I worry I've made our baby much more dependent on a dummy than is good for his or my sleep. He is 3.5 months. Since he was about 8 weeks we've been trying to be really consistent - put down sleepy but awake, white noise, dummy, hand on chest. At night also a swaddle with one arm out. But now he won't go to sleep without the dummy which also means if he rouses in the night he can't fall back asleep at all.
The thing is I think he's got a strong sleep association with the dummy that goes beyond his need to suck. He wants me to hold it in his mouth but he doesn't necessarily suck on it at all - if he does, it's mostly sort of paddling it with his tongue without actually making a vacuum and sucking properly. So if he's properly awake I have to hold it there for ages, because otherwise it falls out as he is hardly sucking it.
What should I do?
Tonight he's woken four times in the last 90 mins needing his dummy putting back in, fortunately he has gone back to sleep quickly each time so far. On other nights the waking might be much longer. Occasionally he still sleeps soundly between his night feeds!
(For context, daytime naps are short but frequent with about 90 mins awake time. He is bf with a formula dreamfeed that DH does. At night he is in a sleep nest thing inside a crib sidecar'd to our bed. He has two night feeds, the problem is when he wakes not hungry.)