Dummy use - ds so much more settled now I have taken it away

[mower]

Ds 5 months was such an unsettled baby for first few months so gave him a dummy which helped to sooth him.

Since he has been about 4 months he kept putting his hands up and knocking it out and crying so much with frustraion. The crunch came sunday night when I was up nearly every hour to put dummy back in so got rid of it and ds is now a dream!

He used to cry and knock out dummy so much during his day naps but now as soon as I put him down he sucks his thumb all I can hear is his little sucking noises and he is fast asleep and naps for longer as doesn't wake up wondering where dummy is.

Just wanted to share this as I was so worried about getting rid of dummy but has turned out to be so much easier than I thought!

mower- my DS was exactly the same - we took his dummy off him at about 4 months and he slept LOADS better.

The same applies when they are older too. Took ds dummy away when he turned 2 and after a couple of unsettled nights he's fine and I am sure he actually sleeps better without a dummy. I'm sure it was a distraction as much as an aid to sleeping. He is being a bit of a sod about naps now though.

That's good to know (about dummy use). I always thought ds missed out a bit as we didn't give him a dummy (dh dead set against them so we decided not to use one if we didn't need to). I personally know they have their uses - my ds ended up using me (b/f) as his dummy, but there you go!

we've just got rid of the dummy at 9 mths - she's sleeping much better at night. it did have it's uses in the early days but she's more settled without now. just had to go cold turkey in the end. i think she'd forgotten about it in 3 days!

Hi dcb!! How are you?? I'd been without computer for 3 weeks cos we moved house, but have one now - thank god!

To add to the thread - We got rid of dummy when we did controlled crying a couple of months back and I've found it's the same. I thought it was just my ds - he's been a lot more settled and happier - although it had been really, really useful. I'd always been so worried about how we would wean him off it, especially as I can see my cousin struggling to wean their 2 and a half year old off the dummy..

i found the same. Initially i didn;t want to ds to have a dummy but found it great as a way of soothinghim, and finding out if he was hungry or just wanted to suck something! We were exactly the same as mower- running in every 5 minutes to put his dummy back in when it fell out and it got to 5 months and we were sick of it! He was a terible sleeper and we wree so tired it was untrue. So we braced ourselves and threw them all out! The first couple of nights were tough but after that it was fantastic and in the last month he has been so much better! Actually sleeping all night with only one feed. It's heaven!

so good to read this as i've just had another night from hell, when my ds2 woke every 10-30 mintues from 3am till morning wanting his dummy. didn't use one with ds1 as he sucked his fingers biut ds2 never tried, but had reflux and never settled so we gave in. how on earth do you get him to give it up? would be so pleased to get rid of it.

we went cold turkey in the end - with lots more cuddling before sleep esp for daytime naps wth extra singing as a new cue for sleep - poor dd! i think she'd forgotten about it in 3-4 days. she's 9 mths so much easier to distract/play with during the day now, when before i would've prob given her a dummy. it's definitely been worth it.

Hi again dcb.. How are you and dd??

Does anyone get rid of it at night but keep it for the daytime naps? I want to get rid of my 11mth old dd's as we are constantly up through the night but I hate the thought of her crying at nursery.

AxelF - we tried that a few times but each time it ended up creeping back in. in the end they all went in the bin.

Hi Shish - long time no hear! we're not too bad at the moment. managing to get a 5-6 hr stretch most nights (fingers crossed - it always seems to go badly the minute i post on here...). we've had colds/conjunctivitis since i last posted with you and everything went the proverbial .... up. tied co-sleeping/cuddling/dummy/frequent feeding but was back to square minus 3! in the end we went back to cc and lost the dummy. seems to be ok at the moment - how about you?

We had something similar. Ds got flu a couple of days before we were due to move and the nights went a little backwards. we gave him a couple of weeks to recover and to get used to him being in his own room and had to do cc again. It took 6 nights this time and he sleeps for 10-11 hours each night now.