Dummy (Pacifier) habit in a 4 month old

QUESTION

I'm wondering if the dummy (pacifier) is making my little one (4 month old) not get a  restful nap. She needs it to fall asleep but wakes 30mins and 45mins for her dummy. She rarely naps for more then 30-45mins and usually wakes up cranky, like she wants to sleep more but can't. She doesn't seem rested after a nap.

Does she just need to develop her linking of sleep cycles? Or is the dummy the problem. She also wakes through the night for her dummy.

ANSWER

Dummies (pacifiers) are a lifesaver but can create habits and difficulties if managed badly.  Your baby’s day sleeps being 30-45 minutes have nothing to do with the dummy, this is often the norm for little ones. I would check if she doesn’t have reflux as this can cause sleep cycles to be very short (30 min or less) but most probably it is just a stage and she will start joining sleep cycles again as she approaches 6 months and had a sleep after a lunch. You can try to lengthen her midday sleep by offering a milk feed before it until she has lunch at midday and by playing white noise during her sleeps.

As far as the night wakings for the dummy goes – I would feed her if more than 3 hours have passed since the last feed as she may be entering a new phase of needing a little more nutrition and is thus waking at night. If you dummy her when she is in fact hungry, she will start to wake for the dummy as a habit. I would look at introducing solids at this stage if she is waking frequently at night.