Dummy and sleep. Confused about what's best to do!

[ScarletBegonia1234]

My 20 week old ds is ebf and until a couple of weeks ago had to be fed to sleep at night and for naps, though he does sleep fine in pram/car etc too. This was fine by me although I was worried it may lead to issues in the future when it comes to night weaning.

Well the 4 month sleep regression hit and as well as the more frequent waking etc feeding to sleep has completely stopped working! This led to a nightmare few days of finding alternatives to help him sleep as he still isn't self soothing...though he has done it a few times. Currently different things work on different nights and we are getting by on a combination of shushing patting rubbing rocking etc. He never liked a dummy before but it seems to work best the couple of times I've tried it.

Which brings me to my question...would I be silly to introduce a dummy at this late stage even though it works? I suppose I am wondering whether it is better to manage without it so he learns to fall asleep on his own rather then with a different sleep aid...although the bit of me that wants an easy life rationalises that 2 weeks ago he needed boob to sleep sothe dummy is an improvement!

Sorry this is so long would appreciate people's opinions!

If it works I'd give the dummy, but then I am a bit of a dummy fan! Little babies who can fall asleep on their own are vanishingly rare- most need something, be it a comforter, white noise, rocking/motion, boob/bottle or dummy/thumb. Of those I reckon the dummy's the best, they're cheap, portable, easily replaced (unlike a special teddy), you have control over it's use (unlike a thumb) and you don't have to be there. Don't do rocking, your back will actually break .

OP in a similar position with my 20 week DS too! Although he tends to still feed to sleep at night. Wish he would take a dummy though, he only does occasionally. I say go for it if it works.

We introduced a dummy around that time with DD1 and it was a godsend. She'd been waking every 45 mins and it took us back to 1-2 wake ups a night. On the down side she still has it for sleeps at 22 months.

If its all that works i would use it but try to remove it once he is fully asleep so you don't get the dripped dummy/scream for it every few hours through the night nonsense in a few months. If white noise /radio/night light etc works instead I'd go with that first.
Mine were both thumb suckers at that age but stopped on their own over the following few months I've have the same aim with a dummy.

Thanks everyone! He tends to spit it out within a few minutes (and actually it was no help at all at 4am this morning -typical!)

I think I will carry on offering it along with all the other things I am doing! Am hoping his sleep gets better again soon!

I introduced a dummy at 5 months. Wish I'd done it sooner. It's transformed sleep. I try to keep it for sleep only but sometimes pop it in if he's whinging or grizzly in the daytime but remove it as soon as he seems settled. He has a sleepy tot too for bedtime which helps them to find the dummy in the night and is supposed to help when you take the dummy away for good so they've got something left that they're familiar with. I must say though after reading all the reviews of this is the best thing ever, no more sleepless nights, it hasn't been as successful as that but sometimes he does find it and replaces the dummy himself but there are times we are up putting it in for him but it's usually around 5am and he does go back to sleep until 6/6.30 so the dummy has definitely helped. It really helps him to settle for naps and bedtime though so this in itself is a great help. Problem is, he's dependent on it now but I'm just taking sleep as much as I can get at the moment and we will deal with the dependence later.....