Are we creating a sleep association already?

[mulvia]

Hi there! DS2 is almost 1mo, is a fairly good sleeper and settles quite happily without too much intervention unless he has a sore tummy, which happens enough as he's not easy to burp, and especially if we don't keep him upright long enough - night feeds are an exception as I guess he's more relaxed and doesn't take in too much air, besides the added perk of going back to sleep on the breast, which I'm trying hard not to link to daytime sleep. So I'm exploring different ways to swaddle him but if nothing works I put him in side position, lightly rock him and give him a dummy. I try to put him down as soon as the eyes start to close, so that I stop 'doing' things before he's properly asleep - that excludes the dummy.
He would love to suck his fingers and prefer it to the dummy I think, but of course is not able to do so yet (except occasionally when he latches on tightly to his thumb!), so I'm planning to get rid of dummy asap and encourage that - but is this already creating a sleep association? Most times he spits it out after a while and he's ok, but if he's not fully asleep when he does so, he starts up again, tries to suck fingers, gets frustrated and wants it back. This can happen a few times before he's actually off. Should I be wary of it, or is it ok until he can find his hands? I tend to let him try that first, and offer dummy if it doesn't happen, so that hopefully he doesn't stop trying...should I be doing something else? Thanks for any opinions/experiences!

[jessmum46]

Personally speaking I think you are doing just great!  Most babies of this age will need help to settle and I think if you have the end goal in mind and approach it in a 'do the minimum' way then that will set you up well for independent sleep as he gets a little bigger.  Enjoy the tiny baby cuddles!

[mulvia]

A bit late, sorry - thanks for that! It all seems to be going ok so far  I will ask something else though: he seems to be a particularly gassy baby - or rather, one that doesn't get rid of gas too easily. I am trying to limit the dummy use and do as much massage as I can, but sometimes it's the only thing that gets him relaxed enough to stop tensing his belly and kicking up the legs (apart from the breast, but then it's more food and more gassy trouble to come). When he's finally off and comfortable, dummy falls out and he keeps sleeping, but until the belly gives him grief he looks for it again and again..and to be completely honest, when my toddler demands attention or needs dinner, it's also the easy temporary fix. The other option would be holding/rocking him until his tummy eases up...that would be harder to take away, wouldn't it?

[jessmum46]

I think probably weaning the dummy will be easier in the end than holding/rocking - yes