My 2.6 DS gave up his dummy about 5 weeks ago. He was generally only having it for naps. He was biting them through and so I said that when he chewed the last one, it would have to be thrown away and that would be it. He seemed to accept this and actually threw the last one away himself.
Over the first week, he gradually stopped asking for his dummy so we thought we were on the right track. However, 5 weeks later and he's still having problems settling at night. It can take him 2-3 hours to get to sleep. He's now getting out of bed once we've settled him and trying to use all the tricks in the book to get us back up there. He didn't used to do this when he had his dummy.
Also, he often wakes up a few times during the night which is leaving both of us grouchy and constantly tired. I've restricted his lunch time nap to only 30 mins but that doesn't seem to help. I've tried cutting it out completely but that just made him grumpy all afternoon and didn't help him to settle any quicker at night either.
I know that he's finding it really difficult to get off to sleep as he used to make a special sleepy noise (a cross between a yodel and a Jimmy Saville impression!) when he sucked his dummy. Because he now doesn't have a dummy, he gets upset and says 'I can't make the noise, mummy!' as if the sleepy noise itself is as much of a comfort as the dummy.
So, am I being bloody minded about his dummy? Should I just give it back to him? I feel really sorry for him as he loves his sleep and I feel like I've created the problem for him. Five weeks is a long time and I would have expected him to settle without his dummy by now.
I'd really appreciate your help/advice.