Weaning 3 month old from her dummy

G

Gemma

Registered User
Ladies

My 3 month old LO is a very "sucky" baby from Day 1, and was quite hard to settle as a newborn. After being told to use a dummy "liberally" up until 3 months (and I had to use it for sleep, I also have a toddler to run after), I have now been told by 2 separate paediatricians to kick the habit. Her sleep is also interrupted when she wakes at night and need something to suck on to fall back to sleep.

Can anyone advise on what the best way to do this is? I guess this really means I will have to sleep train her if I am to withhold the dummy for sleep now. Is 3 months too young to sleep train? Which method would work best for a 3 month old?

I am anxious any CIO method would wake my toddler at night, whom I only recently managed to get to sleep through the night again after 4 months of waking up screaming at night.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
My infant sucks on her blankie in her sleep and I just let this be. And I suppose you also run the risk of starting a thumb sucking habit when you take away the pacificer from a 'sucky' baby. I used the 'pick up put down' method of sleep training at 3.5 months and it worked for teaching my baby to not get rocked or nursed to sleep. There is always going to be some crying involved with sleep training - even with using gentler methods that don't involve leaving your baby to cry.

Staying asleep is another issue that we're still struggling occasionally at 7.5 months. We tried CIO at 6 months, but I sometimes still pat her back to sleep and hum a song if she's struggling to sleep. I never pick her up though.
 
my girl used a dummy A LOT. she gave it up herself when she was about 20 months old. from day one, she was very mouthy, just like yours it seems. for my own sanity, we had to introduce one to her. but after a trip to australia, where she used it the same as at home, once we got home, one day she wanted it. the next she refused it.

i don't think there is any reason to stop her using it at 3 months....if she was 3 years, then maybe that would be a problem.
 
Like Carang, my older daughter loved her dummy and we let it be until she was older. When she was about 2-2.5 years old, we really wanted to take it away from her, and by then she was old enough to reason with. I told her that we would buy her a scooter like her best friends' scooter when she threw her dummies in the bin. She wanted to do it immediately, so we made sure that she understood that she would not have the dummy ever again, and then went out and bought her the scooter right away. When she asked for the dummy later, we were able to remind her of our deal and she was accepting of it and overall it was a very easy transition.

I've just had to take the dummy away from my 2nd daughter who is 21 month old. She just had surgery to mend her cleft palate, and so cannot have it in case it damages the stitches in her mouth. It was far harder for her because a) her understanding is not AS good, and b) it was not her choice. BUT even with her, it's far easier than if I'd forced it at 6 months old (in my opinion), because she does have SOME understanding at least...

I've always heard that they shouldn't have it after 2 or 3 YEARS old - at 3 months, sucking is very normal and expected. I would research a little as to when other doctors advise to give up the dummy. If you want to do it now, go for it - but in my experience, once the habit is there, the best time to break it is when they are older...

With both my girls, the first thing I did was made sure that they ONLY had the dummy when sleeping - I did that from about 12 months old (before then, it was good to comfort them when they were upset). It took a little while to transition to that if they were used to the dummy being available all the time. From there, I just went cold turkey. In my experience, whenever I tried to do a gradual reduction from there, it just failed miserably. Cold turkey was the only way that it worked for us... of course they need a bit extra love and support in that transition time...
 
I wean my baby off pacifier when she's about 16 months. I did more or less what nicolejoy did. Before going cold turkey, we make sure we only give it to her when she wants to sleep. If she didn't, about half an hour later we took it back. Then after she fell deep asleep we took it away.If she woke up in the middle we just pat her to sleep. Did this for about 2 months.
 
I also agree it's a little early to kick the habit. My 21-mth-old was a very sucky baby and took happily to a dummy from Day 2 (he was in an oxygen tent and the midwives advised giving him a dummy as a comforter as he was sucking the skin off his own wrists). I found it quite a blessing - he settled much more easily than my elder two who both refused dummies.

I don't know when I'll wean him off it. Somewhere between age 2 and 3, I guess. He only gets given his dummies (about 5 of them!!) at nap times. And when he wakes during his nap or at night, he just reaches for a dummy and he's happily back to the land of Nod!
 
3 months does seem too early. Our 12 month old used a dummy from early on until 11 months or so - she gave it up naturally in the end without any pressure from us. It helped her get to sleep when she was a small baby and every little thing helps in the early stages!

I would say fight the important battles, don't stress the small things.
 
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