Weaning 6 m/o from dummy....help to re settle without it...

[Hannahbanana]

I am weaning my 6 m/o DD from her dummy in the hopes that it will help her sleep longer during the night.

I have started with the day sleeps and after a little bit of a whinge (maybe 2-5 minutes) she will go off to sleep.....my problem is that now there is no dummy she is only sleeping for the one sleep cycle...ie 40mins...and can't resettle herself to sleep longer without her dummy. I have tried to go in and resettle her with the patting and rocking in her cot but she just gets cranky and then any hope of her going back to sleep is lost even with picking her up and rocking.

Are there any other methods I could try?? She has a sleep teddy with her for comfort....

Any ideas would be very much appreciated...

[Hannahbanana]

Any ideas.....She goes off to sleep perfectly fine but just can't get to the next sleep cycle....I just caved and put her dummy so she could have a bigger sleep but I want her to learn to resettle without it......

[didispunk]

I did this with both DS and DD..

Took the dummy away gave them a blankie or a teddie and let them self sooth cry themselves to sleep.. 3 days later voila worked.. They are creatures of habbit and wont die from crying

put her to bed and go outside for a few min if you cant handle the crying.... Good luck.. short term pays off!!!

GOOD LUCK!

[Olive]

hun.
remember sucking is a very normal and natural way for bubs to go to sleep, maybe going cold turkey at 6 months is a little too much for her, can you sneak in at the 35 min mark before she wakes and pat her so she stays asleep and moves into the next sleep cycle?? this was suggested to me just this week, but i havvent had a chance to try it yet.
how often is she waking at night? can your rock her when she wakes in the night??

[Josephine]

If she can reach the dummy herself and put it in then its not considered a prop but a comfort item and is perfectly fine, she may be waking up for another reason if she doesnt really need it to fall asleep, how long is she awake for before going down for a nap? usually waking up happy from a 40-45min nap means she went to sleep undertired and therefore isnt tired enough to do another sleep cycle, if she wakes up and is grumpy/crying /irritable then its likely she needs more sleep, if thats the case then i have a gently weaning technique that you can try and I know it works because I help mothers with it all the time

[Hannahbanana]

thanks for the replies ladies,

She has sorted herself out. I think it just took her a couple of days to realise she didn't need her dummy. We had a couple of hiccups but I just persisted with the patting in her cot and she got the picture. We were also having a few - expecting a feed eveytime she woke during the night issues, but with getting rid of the dummy she is sleeping better and doesn't wake as much if at all expecting a feed. She even slept through from 8ish to 5.30with only having a dream feed which I am absolutley stolked about. Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed for a bit of consistency.

[didispunk]

Well done!