introducing dummy at 5m

[feekerry]

am i mad? has the sleep deprevation finally got to me?!
ds is 24 wks old. wakes every 45mins to an hour at night. has done since about 9 weeks so nothing new. we do co sleep out of need but i desperately want to stop this as its so hot and me and dh are so squashed. so i bought a co sleeper cot thing so right next to me but ds still won't have it. he has to physically be attached to me. i ebf but he rarely feeds in the night. just faffs, latches on then falls back asleep. i can't move in bed without disturbing him.
i need to do something. at the moment i go to bed with him at 7pm and that's me for the night

[NickiFury]

I did at four months for all the reasons you describe. Plus dd was an extremely high needs baby (turned out she had ASD) and the instant comfort I had had with ds became essential for BOTH of us.

[mrsmugoo]

Can you just go cold turkey and get him in his cot?

I co-slept with my DS until recently and for the same reasons (too hot/squashed & waking each other up with the tiniest movement ) I decided to call time on it completely.

We are now both getting much better sleep - he wriggles around and wakes and self settles throughout the night now and doesn't need feeding whereas when he was in with me when he woke of course he just wanted to latch on as it was the easiest way of getting back to sleep.

He sleeps well independently now and only really took 3 or 4 nights to get used to the idea.

[feekerry]

ye i just need to put him in cot end of. its a bed side one so he is virtually touching me but its like he knows its not actually my bed...

[mrsmugoo]

I always bring my DS in with me in the early hours anyway as he never settles well in his cot after his long sleep/feed so we still wake up side by side and have those previous lovely moments first thing in the morning but I get some decent sleep in before he comes in!

[feekerry]

that would be absolutely fine, even if i got 3 hrs of him in his cot first....early mornings in my bed are fine. but just a few hours first would be lovely!

[Koothrapanties]

I introduced the dummy at 6 months and I'm bloody glad I did. It has made things so much easier. And naps anywhere now with no fuss, if she wakes at night all I have to do is give her the dummy and she goes straight back to sleep.

She had started screaming blue bloody murder in the car and now she just happily sucks her dummy and usually falls asleep.

It is doing her no harm whatsoever and she only has it for naps and in the car. It was the right decision for us. I am getting much more sleep and our days are much easier. Win win.

[feekerry]

hmm based on that i may just try one!!

[feekerry]

omg... so found a dummy in the house (part of an unused gift from god knows when) ds fell asleep within about 30 seconds!!! took 2 hrs last night. why does it feel so wrong tho?!

[MoominKoalaAndMiniMoom]

Why would you be mad to introduce a dummy?

[feekerry]

just feel i have ridden out 5m so why change now? plus i have never ever used/considered using dummy on previous dc.
however, ds is sleeping in his cot for the first time ever. i am in the living room with a glass of vino... this freedom is amazing!!!!

[Koothrapanties]

Fee that's how I felt, but I just use it for the Times I said about and that makes me feel less guilty. I know it sounds silly but I just don't want to rely on it every time she cries because then I won't know what to do when she doesn't have it anymore!

My plan is that she can continue to have it for these times until she is old enough to understand why they are going. As long as she doesnt have it all the time it won't affect her speech or teeth so I'm not worried now. It still feels a bit odd though 3 months later.