I will be doing it next weekend after Butlins (unless by some miracle I decide to do it there!! after all his routine will be cocked up by the shows etc, he won;t be in bed at 6.30 as I am not sitting in the room all night). I will definitely let you know. Its nice to have some virtual moral support!

How old is your little one?

He is 8.5 months.

I'm in exactly the same position as you - bedtime usually between 6:30pm - 7pm, probably have to go in for dummy duties about 3 times between 7-11. Feed him at 11pm then he'll sleep fine till 4am, then I'm usually in and out about 3 times till he wakes up!

Hope you get some success

Definitely sounds like the dummy is the issue. I would go for short-term pain and hope he grasps self-settling quickly. It should be easier to take the dummy away now rather than when he is older I reckon.

you lot are very brave, my DD is a nightmare without a dummy! i just put about 5 in her cot so that she can find one when she needs it :)

We ditched the dummy about a month ago with DD (now 6 months) and it was a couple of bad nights but after that she was fine and it wasn't the whole night, just the initial settling. Naps I found much harder and with hindsight would not have done both at the same time, IYSWIM. Good luck, it is totally worth it :)