Dummy advice

[Goosey345]

My LO is 11 weeks old and I'm wondering what to do about a dummy. I'm currently trying to give her a dummy but confused if I should persevere or not! She'll usually take it initially for naps and it seems to really help calm her down and make her drowsy. But then after 5-10 mins as she relaxes the dummy drops out, she wakes up, starts crying and gets really worked up. She'll settle eventually in sling or bouncy chair usually without dummy in because it's dropped out so many times.

At night she tends to drop off soon after finishing feed (formula fed) so no chance to put a dummy in. She sleeps well at night waking just once for a feed.

I would like her to sleep in the cot or pram in house at some point for naps and think the dummy would help with this? So far she wakes up 5 minutes after being put down. She has Mam bottles and I've tried Mam orthodontic dummies as well as Tommee Tippee cherry teat but still she can't seem to keep them in long enough to fall asleep properly. Any advice??

I speak from experience - get rid of the dummy! My son would only sleep for periods of 30-45 mins before waking up and crying until we got up and put his dummy back. Then as soon as he'd start to fall asleep it would fall out again. This never ending cycle went on all night every night for 3 months. I literally wanted to die. It was hell. My husband spent many nights on the floor of our sons room just so he could be there to pop it back in our sons mouth quickly.

After getting the advice of a sleep expert she told us to take the dummy away and replace it with a Muslin cloth or small stuffed toy that our son could cuddle. We chose the muslin. The first night after we took the dummy away he cried for about 40 mins. We went in and out to reassure him. But after, he ended up soothing himself to sleep using the Muslim cloth and rubbing it between his fingers. We have never used a dummy since, and my son consistently slept through the night with virtually NO wake ups from then on. Just the muslin. He's 10 now and still like to have a muslin next to him in bed. Much better than a dummy IMO

Thank you for your reply. That does sound like sleep hell! Glad you found a way to resolve it. Do you know what age your baby was when you introduced the muslin? I'm a bit confused about using a comforter because I thought SIDS advice was to avoid soft toys etc until 12 months.

Yep, I’m afraid I put my baby’s back dummy in every 35 minutes through the night. Every 35 minutes. Every night. Don’t do it!

Am about to start sleep training hell.

I personally wouldn’t give my baby a muslin or soft toy, If I leave a muslin on the floor my LO tries to pull it over his face.

He was 7 months. I think at first I may have actually tied it in a knot in the middle to reduce the surface area so that it wasn't possible for it to get wrapped around his neck.

But muslins are actually quite breathable. I regularly put them over my baby's face to comfort him while I held him when he napped. Most of my friends did this too as it helped to calm them very quickly. I think it also made them want to keep their eyes closed and prevented distractions in a busy room which put him to sleep quite quickly. I actually did this from about 3-4 months. He loved it and settled very quickly.

We did the same with my daughter. She actually used quite a large swaddle blanket from about 7 months and sucked on it rather than her dummy. She's 3 and still does this.

Have you tried slowly taking the dummy out just as she gets drowsy and starts to fall asleep? So that she's using it to settle herself but not relying on it to fall asleep with.
My DD was the same and woke as soon as it fell out so we tried this, it took a couple of tries but it worked and she slept so much better and longer.

Personally I'm pro dummy 😬

My LO was same as your lo. But as she got older she wanted it more and more. I think it has helped her know its sleepy time when she has her dummy and feel it's helped so much, helped self soothe as she got older.

Personally I wouldn't get rid of it, less tears with trying independent sleep when slightly older.

I wouldn't put anything in a cot unless it's a few million dummies 🤷🏼‍♀️ too much of a sids risk for me to take a chance to put something else in cot.

Thanks for all the comments. LO actually seems less interested in dummy at bedtime last couple of nights and is licking her hand instead then dropping off. So maybe she's making the decision for us! I'll see how she goes with naps but maybe try pulling dummy out when she's drowsy.

My LO is 4mo and has a dummy for naps. He doesn't have dummy at bedtime or at all over night and doesn't seem to care. For naps, he uses it to get drowsy - I think it helps him switch off during the day as he's quite easily stimulated. It often falls out once he's asleep, or even knocked out by him just before he drops off to sleep - but it helps him go down initially. He does wake after 40mins at nap time (not at all over night) but this is common and a developmental thing at this age.