6 month old and dummy/sleep issues - desperate please help

[Let it be]

Please help. I have twin 6 almost 7 month old baby girls. One twin is an angel, takes a dummy, smiles almost all day and has good naps twice a day. The other well where do I start! Lol she is somewhat more difficult. She flatly refuses to take a dummy, cries, no make that screams herself to sleep no matter what I do. I know that if she would just take a dummy it would sooth her, but on the rare times I've got her to suck it as soon as she can feel herself going to spits it out. She tends to only sleep for between 10-30 minutes twice a day at the mo. Which I know people say she just might not need as much sleep but when she gets up she is still tired and then miserable. She then wants constant attention or she just screams and wails. It means even getting showered and dressed is now proving impossible and my poor 4 year old son isn't getting any quality time whatsoever.

Sorry this is a bit of a long winded rant but I just wondered if anyone had some advice on getting her to take the dummy or sleep longer. Having twins and a 4 year old is hard enough and she just makes it so much more difficult and it really distresses me hearing her screaming herself to sleep all if the time - she even does this when you try to cuddle her to sleep - she really fights against cuddles

 

[susywoosy]

Oh dear. That sounds like it must b very difficult. I'm having similar issues with my DS who is 4 months old & trying to juggle him and his big sister who is 2 and a half.

My DS has never been a great feeder. Quick, short sessions on the breast and ending with him falling asleep. I then moved on to expressing and bottle feeding but the bottle was an issue. We persisted and he got better with it but wasnt taking many feeds throughout the day. This didnt affect his weight gain so we werent overly worried.

We moved from bf to formula after my supply diminished following a bad infection and antibiotics. I was so stressed about everything, i thot that i'd just make the move to formula to take stress out of building up my supply again. That didnt go well. He was taking 9-10 oz all day. Was crying cos he wS hungry but refusing to eat. Get him into DR and he thinks DS has milk intolerance so he's now on soya based formula, eating better but very constipated. Cries a lot of the day. Never seems happy & fighrs sleep. Its so hard. He has been taking a dumny for small periods but its a fight too and it does soothe him.

so i suppose this loooong post has been a chance fir me to vent & to say i feel your pain. I'll b interested to c if anyone has a suggestion x

 

[erinprime]

I have only been able to find one kind of pacifier (dummy) that my little girl will take... she spits out all normal pacifiers, and I have tried every brand out there! The one she will take, and is now obsessed with, is called a wubbanub. It is connected to a little stuffed animal thingee. It is actually quite convenient now because it is big enough that she can find it anywhere in the crib on her own and it doesn't fall through the bars. You can buy them on Amazon.

https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71BwDrCvCOL._SL1500_.jpg

I have two so I can throw one in the washing machine whenever I am doing a load of laundry.

 

[makemeamammy]

Have you tried different types of dummy? Mine would only take a mam dummy for a long time but then hated the mam 6+ months ones so now takes an avent - fussy madam

I know you're not supposed to do this but if it was me I would try and put a little of something tasty on it like a little bit of jam. Very naughty but your LO is over 6mo so I don't see the harm maybe if you do this a few times she will just naturally start to like it x

 

[susan_1981]

My son at 6 months started waking every half hour. We'd already got rid of the dummy at about 3 months as every time it fell out of his mouth, it woke him up and he cried for it. At 6 months, he was in his own room but would wake up every 30-60 minutes if we were lucky. This went on for a while but it was awful. I was grumpy, he was grumpy. So we did controlled crying. I know not for everyone and not everyone agrees with it but I tried it and it worked a dream. By night 2, he slept for 4 hours straight and night 3, he slept from 8pm until 5am, had a bottle then back to sleep until 8am. He still wakes up earlier than I'd like but I'm used to it now. He can wake any time between 5 and 6am.

But if you are comfortable with trying it, I definitely recommend controlled crying. After the second night, not only was I much happier, so was my son. Lots of my friends have also tried it with great success but like I said, it's only something you can do if you are comfortable with. Plus depends on if your babies are sharing a room? As one crying may wake the other x

ETA: Just thought, does she have a comforter? My son loves his and it really helps him to sleep. He likes to have it over his face which makes me a bit anxious but he's always been fine! x

 

[history_girls]

Another fan of the comforter here. We ditched the dummy at nighttime at 7 months and she had a comforter instead.

At bedtime she whacks her comforter about her head or chews it or sucks it then holds it tight and falls asleep.

We also used controlled crying but I understand that's not always possible or what people feel comfortable doing.

We went from awful sleep to 13 hours in about a week.

 

[Let it be]

Thank you everyone for your replies, I have ordered one of those dummies. I have literally tried every kind of dummy, I have spent a fortune on them.

She does have a comforter, well she has a few now but she isn't attached to any of the, - hence why I keep buying new ones for her to try

Thankfully touch wood she is a good sleeper of a night (apart from the other night when she woke at midnight till 2.30 ). They both sleep from around 7.30 till 7.30/8 so I know I am so lucky there, it's during the day and getting her off to sleep she literally screams the place down and during the day won't stay asleep. This afternoon she would sleep for 10 minutes then wake up screaming then fall back to sleep fir 10 minutes then wake up screaming again. This went on for about an hour. They were both in the same cot but during the day now I have started putting them in separate rooms as it is disturbing her sisters sleep.

I have tried controlled crying as it worked when my son had a wobble at about a year. She just gets more and more frustrated by me walking out of the room but I will persevere. I've also dipped a dummy in just about everything I can think of, she just sucks it off then spits it out.

She did have some reflux issues and problems with milk (they are both on soya milk now) when she was little - they both did but her sister doesn't react like this to sleep and I know that dummies can help with reflux. We are back at the consultants this week so maybe I might raise it with them.

Thanks again everyone I really appreciate your answers

 

[Kanichen34]

It's tough, I think your key is here to try and get a few decent naps in to try and combat the over tiredness. Will she sleep in the car? Buggy? In a wrap/carrier? Will she sleep in your arms? It might be a pain but I'd spend a few days getting her to sleep anyway you can, and if that means driving for 40 mins so be it. My LO had to be either fed to sleep, or bounced to sleep - or both simultaneously! Hubby managed to break this habit once she was about 8 months old by holding her close to his chest shushing her and rubbing her back. Now she willing just lays on his chest for naps.

Have you tried singing? White noise? I run an air cooler in my daughters room all night as white noise. Classical music?