HELP! 4.5month old wrapping,rolling and dummy dramas!

[lestyrox]

Ok so from day dot DS2 has been a terrible sleeper.. he's very hard to settle most days (which is slowly but surely driving me INSANE!) but thats a whole different kettle of fish...our latest drama (amoungst others) is that he has started rolling onto his tummy which is all good but come bed time its a nightmare, he's still wrapped and wont go to sleep unless he's wrapped BUT he wants to roll onto his side/tummy and because he's wrapped he gets all tangled and caught up..then if he does get comfy on his side the bloody dummy falls, or if it doesn't fall out he'll push it out with his hands (unintentionally) he seems to like his hands near or above his face but this means he constantly knocks the dummy out. Its taking over an hour some days to get him to sleep because i am constantly putting the dummy back in ...i swear i walk out of his room and then i have to turn staright back around and go back in because the dummy is out AGAIN! i've tried not wrapping him but he doesn't settle and because his hands are free he actually grabs the dummy and pulls it out. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. I don't want to get rid of the dummy because once i actually get him to sleep he sleeps quite soundly with it.

Soooooooooo what do i do? Should i stop wrapping him? If so then how do i stop him pulling the dummy out? Its so frustrating it driving me nuts

[amberj]

This is SUCH a hard stage. I think the biggest comfort I can give you is that its just that- a phase. DS was EXACTLY the same regarding his dummy. We went through a phase between 4 to probably 6.5 months where the number of times we had to get up at night to get the dummy just got more and more and more.

But I do have hope for you! I had to make a decision at about the same point you were at whether I wanted to keep the dummy or not. Lots of people said to get rid of it, but I didn't really want to do that. So during the day I kept his dummy on one of those chain things and whenever he wanted it, I would hand him it, not put it in his mouth. Over time he got the hang of putting it in himself. I would keep the chain on at night (as long as its less than 10cm long its safe) so he could find it. The other thing we did (and still do) is to put like 6 dummies in the cot. We call it the "rain of dummies". I also put an air-wrap around the cot so they didn't fall out of the cot. So he can always find one now! I've also heard of people tying dummies to the corners of those fluffy soft blankie things if your LO has one so they can find the dummie easily.

I think if you want to hang on to the dummy, getting your child to find it themself is the key, and that's a matter of time and practice. Give him heaps of opportunities to practice during the day, as much as you can! But in truth, I don't think DS was ready for that at 4.5 months- closer to 6 months. My choice was just to slog through the night dummy wakings until he was old enough to get it himself.

Now he gets into bed and find a dummy and then sucks on it for like 3 seconds, then spits it out and tries another one until he's gone through them all!!

[Kristin27]

In relation to sleeping on his side, you could put him in a bubbaroo joey pouch (you can buy them from baby stores like Baby Bunting), they're like a wrap but it's loose so he can move his arms around but can't get his hands up to his mouth to pull the dummy out. It's been a savior for me in transitioning DD from being wrapped tightly.

You could also try the cherry style dummies, they don't tend to fall out of an open mouth as easily as the orthodontic ones? Good luck!

[Ezz]

I give DS a dummy to hold & a dummy in his mouth - it stops his from pulling the one out of his mouht, because he already has one in his hand to play with.

[lestyrox]

Thanks guys..its so frustrating but good to know its just a phase..
Ezz- thanks for the tip, i'll try giving him a dummy to hold and see what happens- good idea!


Kristin27- the bubbaroo sounds like a great idea, we don't have ahuge selection of speciality shops where i am- do you think target or big w would sell them?


amberj- thanks for the advice..i love the idea of the "rain of dummies" hehe i'm off to buy some more dummies tomorrow the ones he has are getting a bit old lol. I think he might be a bit young yet to teach him to put the dummy back in but i'll give it a go! Hopefully he'll get the hang of it by 6months coz that'd be a life saver if he could just pop it back in himself.

Now he gets into bed and find a dummy and then sucks on it for like 3 seconds, then spits it out and tries another one until he's gone through them all!!

hahaha thats hilarious..kids, you gotta luv em

Today he managed to get himself onto his tummy while still in his wrap..i thought he'd go to sleep but nooooo he thinks its play time when he's on his tummy doesn't he its like a battle of wills i reckon..i keep putting the dummy in and re-wrapping him until he FINALLY drops off to sleep from exhaustion

[Lady-bug]

My son was exactly the same, wanted to be wrapped but wanted to lye on his side so I put a pillow on either side of him, to stop him rolling onto his tummy and stop him coming back onto his back, as this would wake him up.
And with the wrapping, one day I'd just had enough and put him in a sleeping bag and it was fine (I thought it would be a nightmare!). Good luck, hope you get some sleep soon!
Let me know when you sort out the dummy drama! We are in the same boat!!