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So here is how my night goes.... go to sleep, wake up to baby crying for his dummy, stumble up, put dummy in, go back to bed, eventually fall asleep again...and repeat ad nauseum.
He's like clockwork! Once every hour from 2:30am onwards. He didnt used to do this and I am getting sooooo tired.
Anyone have any ideas how to get out of this cycle? Or any words of encouragement that this might pass?!
I have had nights like this with DD. Then I tried getting her up once only, changing her nappy and giving her a feed and that stopped the up and down cycle. Now I might get up once if at all to put the dummy in her mouth.
couple of thoughts.....
I like danniellabella's suggestion - he could be a little hungry, growth spurt perhaps?? Maybe start with this one first......but even teething can cause things to go slightly off kilter :)
or
if you feel comfortable with this, you could help him learn not to need his dummy. If you are comfortable with this, I'd start with day naps first :) easier and shorter time frame so not such a hard slog iykwim?
hth :hug:
I decided to get rid of the dummy after going through this too!
that is exactly the same is ava! after 2.30am she's awake till about 4 am where i just end up giving her a feed..
Make sure he's comfortable, nappy is dry, not too hot, not too cold etc. If he's teething, then not much you can do at this age except for Panadol, which I only do if Emily is really irritable. If all else fails, then give him a feed. At around 4 months (give or take a couple of weeks) they go through a big growth spurt.
Thanks for the advice. I should have added we already do feed him once during the night, at about 3ish. From then on he sleeps badly, doing this wake up thing. Its been going on for the last several weeks, so I think its a little long for a growth spurt- more like a bad habit!
I think I will try to get him less dependant on the dummy. He has discovered his hands now and can suck on them to self-sooth a bit, so I might try swaddling him with one arm free and see how we go.....I just spoke to my MCHN as well and she recommended giving him the dummy to settle, but pulling it out before he actually falls asleep so he learns to fall asleep without it. Sounds sensible!
I was going to say, they do eventually learn how to find the dummy and put it back in themselves... I can't recall how old DD was when she learnt this but it certainly wasn't as young as 2 months!!!
I do like the other person's suggestion about offering a feed - perhaps he just needs a little extra at the moment... he might also be just changing his sleep pattern. Persevere and he will settle again soon enough. Good luck though.
My only other suggestion is to sleep when he does during the day if you can to catch up on the sleep your missing.
MG
Like MG said, he will eventually learn to find the dummy himself. I used to leave a couple in the cot for Nina, and if she woke during the night, she search for it and would always find one. She was about 6 months old at that stage.
What he's doing could be out of habit. It should be relatively easy to get him out of the habit as he's still so young. They say do the same thing for 3-5 nights, and if nothing has changed, stop and try again, or try something different in a few days time.
I had this same problem when Cooper was about 4 months.
I made a decision that we were going to get rid of the dummy and it was the best decision for us. There was a couple of nights where it was full on, but I never looked back when I made this decision.
Perhaps you could give this a try?
Mum2boy- what did you do to comfort your LO during those first nights without the dummy? How did you get him back to sleep?
Well I think around this age Cooper had picked up a comforter which was a shirt that I wore, so this helped him. You could try to introduce something like this for him.
I was told to try a few different things, some said to wean him off it slowly, but others said to just do it cold turkey, which I thought might be cruel, but that is what I went with in the end. I think if you try to wean it off him, it could prolong the inevitable. I remember the first night it was a bit of nightmare, the second night wasn't that bad and then every night got better. But remember, if you decide to go cold turkey, DON'T give in a few days later, if you feel that he isn't coping well. That would be more cruel, because it would confuse him. Also remember every baby is different, he may adjust quicker or it may take him longer.
The advantage you have, he is younger than Cooper was, so fingers cross, he could very well adjust better.
I say just go for it, persist, don't give in, be prepared for it to be hard, but you will be so much happier in the end.
Please let me know how you go - I know it was a difficult time for me, but you will be ok :hug: