Thoughts on weaning off dummy

june17

My little boy is nearly 7 months old and he loves his dummy. He needs it to go to sleep and wakes a number of times during the night needing it to be replaced. If I had known he was going to become this attached to it I probably would have tried to hold off giving it to him. I'm not too keen on attaching it to a string and I've seen the tiny tot dummy holders but I'm reluctant to give him that going to bed. As far as I know it is recommended that the dummy be taken away by 12 months and I'm thing of doing it now before it could become too difficult.
What do others think? Is this a good idea? How is it done and is there much crying involved? Will it affect his night sleep? Or should I just accept the fact that I'll have to keep doing dummy runs in the night for the foreseeable future? I co sleep in the room with him. I had only planned on doing this for the first 6 months but now I find its just easier to sleep in the bed beside the cot and replace the dummy when he cries for it. It's exhausting though!

lmullen

june17 wrote: »

My little boy is nearly 7 months old and he loves his dummy. He needs it to go to sleep and wakes a number of times during the night needing it to be replaced. If I had known he was going to become this attached to it I probably would have tried to hold off giving it to him. I'm not too keen on attaching it to a string and I've seen the tiny tot dummy holders but I'm reluctant to give him that going to bed. As far as I know it is recommended that the dummy be taken away by 12 months and I'm thing of doing it now before it could become too difficult.
What do others think? Is this a good idea? How is it done and is there much crying involved? Will it affect his night sleep? Or should I just accept the fact that I'll have to keep doing dummy runs in the night for the foreseeable future? I co sleep in the room with him. I had only planned on doing this for the first 6 months but now I find its just easier to sleep in the bed beside the cot and replace the dummy when he cries for it. It's exhausting though!

My little one doesn't have a dummy so not speaking from my own experiences but my sister and a friend just put several in the cot with their little ones so that they can always find one! I think they have glow in the dark ones too!

Gee_G

june17 wrote: »

My little boy is nearly 7 months old and he loves his dummy. He needs it to go to sleep and wakes a number of times during the night needing it to be replaced. If I had known he was going to become this attached to it I probably would have tried to hold off giving it to him. I'm not too keen on attaching it to a string and I've seen the tiny tot dummy holders but I'm reluctant to give him that going to bed. As far as I know it is recommended that the dummy be taken away by 12 months and I'm thing of doing it now before it could become too difficult.
What do others think? Is this a good idea? How is it done and is there much crying involved? Will it affect his night sleep? Or should I just accept the fact that I'll have to keep doing dummy runs in the night for the foreseeable future? I co sleep in the room with him. I had only planned on doing this for the first 6 months but now I find its just easier to sleep in the bed beside the cot and replace the dummy when he cries for it. It's exhausting though!

Another month or so and he will be able to get the dummy himself in bed! My little man had my heart broke for a while getting up ten times a night but he soon figured out how to root around for it himself! There is light at the end of the tunnel :-)

bp

I had the same problem at about 5 months and wanted it constantly so I went cold turkey for a 24 hours and then re-introduced it for nap time/ sleep time only and take it out of the mouth once baby is asleep.

Baby now 7 months and is starting to find it themselve. Maybe try limit usage during the day and take it out once baby us asleep at nap time and work up to bed time.

Also baby sleeps a lot better not in my room, so maybe try that too

highly1111

We had a similar problem with our first. We decided to pull the dummy cold turkey after one night I counted being up 7 times in 45 minutes when he had a cough and I just made the decision to pull it. Anyway, we had 3 tough nights but after that it was absolutely perfect after that. My husband preserved as I found it upsetting hearing him cry so much the first night but honestly, we never looked back. Our second had no interest in a soother and we have a 12 week old girl who has the soother going to bed but at least when it pops out she doesn't wake looking for it. good luck.

Cienciano

I read that a good way to get them off the dummy, is first to put a pin hole in the end so they can't get the same suction. Then actually snip the tip off.
Haven't tried it, but I'll try it when mine is coming off it.

Toots

My son was the same but eventually he just started to root around for it himself and would pop it back in.

We got rid of the soother when he was about 18months old. We just took them all away one morning and told him he was a big boy and didn't need them anymore. At 18 months he was able to understand 'big boy now' and he also has a little cousin who still uses them so we were able to say that little babies need them but you're big now. It took us a bit longer to get him over to sleep the first couple of nights but other than that it's been smooth sailing.

One thing I would say is if you're planning to get rid of the soother, cut back a bit first so it's not such a shock to thei system. When our son was under 1 year old he had the soother a lot during the day and then all night, then when he turned 1 he'd only get it if he was very upset (fell over or something) or when he was going asleep.

june17

Thanks for all your replies. I'll probably stick with it for the time being. He's getting better at finding it himself so hopefully I won't have to do too many dummy runs during the night times!

ColmH81

lmullen wrote: »

My little one doesn't have a dummy so not speaking from my own experiences but my sister and a friend just put several in the cot with their little ones so that they can always find one! I think they have glow in the dark ones too!

Not actually a bad idea..!!