The dummy fairy part 2

Update from last night..

Day one in the dummy-free house and we are all still sane. Sort of.

Eliza went to bed reasonably easily after some time wailing in my arms and begging me for her dummy. I stood fast and said no she was a big girl about a thousand times then I started talking about the present the fairy would leave in the morning and she cheered up.

Tilly on the other hand had more trouble getting off to sleep but she did eventually and both were quiet by 8.30ish.

I lifted Eliza for her loo-trip at 10ish as always and she was fine.

Then I went to bed and of course I didn't really sleep at all for the anxiety about whether or not my children would sleep.

They did.

I didn't.

Until 2.59am.

"Mummy I want my dummy! Mummeeeeeee I want my dummmeeeeee!"

I went in and sat with her for a bit, stroked her head but she was very, very loud and I was terrified of her waking Tilly. So I did the next most stupid thing to giving her her dummy back...

"Would you like to sleep in Mummy's bed?"

Tears stopped instantly.  "Yes please Mummy and can I watch telly when I wake up?"

"Yes."

It turns out that Eliza is scared of closing her eyes 'because it goes dark when I close my eyes Mummy'. So being in bed with me I could hold her hand while she closed them so she realised it was okay. I am hoping that worked but I guess we'll soon find out when she'll no doubt be expecting the same treatment at 3am tomorrow morning.

Tilly woke not long after that.  Him indoors was on Tilly-duty so he went and dealt with her. She woke again at 5am and I stumbled in to find him bent over the cot singing 'Rock-a-bye baby' to a very awake little girl. Poor sod was off at 6.30am to college, still at least he got a few hours sleep... The thing is though, that Tilly has always woken a bit during the night, and half the time giving her her dummy back doesn't get her back to sleep. She normally hits my hand away in disgust. She generally just wants a cuddle. So it's hard to tell if it's the lack of dummy or just her normal waking that's the problem.

Why have I ditched the dummy?

Just in case you were wondering why I am putting us through this I'll tell you.  Personally I have no problem with dummies as useful devices to help babies sleep. Both my girls have only ever had them to sleep with.  However lately I noticed that Eliza's two front teeth seemed to be pushing out slightly. Now this could be my imagination as I'm sure most dental professionals tell you that dummies don't harm teeth but I just don't want to take the chance with my girls' dental health. I have spent a fortune on my teeth due to all the sweets and Coke I ate and drank as a girl and I feel I should do what I can to try and avoid them going through the pain of extensive dental work (not to mention the expense!).  They also have beautiful smiles and I want them to keep them.

If, as some of the comments last night showed can happen, Eliza had given it up on her own or had just kept to it at night then I wouldn't have bothered with the stress of the dummy fairy. But she was starting to want her dummy throughout the day too and I just felt it was becoming the focus of several battles between us.

I have to say when I ditched it first time round (when Eliza was 18 months) I felt I had done it too early.  The dummy was an incredibly useful device for helping us with Eliza's routine. She has never been the type of child to just start doing things like sleeping through the night and so on, she's needed help from us in the form of rigid routine. The dummy helped signal sleep times to her. Without it I was buggered for a while really, particularly with a new baby to look after too.

So I'll see how this goes. I don't have any desire to inflict unnecessary stress on my children or indeed our family and if the lack of dummies causes many, many sleepless nights then I'll reconsider this whole thing.

In other news and talking of dental work, I am featuring a Nanny McPhee smile today after losing one of my front tooth veneers. So I am working from home as I can't get an appointment at the dentist until later. What a great start back at work...