Dummy/Paci question

[woopster]

DD is 4.5 months old, and we made the mistake (?) of giving her a dummy one evening just before bed.
Now she won't settle without it.
I end up staying in the room with her while she drops off, cos if the dummy falls out before she is asleep, she starts crying, and no amount of soothing will calm her down.
She doesn't need it at all during the day, nor if she wakes for a feed during the night, she will quite happily send herself to sleep.

Why does she need it?  And how can I get rid of it?

[milliesmaw]

Hi Wendy - you are not alone! We gave one to DS when he had a chest infection and he is also hooked, but prob more so as he has started waking up for it in the night.

She prob needs it as it is a soothing way to drop off to sleep. DS is a sucky baby (dummy, boob, bottle) you name it he sucks it and he likes to suck to get to sleep. It's now a habit.

I think you will either need to do the Gradual weaning process which is at the top of the props forum and do a bit of pat/ssh to comfort her or remove it cold turkey and do the same pat/ssh etc. It is important to remain consistent.

If she doesn't need it for naps then I'm sure it won't take long. And if it's only for the night time sleep there is prob no rush to get rid of it.

I'm no expert so I'm sure someone else will correct me if I'm wrong

I'm going to have to get rid of it too quite soon. They are great for soothing but so annoying when you have to get rid of them :?

HTH

J
x

[Maddy's Mum]

Hi Wendy,

Well I guess if you want to get rid of the dummy - then its either cold turkey and pat/shush or the gradual weaning process...however, its really positive that DD only need the dummy to get to sleep just once a day and not in the night etc.. so do you think, for the time being it may be worth buying her a cherry tipped dummy, which I always found Mads could keep in for as long as she needed it - rather than the flat or orthodontic dummies, which would also drop out before she was ready.

However...I must admit that when we bought her the cherry tipped dummies - I started to overuse it and soon we had a dummy addiction on our hands which I had to tackle with cold turkey  :roll: 

So I guess that wasn't much help huh?!!!

Dee
x

[woopster]

What's a cherry tipped dummy?
We have the ones that have a huge teat.

[rooby-rooby-roo]

Wendy - are those the ones you bought in Bluewater?? If so then they are cherry tipped ones! FWIW i wouldn't worry about it, esp if it is only once a day when she is fussy in the evening. She'll grow out of the fussynes and hopefully with it the need for the dummy x

[notenoughshelfspace]

Mine uses a dummy to fall asleep but does not wake if it falls out, I also use it if she wakes up during the night. I may be closing my eyes to a future problem but I am just not tackling it right now. I am hoping she might grow out if it, if she does not I will wait till she is older. At the moment she likes it and it is easy for me. It is not broke, I am therefore not fixing it.

[woopster]

Clair, that's them.
I think I'm just being lazy - looking for a quick fix.  I know I've got it a LOT easier than some mums on here...