Dummy in, dummy out

Dummies have been a hot topic for the last few days. After reading about "controlled crying" we found that he really is too young to be left to cry for any time. So our strategy now is to stay with him until he seems happy and settled - not necessarily asleep - and to return to him if he cries. This is repeated as necessary until he goes to sleep and stays asleep.

If he gets upset going to bed we now give him his dummy in his cot. He seems to be calmed by this. He has used it to go to sleep in the day for a long time so it makes sense that he might want it at night too. Hopefully he will not start to drop it then wake up and cry for it. He does drop it but seems not to need it once he has gone to sleep.

Talking of dummies, today we saw him do something for the first time. He took his dummy out of his mouth, kept hold of it by his side for a few seconds, then managed to put it back in. It may sound trivial, but it is a level of co-ordination previously not achieved. Next stop, working the microwave.