Dummy dependency

[CarlyRose80]

Any tips or advice as to how to remove a dummy from a 5 month old. Since the beginning of this month he's woke constantly every night near on every hour, sometimes more. He's had the very odd night he's slept without waking but only once or twice.
It's the dummy he wakes for as he pops it out once asleep, I know this as we've eliminated everything else.
Please help as its like having a new born again. He used to sleep quite well only waking once or twice.

I reckon you've got two choices. You carry on letting him have his dummy or he goes cold turkey. I really can't see any other solutions. Unfortunately, a five month old is still very dependent on a dummy. Dentists and health professionals agree that you should be getting a kid of the dummy by 12 months and I think removing it at five months will be traumatic for him. Unfortunately as he's waking up every night, because he's lost it, you're in a pickle. Having said that, before much longer he'll be able to find it himself, after he's spit it out. I suppose I've not been much help, sorry and good luck.

Have you seen the Sleepytot bunny? We made our own with about 3cm of ribbon sewn on to a teddy in a loop that we could attach the dummy onto. Problem solved! We then took the dummy away, cold turkey, at 12 months. That gave us a few awful nights but we haven't looked back since.

Thanks. Its really hard to know what to do but these constant night wakings are a nightmare. Not one night has passed in nearly 3 weeks now where he's not woken at least once an hour from around 12am, I don't want to upset him by taking it away and he's still it able to put it in himself/find it etc.... Maybe I just see it through till he's old enough to pop it in himself.

Every baby is different and every mum's appetite to let the baby cry for a bit is different but with my daughter I just went cold turkey at about 7.5 months and put all the dummies away. We had tears for a few days then the dummies were completely forgotten.

We bought a sleepytot rabbit (from eBay). Then my 4 month old learnt to find the rabbit and stick his own dummy back in. Sleep problem solved!

We had exactly this with DD1 at 6 months - she went from sleeping 11-7 to waking 5 times a night for the dummy. We went cold turkey and although she did cry at bedtime on two nights, she then went back to never waking up again - bliss. It's definitely hard for a day or two, but for us, and for her, it was totally worth it. Good luck.

Thanks again. Sleepy tot sounds good if I can get LO to get the hang of finding him and putting own dummy back in. His aim is not great at the moment lol.

When the sleepytot rabbit first arrived I gave it to DS to play with during the day a few times so he could learn how to do it in good light and whilst wide awake. I was amazed how quickly he worked it out.

Good luck!