This Mummy is a Dummy

Peaceful sleeping arrangements? A thing of the past! Tara's sleeping pattern had taken a funny (NOT!) turn over the last few weeks, and begun to look like this:
Daytime (ca. 10am to 12pm):
Doze at random, depending on soothing movement provided in the form of bouncing chairs, motherly embraces or moving prams (stationary prams? WahWah!), for random periods depending on continuity of movement.
Nights:
12pm to about 4am, decent sleep, largely, and most of the time.
ca. 4am, 'Mummy I'm hungry, I want some milk!', and back to sleep.
ca. 5am, 'Mummy can I have that booby back, I'd like another sip', and back to sleep.
ca. 6am, 'Mummy where is that booby again? Sucking things is so nice!', and back to sleep.
ca. 7am, 'Booby? Nipple?', and back to sleep.
ca. 8am, 'Hungry? Mummy?', and back to sleep.
ca. 9am, 'I thought we had an arrangement here? Now where's my nipple? I'm going to cry if it doesn't come back in my mouth right now!', and back to sleep. Or rather, doze, lamenting the loss of decent sleep. Even though it is very nice to be woken by my snuffling baby who knows how to find me with her eyes closed, and then opens and closes her little mouth in the direction of where she's found me.

It struck me the other day: I'm her dummy. And what is happening is exactly what anti-dummy advocates describe as the problem you have when baby gets used to her dummy, loses it in the night, and then wakes you and won't settle again till you recover it for her! But what was I going to do about it? Tara had made it clear she didn't like them!
And then came Monday night, with Tara waking up at midnight, ready to party and unable to get back to sleep; and with it came:

THE DUMMY DEBATE (Part II)
Mummy: I have a BRILLIANT idea! Wouldn't it be just WONDERFUL if it worked?
Daddy: Yes, wouldn't that be great!
(Mummy runs to dig the dummies back out, and plops one in Tara)
Mummy: My God! It works!
Daddy: My God! It works!
Both: Oh thank God for that! Hurrah!

The nights haven't improved much since. Whether she wakes me to go looking for her dummy or my nipple really comes down to the same. But they work, in the daytime as well, and yes, we are making use of them. Occasionally.
Dummy (1): Alex (0)



And while all this went on, another baby was being born, and another new mummy launched into sleepless nights. Good luck to lovely Lia and Nirit!