Dummy/Multiple Night Wakings

[octoberfarm]

Hi all,

LO is due to turn 6 months in a couple of weeks, and has so far been a pretty disastrous sleeper. We finally managed to get to the point where he'd wake in the night a few times but could be resettled with a dummy pretty easily until he woke up actually hungry for a feed at 2-4, and that seemed to be working okay.

Now though, he's waking up sometimes ten times a night for the dummy and won't go back down unless I pop it in, but then we get stuck in a ridiculous cycle of him spitting it out four or five times over the next half an hour until finally he drifts off again.

He's not bad at self settling at bedtime and after his feed with some gentle sshing and lullabies, but the dummy situation is getting me down as I'm barely getting any decent sleep between the stretches. I don't think he's hungry as he's started solids and is having a good meal before bedtime, I think maybe he's just a bit uncomfortable.

Has anyone been through similar and cracked removing the dummy/got any other advice? So, so tired!

I got rid of my DD dummy at four and a half months as I couldn’t handle the multiple wakings, on the last night she had it I must have put it back in at least 15 times. I just went cold turkey, wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought!

Sounds ridiculous and you've probably tried it.. but have you put the dummy in baby's hands in the day and encouraged it to their mouth? My partner used to do this all the time during the day with our DS and he grasped how to pick up the dummy himself and put it in during the night. I leave about 4 dummies in his cot so he can hopefully find one in the night. He still wakes up and I often have to go in and give him a dummy but it definitely helps when they can find it and do it themselves!

Thanks so much for replying. I've tried teaching him how to find it himself but he hasn't got the coordination at the moment, so tried going cold turkey last night but it was a bit of a disaster - ended up feeding him 4 times rather than the usual 1 as nothing else would settle him Did you have any luck finding alternative ways to get your LO to go back down easily during the night?

So tired and feeling a bit helpless.

Hi, Try looking up a sleeptot. It's a small cuddly toy (we have a bunny) and it's arms and legs allow you to Velcro dummies to them.

We had 4 dummines on our little ones bunny and he could find bunny, and then his dummies, much easier than finding a dummy alone.

Then when it was time for him to give up his dummy it was quite an easy transition as he still had bunny as a comfort.... he still loves his bunny now at almost 3.

Hope this helps x

Another recommendation for a sleepytot. Total life saver!

Also can you split the dummy runs with your partner if that's all it needs to settle him?

If the dummy didn't settle him, I just stayed with him until he got sleepy. Sometimes I hold his hand gently or just me being there is enough.. but he can either fall asleep quickly or it can take hours! Do what's right for you if it means you can get some sleep