Safe to remove dummy at 4 months?

[NauseousNancy]

Hi

My little one is 19 weeks old, and uses a dummy to sleep. However for the last few weeks she has been waking constantly during the night for it, sometimes every 45 minutes.

I have been trying to go cold turkey, but have just read that it increases the chances of SIDS?

Anyone have any experience/advice on this?

Thanks!

It's an increase SIDS risk before 6 months.

The problem almost certainly won't be the dummy at this age. The dummy only helps with going to sleep, frequent wakes will have a different cause.

My little one never had a dummy and was waking every 45 mins at that age. I think taking it away will cause MORE problems!

Get a sleepytot bear.

Thanks for the responses.

Open to any advice as to what could be causing the frequent night wakings?

Are you bf? If you are you're baby is probably trying to increase your supply for a growth spurt

It will be a sleep regression or combo of both. I would feed as much as possible - you’ll find it’s a phase and will pass x

Being a baby is causing it! Sorry to be glib but there is simply no way of knowing 'what' is causing it and even if you knew, no way to fix it really either. Time will sort it all out! And maybe some night next week or next month, the pattern will change again. In the meantime I'd feed as much as possible in the day and get a sleepytot for the dummy. Baby will soon be able to reach for it themselves so might as well have one now as a comforter.

No, not bf. She has about 4 8oz bottles a day - every four hours. I've tried a dream feed at night, and increasing the size of her bottles but she just brings it back up.

I know babies sometimes do just wake, however she is just so tired and cranky because of it. This has been going on for about 4.5 weeks...is that normal for a regression?

Thanks for all the help.

Sounds like sleep regression to me.

I don't believe in regression, I call it progression😉

But that all sounds normal.

It will be the four month sleep regression. Sleep expert Sarah Hockwell has a graph which shows that baby's sleep is not linear. It's totally normal and there are lots of regressions to come. Which you will get through. I'm in the seven month one now and feel your pain but I can't bear any crying out suggestions so we're riding with it knowing he'll sleep eventually

Here is said graph pp mentioned

She has about 4 8oz bottles a day - every four hours. I've tried a dream feed at night, and increasing the size of her bottles but she just brings it back up

I very much doubt her stomach size could physically fit more than 8oz in one go in it. Is she draining 8oz bottles? 4 8oz bottles is 32oz over 12 hours. Make then 3 hourly instead (7, 10, 1, 4, 7) and you get 5 8oz bottles so 40oz over 24 hours.

Also make sure baby is well winded and sleeps well in the day. When are daytime naps?

Goodness that graph made my heart sink! So it can get worse...!!

FATE I did try 8oz bottles every three hours and she spent a lot of the day being sick and didn't sleep any better. She has reflux - is on carobel and rinitidine, but it's not her usual 'grunting' at night so I am fairly sure it's not reflux bothering her.

Naps are sketchy. Today, she woke up 7.30 and has a bottle. Went back down about 9am, slept till around 11. Bottle at 11.30, back down around 12.45 until 1.45. This sleep was quite disturbed. She was awake until her next bottle at 3.30, then slept from 4.30 till 5.

She will usually sleep ok in the morning nap, then gets worse. The past few days she has been having a big nap from 4.30 until 6.30/7, which I'm sure isn't great!

And yes, she usually drains the bottles. The only one she doesn't always finish is the one first thing in the morning.

Is she draining the 8oz bottles?

Crossed post. This is a very clear indication she needs more milk than the 8oz every 4 hours you are giving.

Baby should never be draining a bottle. You should always be offering at least 1oz more than baby will drink.

If you have a 4 m8nth old with an especially large volume stomach then maybe try 9oz. That would be an abnormally large volume for this age though.

The answer will come from more frequent feeds. So maybe tackle the vomiting and persevere. The reflux medication should help with the vomiting. And good winding.

.... Or if not more frequent feeds in the daytime, another able way to solve would be to add a couple of extra bottles through the night. Whichever is your preference, but baby needs more milk.

Thanks for your help. I will give the 8oz bottles every three hours a shot again!

Didn’t mean to make your heart sink OP! It’s not necessarily this way for all babies it just shows that it CAN go up and down. There’s definitely some good periods!

Thanks crazycatlady - it's positive to know that this is normal!!