Dummy (pacifier/soother) addiction

My baby has an addiction to her dummy.  We gave her a dummy to help settle her when she was four days old and she loves it.  It's her best friend, her comfort, and her playmate (dummy goes in the cup, dummy comes out the cup, dummy goes in

the cup).  Some days she seems to play with it more than actually use it, but it is always nearby.

We found that in the early days we would have to go into her at night, up to eight times, to replace her lost dummy.  This was exhausting, but she did go back to sleep almost immediately once she had her best friend back.  We wondered if we should try to get rid to the dummy for good but she did love it dearly. 

My husband and I sat up one night when bubs was five months old ,and watched our precious little dummy-lover on the video monitor and saw that she was able to replace her own dummy if she could find it right beside her, but otherwise would cry for us to seek it out for her.

I then had a "light bulb" moment!! 

I swear this has changed my life!!

I went out the next morning and bought ten new dummies and that night placed them beside her in the cot, just around her head.  Eureka!!  I had found the solution to her night waking!!  My husband and I watched with glee as we saw our darling girl find a dummy each time she woke, popped it in her mouth and drift off to the Land Of Nod.  There were so many dummies that even if some rolled away there were always some close-by too. Utter bliss.  I was also so proud of my little one being able to do this at what I considered to be an early age.  She has been happily sleeping through the night since she was five months old. 

My little angel, now fourteen months old, has come to rely less on the dummy for soothing herself, but does enjoy a good squeeky suck on it.  When we watch her on the monitor we actually see her changing dummies until she finds the "perfect" one.  She may go through most of the dummies beside her before she finds the right one for that particular moment, but she is happy, and obviously the various colours taste different, even in the dark!   When we spy on her she often actually doesn't even have a dummy in her mouth at all! She seems to use it to drift off then it simply rolls out of her mouth. We replace her dummies every four weeks, which is recommended on the pack, but this little expense has made for lovely, snuggly, sleepy nights and is worth every cent!