DS has never been a great sleeper and is now going through the 4-mo sleep regression. Much of the night waking up every 1.5 hours (sometimes more often, sometimes he goes longer), and very alert when he goes down even when almost asleep at bedtime or after night feeds.
He's not dependent on the dummy for sleep generally, but it's the only way I can get him to soothe to sleep in his cot. Problem is that as soon as it falls out he's awake, meaning lots of intervention from me needed. Tried avoiding it to get him to sleep in his cot but meltdown - he can cry for ages even if I soothe. Also tried Pantley's gentle removal method - v. difficult but maybe need to persevere (or is now not the time to try?).
The dummy is probably overall helping more than hindering right now, but the falling-out thing with restless sleep is a huge frustration. And I'm concerned about creating a dependence by relying on it now.
Worth just going with it? Or would I be better to try to avoid with the aim of helping him soothe to sleep totally independently in these restless periods? Not prepared to try cry-it-out.