Dummy issues 7 months

[MrsWeir1980]

My DS has been a rubbish sleeper since 4 months, we moved him into his own room a couple of weeks ago and found he was sleeping better which was helped by doing the Lucy Wolfe stay and support technique (im really not keen on cio methods). Recently hes becoming a nightmare again and i think the dummy is the issue. When we put him down he would normally be asleep with 15-20 mins however now its between 1hr - 1.5hrs as he pulls his dummy out then cries for it so when i put it back in he pulls it out again this goes on constantly until he gets so tired then as soon as it falls out naturally hes wide awake again! Ive tried not putting it back in but he either starts screaming or gets completely hyper and i cant settle him until i give it back. This issue is now happening between about 2-5am where he starts pulling it out and cries for it and its taking an hour to settle him.
Ive tried a comforter but hes never been fussed for it

He only ever has the dummy for naps and bedtime but im thinking i need to try and get rid, anyone have any tips for a baby that wont settle without it?

No advice but hoping for some!
DS has only recently taken a dummy to settle for naps and nighttime but since I’ve stopped swaddling him, he’s much more interested in self soothing with his hands, so pulls his dummy out...but then doesn’t self soothe as his motor skills I guess aren’t quite there yet (4 months).
I’m hoping someone has advice other than your need to wait it out/find another sleep association.’

At 7 months it looks like he is going through a "regression" period. Because of SIDS possibilities if a baby has had a dummy from a young age the advice is not to withdraw it until 1yo at the earliest. Over the next month or so he should learn himself to put the dummy back so I would stick with the dummy for now. Might be a suggestion to leave a number of dummies by him in the cot and put one on a finger and maybe also start getting him used to something like a "Sleepytot" close by him. Get through the next few weeks and things should then start to get better. Good luck.

Thanks @JAN54 ill persevere with the dummy for now, tbh its not so much him finding it at night but he pulls it out all the time then cries so we have this constant back and forth were we put it in then he pulls it out this can go on for a while before he goes to sleep, hes just started this a few days ago its weird and exhausting lol

I fully understand but there is no magic wand solution here - you just have to get through it! Do you have his cot near you in your bedroom as that makes it a bit easier as you would not have to get up all the time but merely stretch your hand across and re-insert! Here we are it is 04-25 and I am in the same boat but I have twins!

Oh gosh having the same issue with my 6 month old! We've taken him out of the love2dream swaddle and now that his arms are free he self sabotages himself by taking his dummy out and just generally doesn't know what to do with his arms and can't self sooth to sleep anymore. I don't know what to do I'm at my wits end too!

@pinkgin85 - the swaddle removal has 100% been my problem too. He just stares at his hands for ages if he’s not knocking his dummy out.

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/dummies-and-sids/

That's the advice from the lullaby trust re dummy's and it says to take them away between 6 and 12 months. So if baby doesn't want the dummy or you want to get rid that isn't going to affect SIDS. At this age my little one found her hands, only ever used to use a dummy to settle if she was over stimulated through the day and then preferred her hands over a dummy.
She's now 1 and has been settling herself without her hand for a few months.
Hope baby's sleep gets better soon x

[quote ELW85]@pinkgin85 - the swaddle removal has 100% been my problem too. He just stares at his hands for ages if he’s not knocking his dummy out.[/quote]
What can we do?! That swaddle was a god send but now I think it just worked too well, he can't sleep with his arms free anymore never had this problem with my first who went into a normal grobag at 3 months!

@pinkgin85 - all I’ve been doing is putting him in something light to sleep in and then a light fro bag and then a really thin blanket over the top to pin his arms down. Midnight was me trying to hold a dummy in (he’s started spitting it out) whilst trying to pin him down so he didn’t flail and get over stimulated.

What I don’t get is, sometimes he hates the dummy and just wants his hands but he’s not quite 4mo yet so hasn’t got the coordination to always get his arms/hands where he wants them. Then he’ll sometimes self soothe back to sleep and other times (like midnight) will get so upset that he’s still awake but won’t have the dummy. And sends himself to sleep.

3.30 feed this morning he just kept staring at his hands when I put him back down, so I had to say “it’s not play time” and tuck him in with the blanket to keep his arms down.

I think this is night 3/day 4 of no swaddle and he seems to be getting a bit better but to be fair, still knocking his dummy out just not flailing as much.

That was a massively long winded way of saying I don’t know what the hell is going on or how to resolve it 😂