Sleeping FAQ: 8-12 Weeks – Settling/Sleep Association

Should I just go “cold turkey” taking my 11 week old daughters dummy away as she only needs it to settle in the early morning?

My 11 week old daughter is waking at around 4.30/5.00 every morning for the last week. She settles well in the evening and only has 3 hours (sometimes less, as the lunchtime nap often goes wrong) sleep in the day. I am concerned it is linked to her becoming dependant on her dummy as when I go in and give her a dummy she goes back to sleep, sometimes waking again but then settling once the dummy is in her mouth. She will then sleep often past 7am; I always wake her by 7.30am. She is kept awake for 1 hour from 10pm to 11pm each night and takes 4-6 oz then. I have not fed her in the night for 4 weeks now. Should I go cold turkey with the dummy? She does not have the dummy when she goes to sleep at 11pm.

My daughter is fed with expressed milk and formula.

She takes 4ozs expressed and 3ozs formula at 7.30am, 10.30am and 2.30pm. At 6pm she takes 4ozs expressed and 4ozs formula, at 10pm she takes 2ozs expressed and 3ozs formula.

She weighs 11lbs.

My daughter naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2pm and 4.30-4.45pm.

Your daughter has done well to sleep through from an early age but to avoid her beginning to need the dummy to help her settle to sleep at other times in the day, it would be best to get rid of it soon.

Be aware that there is often a growth spurt in the twelfth week so your daughter may show signs of hunger at some feeds. Providing you increase her daytime feeds to meet her needs you will know that your daughter is not waking through hunger during the night. She should soon learn how to settle herself back to sleep in the early hours.

To help your daughter settle back to sleep in the early morning make sure she is well tucked in. If she is in a lightweight sleeping bag use a cotton sheet and light cotton blanket stretched lengthways across her and tucked well down the sides of the cot using rolled towels to secure them.

If your daughter becomes very distressed when she is trying to settle, check her at regular 10-15minute intervals and reassure her with your voice.

It may help you to look at the case study of Harry aged 15 weeks in The Complete Sleep Guide, page 82, which deals with dummy withdrawal. As your daughter only uses the dummy in the early morning it should not take her too long to learn to settle with out it.