Transitioning from dummy to thumb

[Soontobethree20]

My DD is 3 months (13 weeks) and is desperately trying to suck her thumb, sometimes with more success than others. Up until now she has taken a dummy when falling asleep, it has worked as a soother for her (she has reflux) so we were happy to use one but it inevitably requires us to keep popping it back in and sometimes disrupting her sleep if it falls out.

I'm thinking her thumb will be better as she will be in control but does anyone have any tips for this in between phase where she isn't quite coordinated yet with the thumb?! Do we withhold dummy at sleeps to encourage her to keep trying with the thumb? At the moment this just seems to wind her up... if I popped the dummy in she would nod off pretty instantly.

Don't think of changing anything until at least 6 months (or later) because dummy use reduces SIDS risk.

I'm drawn to the addage: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Dummies are ACE for no crying independant sleep. The simplest and most effective sleep aid imo. The dummy searching phase is short lived in the grand scheme of things.

I vote for keeping the dummy.

Good points! So easy to second guess EVERYTHING

I wouldn't encourage my baby to thumb suck, you can get rid of a dummy, how are you going to stop them sucking their thumb in the future?

And yes Dummys's help reduced SIDS risk so worth keeping going.

DD thumb-sucked from day one (and on the 20 week scan as well!) Was great time have no dummy issues.

She’s now 10 and trying to get her to stop is an uphill bloody struggle.

Yeah I have thought about stopping the thumb sucking, I sucked my own til I was 9 and then just stopped of my own accord but realise that's not always the case!

Will keep going with the dummy as it is working, just tricky when she is trying to shove her thumb in at the same time / it regularly pops out. But if she is the right amount of tired it definitely helps her to settle and fall asleep quickly, so will put more effort into those sleepy cues!