Ah that brings back memories of my DD. She also rejected the dummy (she would dry wretch) but I wish I persisted as my boob was used as a relacement and that set off a vicious cycle of comfort sucking, lots of wind, lots of crying and then of course very little sleep. I wish I persisted with the dummy.
I have just read about dummies in the book Baby Whisperer and the author is all for dummies as she believes babies are natural born suckers. She suggests to try different types/brands and PERSIST - dont let baby win! Also try placing the dummy in with nipple pointing towards roof of mouth instead of on the tongue and hold it there gently. Something she said that I thought was spot on was that when babies are settled with a feed and rocking that is how they will expect to be put to sleep every time and they are clever and will often reject the dummy as they will prefer mummys nipple especially if it's given often when wanted. Perhaps you could keep trying a dummy and maybe she will hopefully give in and take it??!!
My son loves the Nuk dummies and I held off until he was three weeks old but found I couldn't hold or settle him as he just wanted to 'eat' me! It took a little while for him to take it but yay!! thankfully he did!! He went from waking every hour for a feed to 2, 3 and now 4 hours and even 7 hrs at night!! The dummy definately helped stretch out his feeds and helped him sleep better and he has become a lot happier baby and doesn't have as much wind. I can now just wrap him and put him down for a sleep with a dummy and he puts himself to sleep. My DD NEVER did this and didn't sleep until she was 3 so I am so cheering for dummies at the moment, they are a god send. Fingers crossed and best of luck! Thinking of you through this difficult time.
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Me 32 DH 30
Our loves of our life:
DD 3 years
Baby Harrison born 19/3/08