Hi Lorna, a comforter doesn't really directly replace a dummy because babies don't tend to suck on them. They do however, like to hold them. You will find that if you simply take the dummy away, he will forget about it quite quickly. In the mean time you will need to find another method to settle him with from the book. Stop the hand holding at the same time as that can also be a prop.

reply by DT-Jenny - 6 weeks ago

We've now done our first 24 hours without the dummy, and it's going OK (touch wood).

Today's Saturday; we started limiting dummy use on Wednesday. We stopped using the dummy if Niko was being soothed another way - movement in the buggy or gentle rocking cuddle before going down for a sleep. He was allowed the dummy in his cot only, and not to fall asleep on. We used Elizabeth Pantley's 'Gentle Removal Plan' where we gave him the dummy if he fussed for it but removed it before he was actually asleep. Thursday night was a bit difficult as he got worked up and needed PUPD/CD (with dummy during CD) twice but didn't actually fall asleep with it in his mouth.

Yesterday (Friday), Niko had all his naps out in his buggy, no dummy:
30 mins am; less than normal ;-(
90 mins pm followed half an hour later by another 20-25 mins

Evening routine:
Bath 18:30
B/F followed by 250ml bottle (extra-hungry formula) 18:45
Nappy check and cuddle with music
Down in bed awake 19:55 & asleep without dummy in 5 mins (no crying)

He woke grizzling at 00:35 and we picked him up after 8 minutes as he'd progressed to proper crying. We did PUPD for 20 minutes then when I put him down for CD and gave him his blankie he fell asleep almost immediately. He woke again at 01:45 and we picked him up at 01:55. He was down again at 02:03, and woke again at 05:40 when we changed and fed him, and he fell asleep after his feed and slept 'til just after 07:00, when we got him up.

Questions:
I'm pretty sure he fell asleep on the breast at his early morning feed - that's his pattern at this time of day. Should we wake him?
He doesn't seem to settle well with my husband at night but is OK with me. Should we wait until dummy training is over before working on this (and how)?
We're doing naps in buggy at the moment, any tips on when we can start putting him in his cot for naps without the dummy?

reply by lorna - 5 weeks ago

Sounds good progress.

To answer your questions:

Avoid feeding before 6am (feeding between 5 and 6am can encourage early waking which is a pain to deal with). At that point get him up for the day, so if he falls asleep wake him and put him down for a nap later. Once he is happy in his cot (or not waking before) at 6am you can make your 'get up' time 6.15 nad then 6.30 up to about o7am if that works for you/him.

You can stick with you settling him if that works better and then switch things around. It's up to you.

Bite the bullet and get him in the cot without the dummy for one nap a day. If he won't settle, set a "sleep window" of one hour, use pupdcd to make up the sleep window. If he doesn't go to sleep persist and after a couple of weeks he will start to extend. Once he is sleeping for 1 hour, you can look at encouraging a longer nap at some point during the day (usually the post lunch nap). To do this extend the sleep window to 1 hour 15 minutes and when he sleeps for that if necessary extend it again to 1.5 hours. Ifyou need to give him his other naps in the buggy because he sleeps better there with no dummy then do until he's getting better at the one nap in the cot.

You'll probably find that he'll be fine with a little bit of support from you since he's getting used to be dummy-less anyway. Let us know how you get on.

reply by DT-Elisabeth - 5 weeks ago

Today's Tuesday, Day 5 of No More Dummy.

For the past three nights, Niko's been asleep by 19:30-20:00 (depends on how long he takes over his last feed/wind) and waking between 05:40 and 06:00. We're trying to keep to a schedule of feeds starting at 06:30 as his normal sleep time is 19:30, so unless he's crying he stays in his bed and we don't go to him until it's time to get up.

We've introduced a 22:30 dreamfeed and put him in an "extra-dry" nappy overnight which I think is helping him stay down. However, the last three nights he's woken crying 45 min after falling asleep. All three times he's settled himself within 10 min, but I am wondering why he's doing this; he wasn't before.

Both Sunday and Monday Niko had a good first nap of the day in the cot. Other naps have been in the buggy.
- Sunday he slept for 45 minutes; I got him up after a further 15. I didn't use PUPD to extend as he wasn't crying.
- Monday Niko grizzled a bit (4 mins) before falling asleep and sleeping for 1 hr 40 mins.
- Today he went to sleep in his cot again and slept for 1 hour (he did wake a few times after being asleep for 35 mins but I left him to self settle). He's gone back down again now (35 mins after waking), as although he was awake and happy after his 1 hr nap he soon started yawning and fussing again. It took him 10 minutes to grizzle/cry himself down, and I left him to it as I could see the intensity of the crying was dying down as time went on and I didn't want to interrupt the process.

I'm working on extending the sleep window but Niko's always been an irregular napper - it's anybody's guess as to whether he'll be awake in 45 min or 90. How do you extend the nap when he wakes up early but obviously is not tired? (Today is unusual, he's doesn't normally need to go down almost immediately after a nap). His morning nap is also usually the only one of the day that goes on longer than 1 hr, even if he's in the buggy.

reply by lorna - 5 weeks ago

45 mins is when he's moving from one sleep cycle into the next. As he's had a few changes to get used to & you've recently ditched the dummy this is quite normal. Keep handling it the way you are - giving him plenty of chance to settle back off before you go in & keeping comforting to a minimum if you do go in & he'll soon stop waking at that point.

He's doing well with his naps considering you've recently ditched the dummy. If he wakes happy after a shortish nap there's no need to try & extend it - just put him down for another nap when he next seems tired.

Keep up the good work & keep us posted.

reply by Mentor-Sarah - 5 weeks ago

Friday = 8 days without the dummy.

Niko's routine is now asleep by 19:30, settling himself back to sleep if he wakes in the early morning (today he woke up at 05:25 but had gone back to sleep within five minutes) and waking a little later in the morning. Today he was awake just before 07:30.

Sleep log shows that he's getting an average of about three hours sleep during the day and today he went down for his first nap without crying! He took 10 minutes to fall asleep with only a little bit of grizzling and although he woke up early I was able to get him back to sleep within 30 minutes using PUPD/CD. His last nap of the day was a little stressful with 25 minutes of crying before he nodded off, but I really feel he's making progress.

I have a question about extending naps and nap windows. If you extend a nap and he goes back to sleep, do you wake him at the end of the window so that subsequent naps and feeds aren't too late, or let him wake when he's ready? Also, for a five month old who's going to bed at 19:30, what's the latest time you would recommend for a late afternoon nap to finish?

reply by lorna - 4 weeks ago

Don't wake him if you successfully manage to extend a nap. The windo only "closes" if he's still awake. He can sleep as long as he wants but wake him if he's going to go an hour past a scheduled feed time.

If his late afternoon nap's short, around 30 mins, it's fine to finish around 5pm for a 7.30pm bedtime. If he's having a longer sleep at that time, don't let him go past 4.30pm.

Well done on all your progress so far.

reply by Mentor-Sarah - 4 weeks ago

Niko woke up from his morning nap today after 45 minutes, but went back to sleep after 15 minutes (by himself, no assistance from me) and slept for another 2 1/2 hours! I woke him at 12:30 as Sarah suggested as it was almost an hour past his lunchtime. However, he got cranky again much faster than is usual for him after a long nap and was back in bed asleep by 14:10.

I don't usually need to wake him from naps so I was wondering, if you wake the baby up is it normal for him to be tired again early, even if his previous nap was quite long? He did seem reluctant to wake but then was quite cheerful.

reply by lorna - 4 weeks ago