My little boy is 13 months. Should I introduce a dummy to help him sleep?! Or is that crazy?!

[Nickname1980]

My little boy is 13 months and doesn't sleep through the night. I stopped breastfeeding about 6 weeks ago and now he takes a bottle happily. But through the night, he wants a bottle for the comfort of it. His sleep is so disturbed!

I am tempted to give him a dummy at night. Is that madness at this age?! He had one when he was a newborn but rejected it by about 4 months on his own.

I really very much doubt you would be able to at 13 months old, comforters are usually already established by then. It would be difficult and unlikely to introduce a dummy at past 6 months, so past 12 months you could give it a go, but I wouldn't hold much hope for establishing it as a source of comfort.

Having said that, I see that he did have a dummy previously so you may stand a better chance of him accepting it as a comfort.

You can but try.

Thanks FATEdestiny - I hadn't really thought about it like that - I think his only comforter habits are bottles... Eek!

It there a reason why you introduced a bottle at this age? You do relizse that they are not recommended past 12months. I do know many carry on with them once the habit is formed but they really aren't good for teeth especially if they contain milk or juice.

I'd say the same goes for a dummy really, I'd be going down the route of comforters like teddy's/snuggles at this age. Dummy's are not good for teeth either and to introduce one now seems a bit madness if he doesn't already have one.

He was already happy with bottles MigGril from expressed milk/bits of formula during the time I was breastfeeding. I would love to get him off them and onto sippy cups but I am just so keen to get him to sleep through the night that it feels like another battle!

Any tips on how to get him to show an interest in a teddy as a comforter? He just pushes them away when I try and sneak one under his arm!

Honestly, I would just love for him to sleep through... Or just sleep more than a 3-hr stretch (his maximum lately)! Haha!