Going cold turkey on the dummy tonight - any advice?

[MandyBOO]

DS is 5 months and has been sleeping quite well. Now, however, he is having disturbed sleep (and so are we!) as whenever the darn dummy falls out he is waking up.

We are having crap nights anyway so we figured we might as well go cold turkey on the dummy and get him to comfort himself back to sleep.

Any tips or advice?

Tia x

[MandyBOO]

anyone?

[schneebly]

It might be easier than you think..I went cold turkey with both of my DSs when they were almost 3 and 18 months and after a little bit of moaning and gurning one night it was forgotten! Good luck and dont give in if you really want rid of it.

[SenoraPostrophe]

hmmm. dd did that, but luckily she decided she preferred her thumb and naturally dropped the dummy naturally.

I would suggest you try a few nights of giving him some other sleep cue before you go cold turkey, because it's worth trying everything to avoid having to resort to controlled crying, believe me. I would suggest that you give him the dummy as usual, but take it out just before he nods off. if he fusses, then do something simple that he will start to associate with sleep (eg just saying sshhh, or "go to sleep" - it should be simple and it should be the same every time). then take the dummy away after a couple of nights of that.

if you do have to resort to cc, my other tip is to buy some earplugs before you do.

I take it you've tried putting several dummies in his cot so he can always find one?

[MandyBOO]

er.................. no, just the one dummy!

Will try taking the dummy out before he falls asleep first - wish me luck!

[SenoraPostrophe]

good luck!

[LilahRose]

Hi -I went cold turkey on the dummy for the same reason at 2 months.
I went for self-settling - I know other mums will think she was too young but it has worked really well for us and at 3 months she is now sleeping through the night for 11 hours.
Basically she cried when we didn't give her the dummy (I know she should prob start with naps but I needed the support of my partner so went for the nighttime sleep instead) for about 30 mins and then went to sleep. the 2nd night she cried for 10 mins, 3rd night 5 mins and now she will either settle herslef immediately or will shout for 5 mins before she goes to sleep. The good thing about self-settling is that when they learn to do it they can do it during the night too so are less likely to wake up.
My dd had forgotten the dummy ever existed in 2 days.

[MandyBOO]

My only concern is that i have dd (3.8) who sucks her thumb, has always been a good sleeper but now i cant get her to take her thumb out! At least with a dummy, you can take it away. What do you think?

[LilahRose]

Actually forgot to mention that my dd discovered her thumb 2 weeks ago and hasn't looked back. She uses it as a self-settler at nights but there 's nothing you can do about it is there?! I do think it's quite cute at the moment anyway. I'd rather see a 3 year old sucking their thumb than with a dummy personally though I understand why parents persist with them.

[ozharrysmum]

Hi all,
My 30 y.o. cousin still sucks her thumb.
My 7mo DS was a thumb sucker after we took away his dummies, but grew out of it in a month or so.....he still pops a finger (or even a fist) in there when he's extra tired but otherwise I think most grow out of it sooner or later (my poor Aunt is still waiting tho lol )
Have you thought of a comforter? They're larger and easier for them to find at night. One just to keep in bed. My DS has one and seems to hug it just as he nods off. If you get one, (I got a small blankie with a teddy face - it kinda looks like a puppet when held by the head) wear it around under your shirt for a couple of hours to get your scent onto it. It soothes them. I washed DS's the other day and wondered why he didn't seem to want it as much!!!
Good luck

[ozharrysmum]

P.S. I think it's rather cute too

[Toothyboy]

Ooooooh, haven't read thread yet but ds2 is 7.5 months and we went cold turkey on the dummy tonight too!! I will read the whole thread then compare notes !!

[Toothyboy]

Ok, have now read! How did it go MandyBOO? I put ds2 down at 6.35 with his fleece comforter thing and he cried until 6.55 when he went to sleep. I sat beside the cot the whole time, just picked him up a couple of times when he got really upset. I guess my patience will be tested if he wakes in the night!

We never had this trouble with ds1 - he could always find his dummy! But ds2 is such a wriggler all his dummies end up on the floor (usually wall side!).

Anyway, hope tonight goes OK for you !

[MandyBOO]

so far so good - but he's usually ok in the evening. Its the night time that will be the real test!!! Will let you know tomorrow! Hope it goes well for you too X

[Toothyboy]

So how was it MandyBOO? It went OK here; I got ds2 out of his cot at about 11 for his dream feed, he barely woke and resettled within a few minutes. He then woke at 2.30 and it took until 3.45 for him to go back to sleep, then he woke at 6.

He's settled in about 10 minutes for his daytime naps, then took 15 minutes to go to sleep at bedtime. I am noticing that the crying is lessening, so hopefully he's getting used to it already! Hopefully tonight will be even better!

[newmum36]

Took dummy away from 14 week old 3 weeks ago and have not looked back. He too went from moaning for about 30 mins to 15 mins to now a max of 5 minutes and settles himself so much better at night and also now during the day...I haven't looked back.