Dummy weaners - how long does it take?

[ratfly]

Well we HAVE to wean ds off his, as he is waking 2 hourly at night for it [bloody knackered emoticon]

So, how long does it take until they go down easily without it? Ds goes down in a few minutes at each naptime after his dummy is inserted, so how long will it take to get to that stage without it?

I'm asking as I'm trying to work out the best time to do it. I want to start at a weekend so DH can help at night, but we are going away next Thursday, with babysitters Thurs - Sun night. I don't want to unduly stress them out!

I'm wondering whether to do it this weekend (with 5 full days to do it), or wait til the weekend after we get back - not sure if I can go that long while so sleep deprived!

How old is he? DD just grew out of hers naturally and once they get to about six months they can find and reinsert it anyway.

He is 6 months. But we swaddle him at night otherwise he scratches his eczema to bits.
At the minute there is no question of getting rid of the swaddle, though we will do it as soon as we get a handle on his eczema...

Blimey we couldn't keep DD in her swaddle beyond four months - have you tried sleeping bags?

If you really do feel you need to wean him off his dummy perhaps the easiest way is to help him find his thumb. Thumbs rarely get lost.

The worst eczema is on his face, so if he can get his thumb he can also scratch / rub.

We are trying to get the eczema under control and break the itch/scratch cycle, so letting him get his thumb isn't an option at the mo..

i played a game with both dc that i would aeroplane the dummy into their mouth....but when they tried to put it into mine i gave a yuk noise and screwed my face up, it took about a week with both of them but they stopped having their dummies through it and the where 6 months

Hmm that is a tricky one.

DD just spontaneously stopped using hers at 6 months (she only got it at 4 so she wasn't a long term user anyway).

Are you sure he's waking for the dummy though and it's not a growth spurt?

Sorry I can't help you more - DD 9 months has taken to waking every two hours as well but she's teething again.

suzie - love the aeroplane idea! Not sure if ds would put the dummy in my mouth as he doesnt like to give it up! I might try the yuk thing though as a precursor to weaning...

bbbn - I dont think it's a growth spurt, as he isnt drinking more than usual, unless it is entirely broccoli based..

Re: eczema, we have the same problem with DS but we put him to bed in sleeping bag and scratch mitts (we never swaddled him). This seems to stop the worst of the scratching, although he does have a habit of losing one glove during the night!

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as the best course as my LO does wake multiple times a night, but you never know, it might work for you as your LO might be able to find his dummy with gloves on.

The other thing I can suggest is taking the dummy out as your DS falls asleep, that way he won't wake when it falls out IYSWIM. I do this with mine for naps.

Re: losing scratch mitts

You could try Next baby grows. They have a double cuff thing - took me ages to work it out but this is actually an integral scratch mitt [bit slow emoticon].