Life As A Mom

Yaaay I have time to blog but Naaay because I’m waiting to be seen by a doctor because I am 100% sure I have tonsillitis. Who even gets that when it’s summer outside?? Oh yeah – me!

Before I had a baby I had no real opinions of dummies aka pacifiers. I mean why would I anyway? If anything I hate when toddlers have them, I find it so ugh…wrong…you know when they’re already walking and running and wanting to speak but they can’t because they’ve got that piece of **** stuck into their mouth. That I don’t like. I sometimes see like 3-4 year olds in supermarkets and parents just force dummies in their mouth. Nah. But other than that all I was hearing was how incredibly bad they are and it’s better not to give one to your baby etc. Whether it was bad for teething or hard to break the habit etc….

When Q was born we didn’t have any dummies in the house and I also assumed that it’s normal for newborns to cry – and surprise – it is! So we took it. I might have cried myself and rocked him for as long as my back couldn’t take it. I remember having moments when I was sooooo angry and even though I would never EVER (!!!!) in a million years do it, but in my head I just wanted to drop the baby on the bed and leave him there. I was so exhausted and even remember thinking “is this postnatal depression???”. And then my husband would let me sleep for an hour or two and everything was well again.

Anyway.

So the beginning was hard. And bath time was a nightmare – happy in the water but the second he got out it was just nonstop hysterical cries. We called them 5-seconds-not-breathing-cries. When his little body would just go purple and he’d be so upset he didn’t even wanna breathe. Tip here – if your baby does that, blow air into their mouth, they’ll catch up their breath straight away! Got that advice from a health visitor.

Another bad one was walks. I started going for walks with him since he was 6 days old. And in the beginning he was sleeping like a baby! But then from week 2-3 he started waking up sometimes and I literally had to stop going for walks because when he would wake and wouldn’t settle it was a real nightmare. Picking him up didn’t really work especially when he was wrapped up warm and couldn’t move his hands much etc. I remember those few times I had to “run” home with a screaming baby in the pram. Not cool, not cool.

So we were in week 5 and I had had it! I had to end that, so I went to Amazon and ordered two dummies! The next evening when the hysterical bath time was finished and he was still full on balling, I smoothly popped a dummy in his mouth and oh my days – SILENCE!

That moment I could not care any less what these people are saying who are super anti-dummies. And good for them, all babies don’t need them either. Many babies won’t even take one! So here you go. My baby needed it. And many other babies do so don’t be so hateful towards them…

For a long time it was the only thing that calmed him down, he was just not able to self soothe whatsoever.

So we used the pacifier for sleep and it worked for us.

The sleeping program we follow says that the best time to ditch the dummy is between 3-6 months. For us, the bath time cries finalllllly ended at 4 months. Gosh what a bliss! And after that I didn’t really see a reason why would I stop using it, it helped him sleep so brilliantly!

He moved into his own room after 6 months, just because he was getting way to big for his crib. And first nights were good, even first couple of weeks. I would go in maybe 1-2 times a night to give him his dummy back and maybe feed him etc but that’s it. It was fine, I was happy with it.

But then all of a sudden this bloody dummy became a real sleeping problem. I had about 3-4 days when I had to go in for like 4-5 times a night to give him his dummy back, it was ridiculous. And then sometimes I would see him from the monitor and he would just take it out of his mouth and wave it around in the air or throw it on the floor. I was just like f*** this! It clearly wasn’t helping him with sleep anymore, was it?! So the next morning I decided to make him go cold turkey.

In the Little Ones sleeping program they write pages and pages about this and whether you want to go with the quick method or the gradual method. I wanted a quick one because in my head – me and the dummy, we were over! Plus I was sick of cleaning them all the time as well.

Day one. I started with the first nap of the day and oh dear Lord what cries and protest I got. I followed the 6-minute trick. I would leave him for 6 minutes to let him calm down himself and obvs it wasn’t happening. After that I would go back in, help him settle again and would leave him again. Think the first time was the hardest, but in the end he fell asleep and slept nicely. Lunch time nap same thing again, a lot of protest, a lot of tears but in the end he slept, think he only managed 1.5 hrs out of the usual 2 but I took it, it was the first day. We get it. Afternoon nap was as bad as it could have been, made me cry. Horrendous tears. But again, we got there. That night he slept better that he had ever slept.

Day 2. Did everything the same way, still got a lot of protest but after calming him down he’d fall asleep and would have a good sleep. Even slept 2 hours at lunch time again. Night time, for the FIRST time ever, he didn’t need an evening feed around 11 which he normally has always needed. Think he fed once over night but that’s it and I had to wake him at 7.15, yup, I had to!

Day 3. Naps were getting remarkably better but still not perfect. Again no evening feed but one night time feed.

Day 4. It’s a brand new life, people!! He would fall asleep easily or with very little help from me. At night, he went to sleep 6.45pm and woke up 6.15am, didn’t even wake up once!!! Oh. My. God! I had 8 hours of sleep!!!

Day 5. His 7-month birthday! Pretty much the same, naps all easy, night time no waking up, woke up 6.30am. I mean, YEAAAH!

Basically the first day or two I was very much hands on settling him, even picked him up once or twice. But we’ve got a hand holding thing, he used to fall asleep only when he was holding my hand, and I would even stroke his back with the other hand at the same time. Every time I would also say a sleeping phrase to him (bedtime or sleepy time or whatever you wanna use but stick to one). So day by day I tried to do less and let him be on his own more. And now I just put him in his sleeping bag, give him a kiss, say the phrase, hold his hands for few seconds and he falls asleep on his own.

Today he was fighting it again a bit so after like 5 minutes from leaving him I thought I go back in in bit when I suddenly heard silence and he was fast asleep.

So overall – I am very proud of myself for sticking to my plan and very proud of my little Quinn for adapting with the new rules! Trust me, on the first day when I nearly cried myself I did want to reach for a dummy but I am so glad I didn’t!

If you wanna have more thorough dummy-rehab guide or wanna try different methods, go have a look at Little Ones website and it might be helpful for you as well. FYI – I don’t get money for talking about them, they probably won’t even ever know I exist but I’m just a very happy customer! If I was some kind of a big time blogger I’d ask for an affiliate link but I’m not. At least not yet lol.

Right, been to docs, confirmed – have tonsillitis. FML.