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Behaviour/development

Is it time to ditch the dummy?

6 replies

MrRabbitsUtopia · 29/08/2014 15:00

My 17 month old DD has a dummy when she goes to bed at night, for naps and if were in the car for long journeys. She occasionally will help her self to one from the drawer and I let her suck it and play but I normally take it away from her as she doesn't need it. Following the dentist today DH and I know we need to have a plan to get her off it but we're at loggerheads. Should we:

A) take it away, cold turkey and be done with it. It might be really hard but she will get over it.

B) cut down dummy time, so remove dummies from drawer so she only ever has them when in bed at night and naps, maybe reducing by taking it away from naps and then finally away altogether by the time she hits 2.

C) wait until she is a little older and go down the dummy fairy route/giving them to a baby because she's now a big girl, hoping that she will be old enough to understand the process.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

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should · 29/08/2014 15:03

Has the dentist said she's got issues with her teeth?

DS has his for naps and at night. He's allowed it after he's brushed his teeth at night and until he brushes them in the morning.

He's 20 months and I'm planning to use the dummy fairy to get rid, but not until he's 3 probably. Before he's really able to understand the concept I think it's unfair to go cold turkey unless they are really causing a problem with teeth.

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Bugaboom · 29/08/2014 18:51

We started limited to just nap and bedtime when ds was 22 months. I don't think we'll worry about getting rid of it until he is 3. I'd remove from the drawer and limit to sleeping. It really wasn't a big issue cutting back and it sounds my ds had his dummy much more than your dd

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MrRabbitsUtopia · 29/08/2014 20:46

Thank you for responding. No problems with her teeth right now but he said it would cause problems that could be corrected if she stopped. I asked if cutting it down would be a good idea and he basically said no, she needs to stop. I can understand how the dentist has to have a no dummy party line and I don't feel that worried as I know that lots of children have dummies and not all of them have issues. I don't think she sucks it for that long anyway, it drops out as soon as she's asleep. I imagine problems would occur if a child was actively sucking it for a substantial period of time or using it a lot during the day. The reason I used a dummy with DD was because I sucked my thumb until I was 15 and I do have an overbite as a result. DH is more concerned and wants to ditch it sooner.

I think I'll cut it back and aim to get rid by 2, I just have to convince DH!

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MiaowTheCat · 29/08/2014 21:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

olivesnutsandcheese · 31/08/2014 22:40

We went cold turkey with dummy removal when DS was 18months. We waited until all his teeth had come through (minus the second molars).
For 2/3 nights he took up to an hour to go to sleep but otherwise he just got on with it. I think it helped he was too young to speak so couldn't ask for it Grin

I'm so glad we did it at that age. DS has just turned two and I would not want to be doing that battle now - don't talk to me about the milk bottles though Blush

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CulturalBear · 01/09/2014 11:32

Watching with interest as DS (13mo) is a 'sucker'. What exactly did the dentist say the problems would be? Misalignment or tooth decay?

My concern would be that removing it too early would get DS sucking his thumb instead, which surely does more damage in the misalignment stakes (especially as you can't donate that to a thumb fairy).

And sucking does produce saliva which assists with acid neutralising, does it not?

I'm quite surprised that a dentist would take a hard line on dummies over thumbs - health visitors etc are against them because they can hinder speech development. Never heard of a dental line before...

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