the dummy is going...going...GONE!

[petchy]

i have a feeling ruben's frequent night wakings is due to dummy dependancy (he doesn't feed in the night now, just wakes) as he is so used to having his dummy when he goes to sleep - it's probably a bad sleep association i've given him by letting him have a dummy... i suspect he is so used to having his dummy to go to sleep that when he stirs in the night he wants his dummy, and when it's not in his mouth he wakes up and cries for it. (it's fairly obvious - he goes straight back to sleep 90% of the time when i give it to him)

i didn't want to give him a dummy in the first place, but was driven to it in the first couple of months when he had really bad reflux - and then it just stayed.

i've not had the guts to get rid of it earlier, been psyching myself up, and today we went cold turkey...

OMG... naptimes... he's been SCREAMING! a really upset angry cry - it makes me feel so guilty... but i can't give in now i've started, that would probably make things worse in the long run. so i hold him and rock him until he calms down and is almost asleep, then i put him down and stay with him until he nods off, worn out by the screaming...

anyone else got rid of the dummy at this age? tell me it passes in a few days... pleeeeease..... give me strength.....

i hope this works and that in a couple of weeks time i might get some

 

[kayleighsmum]

good luck hunx hope ruben gets through it ok

 

[Freya]

really good luck!! Just think of the bonuses at the end!!

 

[Lucy]

Hi Petchy

I'm trying to get rid of the dummy as well. She doesn't really have it in the day as mostly we are out when she needs a nap so will fall asleep in the pushchair or car seat no problem at all.

However, I am sort of weaning her off me and onto a bottle at the moment so I think I need to do that first then wean her off the dummy because I don't think it's fair to try and do both at the same time!

Good luck and please keep us updates as I'll be eagerly awaiting your (success) update.

Lucy

 

[Urchin]

Beany (not beanie) took the dummy off Lawson after he was waking for it every 20 minutes. He was hell for 2 days then forgot all about it.

 

[mary70]

i think you need a medal hun only thing that keeps me going some days is hannahs dummy lol,have even been and bought new ones today .
good luck

 

[petchy]

well things are going well without the dummy! i know it's early days - well, the first day! lol - but tonight he went to sleep on his own without the dummy and no crying! (the naptimes earlier got progressively better from 10 mins crying and rocking for the morning nap, to just a couple of mins of moaning in his cot with me holding his hand when he went down for his afternoon nap (third nap of the day). and bedtime was as i said without a hitch. usually he wakes crying after 2 hours at around 9pm without fail and then 2 hourly or more until 7am - well it's now 10.30pm and not a sound. i went in to check on him just now and he was fast asleep cuddling "lambert" his toy sheep that he usually has in his cot. he looked so cute holding on to his ear! bless... we shall see how the rest of the night, and subsequent nights pan out!

daytimes apart from naptimes he didn't have his dummy anyways so i hope it's just breaking the habit of needing it to go to sleep!

 

[emilia]

Well done Petchy & Ruben!!!

And an extra hug for you Petchy, for having the courage!!

Emilia xx

 

[petchy]

ok, another update:

the night wasn't too bad, could have been much worse. he stirred at about 11pm just as i was going to bed, and needed just a quick cuddle (stroked his forehead for about 10 seconds) before going straight off again. he then slept till 3.30am. but then screamed angrily on and off (interspersed by happily gurgling and chatting to himself... ) until 4.30am. he then fell back to sleep and slept until 7.30am.

certainly better than he has been, a normal night would see him wake at 9pm, 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5-5.30am, then into bed with me until 6.30-7am ish.

 

[Bagpuss17]

Well done with your progress.

We gave Isaac a dummy too to help soothe him with the reflux pain. I think we should try and reduce it's use now before he gets too addicted to it.

 

[Lucy]

Well done Petchy, that sounds really promising.

Not sure when I'll brave it, I can see you've had better results from removing it but I'm not sure when I'm weaning her from me.

Hope tonight goes well!

Lucy

 

[*saulino*]

Hi

well done glad hes doing well with it.

Ive been doing it as well but had not planned to i had forgotten Kiaras soother when we wentout one day so she got used to not having it when we were out and she didnt even fuss about it then when i started putting her in her own room she screamed herself to sleep so wouldnt hold it in her mouth anyways so never used it then she only used it for naps but now for the last 2 days she aint used it so im tempted to throw them all out tonight but im nervous i dunno why just seems like they are a life savour at times.
Katrina

 

[petchy]

hopefully we've cracked it! it's been 3 days since ruben has had his dummy now, we've had a fair bit of crying when he's tired, but otherwise it's been fine.

AND...

last night he slept through for the second time ever! (the last time was a one-off when he was about 3 months old) i say slept through, he went down at 7pm, slept till 3am when he woke and started gurgling and chatting to himself. i got up to go to the loo, and went back to bed thinking i wouldn't go in to him until he started crying. next thing i know i wake up from a very loud knock on the door at 7am (postie delivering a parcel ) - he would have slept even longer if we'd not been woken by the postie!

i hope this isn't a fluke, but that my plan is working! (crossing fingers, touching wood...)

 

[melhoney]

WELL DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I am gonna have to do the same thing soon but I haven't got your strength at the moment (have just gone back to work, and Maheen is struggling with this, she has been crying tonight, she just did not want me to leave her!! )

My only concern is that when I take it off her at times, she then takes her thomb, and God knows that I don't want her to get dependent on her thomb (as I was..till I was 11 years old!!!)

Again, congratulations to you both, Ruben is very brave!

Mel xx