Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

Getting baby to accept dummy

3 replies

MonkeyPantaloons · 05/08/2020 08:49

DS is four months and has never been in love with dummies but would usually accept one when very tired. There was a halcyon few days about three/four weeks ago when he was taking a dummy for naps and bedtime - I even managed to put him down awake one night with it and he popped himself off to sleep for the night! In the couple of weeks running up to this he'd wake up in the night and we could give him a dummy and he'd drop back off, which helped us cut out snacking to resettle and reduce feeds to one or maybe two a night.

He's now deeply offended by the offer of a dummy. I've tried different brands, sizes, sterilising them in the microwave so there's no hint of Milton but he seems to hate them. I sucked my thumb and really didn't want him to - has anyone got any tips to encourage him to accept them? Or do I just have a baby that won't have a dummy? It's the one thing I was adamant about - I wanted him to have a dummy, not suck his thumb, and only be allowed it for sleeping!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
TeddyBeans · 05/08/2020 09:05

Some babies just don't, one of my friends babies was a dummy refuser. Your DS won't necessarily suck his thumb either and if he does I'm sure you can help him out of the habit

MonkeyPantaloons · 05/08/2020 09:32

I suspect that is the case but I wondered if there was anything else I could try before giving up. Sadly he's already found his thumb (although not with enough dexterity to self-soothe) and he's always been obsessed by his hands - every single scan we couldn't see his face for his hands! Thanks for the reply though.

OP posts:
FATEdestiny · 05/08/2020 10:40

Try some of the tips you use to get a breastfeeding baby to actively latch. So the idea is baby reaches for the dummy teat, rather than it passively being placed in the mouth. Things like:

  • tickle baby's cheek with dummy to trigger head turning to seek the teat
  • similarly, tickle upper lip so mouth reaches upwards for teat.
  • when putting into mouth, aim dummy towards the roof of the mouth, rather than back of the throat. Touching the back of the roof of the mouth triggers suction
  • when dummy is in the mouth, tapping the outside of the dummy can get baby sucking
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread