5 week old and dummy use for evening sleep...Advice please

[dibley30]

I've been having trouble with getting my 5 week old off to sleep in the evenings - during the day he will nap in his car seat, buggy, lounge and for good periods of time and feeds at pretty much the same time every 3 - 4 hours every day. When he gets to sleep, he'll go down for good periods of time.

I've been advised by the HV/doctor etc that he's "colicky" and that the evening is "his time" and that there isn't much you can do to deal with it other than ride it out for the next couple of months and manage as best you can.

I've posted on here about the sleep thing already but wanted some advice re dummies. When he's having one of "those" evenings, he is pretty much inconsolable either being carried or cuddled and cries through it for several hours. I was advised by friends to try a dummy who have experienced similar problems.(I'm not breastfeeding so don't have that issue to think about) and have so far been very reluctant to try it - but have done now as I have been getting exhausted by the crying at a time when you're in need of a rest!

Tonight is not a good evening, I've brought him down after getting him "ready for bed" (so to speak) and trying to get him down in his cot where he usually sleeps, but to no avail. I've now put him in the moses basket with the dummy in. One thing I'm confused about and so that I know - he is sucking on the dummy and at least he is now calm, on his back with eyes closed, rather than red, sweaty and thrashing around but he just continually sucks on the dummy (yes I know that's what they do with a dummy !!) and I'm told that they will spit it out when they fall asleep. He does seem to be "asleep" fairly quickly and then if he either spits the dummy out or it falls out, it takes a few minutes but he then realises that it's not there and this seems to wake him up and we're back to square one. Is this the way it works with the dummy ? Just so that I know so that I know what to expect !! If so, I would still rather that he is calm and sucking than distressed, These episodes don't happen every evening (although getting him off to sleep is always an issue, it is just that some nights are worse than others) so we'll see !

When he falls asleep without a dummy, he will usually drop off for a few hours... I suppose it just seems that he's not really asleep when he's got it in?

Thanks and sorry for the rambling !

oh bless him. it does sound like he's not properly asleep with the dummy I agree - maybe because of the pain? I also agree that what works works - he may not be sleeping well but at least he's not screaming. have you tried any colic remedies? massage used to help dd a bit, and also my cutting right back on dairy (I was breastfeeding). Spanish women swear by fennel tea (which I also drank so I guess may have helped dd a bit). also moving the times of his feeds slightly may help.

i had a similar problem with dd1 at about the same age - no sleep at night but seemed very good at it during the day. in the end my hv told me that if i didn't go buy a dummy she would get one for me - so i did. i had the same though - she fell asleep v quickly with it in her mouth but then it kept falling out and she'd wake up then fall asleep then it fall out, then wake up - you get the idea. anyway, what time are you putting him to bed? i found with both my dds that i was trying to get them to go to bed too early and certainly with dd1 who was a colic MONSTER that she was better going to bed at about the same time as me and dh cos then the colic appeared to be easier and she went down better. also after 5 days she spat the dummy out and put her thumb in which was great and alot easier...good luck - the colic thing is horrid, horrid, horrid at the time, but they DO grow out of it in the end...

Hello
Thanks for the messages. I do try to get him upstairs by around 5.45 - 6 and down to sleep by 6.30 - otherwise I think he gets overtired and that too is fatal. When in a good mood, he will be cajoled into sleep and put down when semi awake and then go off. When we've had evenings like this before, he'll then go down no problem at 10.30.
I've tried Cranial Osteopathy and have been twice now - going back next week. He takes Aptimil Formula which I've been advised to continue with. We've tried Infacol which I think I'll go back to using.

I did buy some Dr Brown bottles on Tuesday and used them yesterday. He went down last night and we had quite a calm afternoon - not like the two nights before. My husband thinks they don't make any difference, but he gets quite sleepy sucking on those bottles as they have to work a bit harder and I think calms him down - otherwise he sucks fast and furious !!

...its so difficult finding your feet with your first isn't it - everything is so new and personally i got really confused by what i should do so many times. keep going dibley x