Dummy for day fussiness only?

[mammysprout]

Our 6m girl used to sleep ok (never amazing) but recently the dummy is falling out and waking her up constantly and it's got to go - she's exhausted all day from sleeping so poorly, and we're trapped in a vicious cycle then.

We've recently gone cold turkey (currently on day 5) and it was going well. Naps have been without drama, and she's going down for sleep absolutely fine without it at night. She's had a tummy bug the last day or two so it's been terrible timing really and hard to say how well it's going at night cos she's just poorly.

An unforeseen struggle is the grizzliness in the day. She's a generally very happy baby but we are struggling when she's getting tired when we push her wake windows, or is just feeling rubbish. I miss my happy girl who would be reset by a dummy for 5 mins then back to normal. Is it possible to keep going with no dummy at night and naps but give it to her for limited periods in the day to help her fussiness?

This phase you’re describing is really annoying but also fairly short lived. By 7 months ish our daughter could put her own dummy back in (we put about 10 in the cot with her). I’d be inclined to push on with using it at night as it is SUCH a helpful sleep tool in the long run to enable them to self settle. I’d ditch it in the day and just avoid her getting overtired as much as possible to minimise the fussiness. This might not necessarily be linked to the dummy anyway, they do usually go through periods of just being more or less fussy.

Alternatively if you do want to get rid I’d be inclined to get rid of entirely. They are best used to aid sleep rather than as a settling tool in the day.

I think if you choose something and stick with it, it will work. My DS is now 19 months and hasn't had the dummy at night since 5 months, but has always had it for naps and still does. He has slowly weaned off reliance in the day too and now only has it right before nap, during nap and then before bath and bed routine starts when hes tired and getting grumpy. I think set the boundary you are happy with it's use and then be consistent :)

For anyone that finds themselves on this thread for answers - we reintroduced the dummy for day only no sleep after 5 days and it was absolutely fine hasn't negatively impacted sleep at all!