Discovery Home & Health

My 13 month old has never slept well from birth. I regret introducing a dummie in the early months, some nights I could go in every hour to replace it in her waiting mouth. With help from my health visitor I did try and remove it from her, but the crying was too much, it has settled down now, and it is no longer the problem. She is now very restless in her sleep and seems to be having bad dreams which make her cry out, so I go in and give her the dummie, which calms her but only for a while. Smetimes it is only 3 or 4 times a night but sometimes it can be continuous. I watched a programe on 'night terrors' and although this was with adults, I'm getting increasingly concerned that this might be what is affecting her. It doesn't seem to be because she is cold or too hot. Her bedtime routine is perfect, she goes to bed without any trouble and doesn't actualy wake during the night. Any hints, tips or suggestions are most welcombe, I'm beggining to feel depressed with the lack of sleep and no solutions to the problem.

I have the same problem with my 4month son and it gets extremly tirin as i am a single mum.I too regret giving my son the dummy and have tried takin it away but the cryin gets too much i would appreciate if u get any advice on this matter u would pass it on. I totally sympatise with u!

So far I have not come across a completely crying free way to wean babies of the dummy. However the younger they are the more likely they are to forget about the dummy soon.
Maybe try a gradual approach. First do not give them the dummy when they have their day naps for a few days and only let them have it in the evening and in the night. Then only give it at night and eventually not at all. I must admit we went through it "cold turkey", it took 2 days and we made sure that our little boy was tired and ready to go to bed. So when you take a waythe dummy at night maybe keep them up for an extra 30 minutes or so? Its a difficult one to do and I wish you good luck.
The restless sleeping has often to do with the heat or any noise outside, teeth or even dreams. Not necessarily nightmares more excitement they get overstimulated so easily. Our little boy was always restless and would wake up in tthe night when the grandparents were visiting. He wanted to play with them and have their attention.
Try a sleep diary to see if there are particular events during the day which may trigger restless sleeping.
PS on the dummy thing- I heard about one mum who cut the teat of the dummy a little smaller day by day so eventually the babies did not like the dummy anymore and there was nothing left to suck. I think it is not recommended in this country to cut teats so I personally would not advise it but it may be worth discussing it with the health visitor??

I wpuldn 't get rid of the dummy too quickly unless you want a nail biter, thumb sucker or hair twiddler!! My 4 year old is neither but gave up her bedtime dummy when she was ready to do so. I just used to keep spares by my bed and stick one in when they woke as babies.

I got my first daughter off her dummy by cutting the teat part off. It got to the point she only held it anyway and I told her it was broken and mummy would buy a new one but I kept "forgetting". After a month or so she never bothered with it. My second daughter never had a dummy as she is a thumb sucker and I cannot cut her thumbs off. The dummy thing sure worked for us though.

I got my daughter off the dummy by waiting until she was 90% asleep & then gently pulling out of her mouth.Beware it takes a good 2 weeks for them to learn to fall asleep without it.

GOOD LUCK!!