Baby getting frustrated trying to self soothe with hands but can't!

Hello,

I am a returning user having used this site a couple of years ago for my early waking daughter.

I now have a little baby boy who actually has been a fairly good newborn sleep wise ( df then only one waking in the night for feed). However a problem has been creeping up in that he has been swaddled since birth and we have mainly continued with this as his hands used to wake him up when we've tried him one or two hands free. This has been the startle reflex but now is him trying to suck his fists or fingers. We also have increasingly been using the dummy as he needs to suck to sleep.

What's happening now is that he is getting his arms to the top of the swaddle and trying to suck through the swaddle when he stirs in the night (as dummy has fallen out). A couple of times he has gone back to sleep by himself but more and more he is not as he is getting frustrated as he doesnt have the control yet. increasingly I find I am going in and putting the dummy in to prevent an over tired baby being even harder to settle. It is effecting naps too / he now stirs after 25/30 mins when befor he would do at least 45mins (longer nap not developed yet despite a lot of effort to do so).

I know the advice will probably be to get rid of the dummy / swaddle but I am just not sure he will be able to do it as the problem is he wants to self soothe with sucking fingers but just doesn't have the control yet.

My daughter had a dummy until about 5 or 6 months and just gave up the dummy herself when she had thumb sucking control!

My question is whether you have any suggestions...I'm thinking I might just have to wait it out and carry on with dummy plugging until I am more confident that he can self soothe sucking his fingers. But I thought I would ask to see what you thought...

Thanks a lot.

written 16 weeks ago by Sleepy10170 - 4 replies - viewed 96 times

labels: Self soothing | self settling

Category: Other Stuff

Post Your Reply

Your membership has expired. You can no longer post replies or create new topics. To restore full access to the Baby Sleep Answers forum you must renew your membership.