Help! Can't settle!

[Lisa9180]

I'm looking for some advice asap. My daughter is 14 weeks old and a few weeks back we decided that she needed to get used to sleeping in her basket.....cue total meltdowns. It once took me 2 hours to get her down for a nap!! I don't think the issue was the basket, it was the fact she couldn't soothe herself to sleep. I then introduced the dummy and it calmed her but as the weeks are progressing, every time it falls out she wakes up crying, I put it back in and this is repeated 7-8x. On Monday I had had enough and went cold turkey. As predicted she's really unsettled. It's taking me a while to get her down in the day (20-30 mins) but in the night she wakes up and can't settle herself. I've no idea what to do! We have a great bedtime routine and she will sleep from 7pm-1pm, then from 1 I struggle with her. It's only in the last couple of weeks this has started. Is it too early to go cold turkey? Should I just keep using it knowing I'll be up and down? She is finding her fingers but it doesn't seem enough to soothe her! Help!!

What did you do before the basket? Co-sleep? Go back to what you were doing before she was like this.
Sounds like shes coming to a growth spurt and needs more comfort so give her it instead of imposing strict routines x

Is she hungry?

and I second what pp has said...

Why such a strict routine?

She fell asleep on us then went into basket.
She's fallen into that routine, always sleeps from 7-1.
Any advice on dummy use?

SIDS advice is that if using a dummy it should be used consistently for all sleeps until baby is over 6 months. There is some evidence that using a dummy reduces the risk of SIDS but only when used consistently.

Personally I would probably relax a bit about trying to get her to sleep in her basket, she's still really little! You could try pick up, put down if you wanted to persevere?

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/file/Fact-Sheet-Dummies.pdf

Are you feeding her when she wakes at night? At 14 weeks she is very possibly hungry.
No experience of dummy but I understand from friends it is a case of putting it back in until they can do it themselves

You seem to want to have your cake and eat it OP.

Babies need comfort. So you could

(a) be your baby's source of comfort (holding/rocking/feeding to sleep). This is usually the easiest solution, but most relent reliant on your time and presence.

Or

(b) work on independant sleep so baby goes sleep in a "hands off" way. This needs requires yoir time and effort to establish and usually involves dummy, swaddle, pushchair/bouncer naps.

Regarding dummy - you may need to hold ut in for an over tired baby, until into a deep sleep when jaw muscles relax and it is no longer needed (until next wake up).

Sounds like you have unrealistic expectations about both self settling and dummy use.

Thanks for the advice everyone