Unswaddling with a dummy
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Printed Date: 17 August 2025 at 4:10pm
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Topic: Unswaddling with a dummy
Posted By: RubyG
Subject: Unswaddling with a dummy
Date Posted: 16 November 2009 at 2:53pm
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After a week of having to replace DS's dummy about 5 times a night I have decided to start wrapping him with one arm out so he can learn to suck his thumb.
Have had a go for two sleeps and all he does is pull the dummy out with his free hand. I am hoping you can share any tips you have if you have done this before...? I want to give this a try first before getting rid of the dummy completely. Any advice welcomed ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: Madiandmini
Date Posted: 16 November 2009 at 3:02pm
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Heya,
My babies nearly one, she's had a dummy since 2 months and swaddled til 7months. Once she got to around 5 months she began wriggling out of her wrap, and pulled out her dummy which always woke her up. In my experience ( as she was waking up around 10+ times a night for her dummy at that time) we took away the swaddle and it took about a week for her to learn not to pull out her dummy. I also started with just one arm unswaddled, then once she got used to that both arms out.. It helped us to hold her arms firmly until she fell asleep. (She was a side sleeper) Hope that helps!! Good luck  ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Blankney94
Date Posted: 16 November 2009 at 5:50pm
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Thanks for asking this q. Will be interested in your replies. We have a 9 mth old who still sleeps swaddled. She will sleep very occasionally not wrapped if very tired. Otherwise she flings her toys and dummy around the cot and has a great old time (except not much sleep). Is nice and convenient for me to keep wrapping etc knowing she will sleep, but I have to draw the line somewhere. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Madiandmini
Date Posted: 16 November 2009 at 6:04pm
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I was absolutely terrified of getting Madison out of her wrap, but I was surprised to find it relatively simple it took just under a week, and I ended up changing the way she slept.( E.g patted or rubbed her back, gentle pressure to stop her flailing her arms around)
Goodluck! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 16 November 2009 at 6:08pm
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we took E out of the wrap i think about 5-6 months and still was replacing the dummy for 1-2 months after that..made little difference and he wouldn't suck his thumb and still has a dummy(only in bed) at 21 months:( ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: Natalie_G
Date Posted: 16 November 2009 at 8:37pm
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It did take Arianne a while to be able to put the dummy in her mouth on her own during the night, I wouldn't dream of taking it away now although I have tried many times hoping she will learn to suck her thumb, but no.
She has about 3 dummies in the cot when she goes to sleep and they all end up on the floor by morning. And guess what's the first thing she does when taken out of the cot....she hunts for all the dummies, its rather funny she will have 1 in her mouth and 1 in each hand hehe. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 17 November 2009 at 12:18am
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LOL Callum goes to bed with 3 dummies now too
Callum had a dummy from birth and was swaddled till he was 6.5 months. Up until our recent trip home he only needed the dummy when he first went to bed and after that he would self settle. So when we stopped swaddling he would go to bed in his sleeping bag, arms out, and kind of just ignore the dummy although there was a wee bit of going back in to replace it a couple of times in the beginning. When he was overtired we would sometimes have to gently hold his arms down till he went to sleep. Actually thinking about it now, we had more probs with him spitting the dummy out on purpose and then wondering where it had gone  And that was before he could put it back in (he soon learnt lol).
It might seem like forever at the moment but he'll probably realise it's better not to pull the dummy out fairly soon (or learn how to get it back in). How old is your DS? ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: RubyG
Date Posted: 17 November 2009 at 8:55am
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DS is nearly 6 months
When he is tired he will suck his thumb - put him in bed and wont have a bar of it. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 17 November 2009 at 8:15pm
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Jake plays with his and wont go to sleep, he does wake at night and will want it to go back to sleep..
We still swaddle him but loosely so he doesnt play with his toys and dummy.. if he isnt very tired he will get out of the wrap and play until he is tired. I know we should stop it but its just convenient right now... -------------   
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Posted By: CarrieMum
Date Posted: 18 November 2009 at 12:12am
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Our bub is 6 months old and we've recently weaned him off the wrap and he still has a dummy.
Cold turkey wrap weaning worked well for overnight but I had to do gradual weaning (one arm out etc) for day sleeps. Daniel has now learnt to take the dummy out and put it back in again himslef. Now he often takes it out and plays with it for a bit and then will put it back in. Sometimes he'll get it in the wrong way but he'll just keep fiddling til its right. I think getting rid of the wrap has helped us as I usually only have to go in to him once or twice overnight now and that's generally because he's woken himself up by rolling onto his tummy and can't get back Hopefully that will be a short lived problem too.
Good luck RubyG. Your bub might surprise you and learn how to put the dummy back in pretty quickly? ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: RubyG
Date Posted: 18 November 2009 at 10:42am
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Thanks everyone - CarrieMumToBe how long did it take for him to learn to put the dummy in - and did he have trouble finding it if he dropped it?
Also he rubs his face lots - DS seems to drop the dummy and cant find it so rubs his face and keeps himself awake. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Blankney94
Date Posted: 18 November 2009 at 11:56am
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We've got lots of face rubbing / eye rubbing here too. It's not necessarily that she's tired cos often it's within half an hour of her just having a sleep. Not sure what it is, but don't see anything obvious wrong with her eyes. So how long for learning to put the dummy back in on own after weaning from wrapping? Brooke 9 mths old. And for teaching them to put the dummy back in themselves, how long did you wait each time before re-inserting dummy yourself..... or did you make them figure it out for themselves totally? ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: CarrieMum
Date Posted: 19 November 2009 at 10:22am
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RubyG, Daniel has been putting his dummy back in himself for about 4 weeks now, he is 6 months old.
We just kept handing it to him and let him fiddle around with it until he got it in himself. Not if he was really upset though, then I'll just pop it in myself. Sometimes in the night he'll knock it too far away from him with all his wriggling and cry out for it but thats only a few times a week now. A few months ago I was getting up 5-6 times a night to replace his dummy but now thats hardly ever. Not that its all plain sailing though, we have a new problem...we just got back from overseas and he's waking up at 4:30am and not going back to sleep!  ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Blankney94
Date Posted: 20 November 2009 at 4:38pm
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Brooke is usually sleeping right through without a dummy replacement. We are quite happy about that, and see no need to take it off her, for now. Definitely don't want to keep wrapping her though. The sooner we can remove that, the better. We have just shifted house (from one house to another on the same property) so am not wanting to change anything too soon. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Sarah267029
Date Posted: 18 April 2021 at 10:31am
| I found it really hard with our baby, I used https://www.freestufffrenzy.com/free-nuk-pacifier/" rel="nofollow - https://www.freestufffrenzy.com/free-nuk-pacifier/ and he wouldn't put it down. |