Dummy - how to wean off?

[GillL]

DD (7 1/2 months) is getting more and more reliant on her dummy to get and stay asleep at night. Last night we had to go upstairs at least 6 times in 2 hours because she had lost her dummy and started crying. She hasn't yet mastered the art of putting it back in herself. Some nights she goes straight to sleep and stays asleep until morning but most nights she wakes up 3 or 4 times and we have to get out of bed to put her dummy back in.

Anyway, I was wondering what is the best way to go about losing the dummy. I know it's going to mean a hard few nights (so will wait til I've got some time off work) but I really hope it will solve the problem.

[littlemisspiggy]

Afraid I can't help but will bump this up as I would be interested to hear tips too. My DS is 3 and only started using one around the age of 2 but has become quite reliant on it to fall asleep. I need a non-traumatising way of 'losing' it.
Good luck!

[pablopatito]

DS (6 1/2 months) is in the same situation. We've just bought an oil-filled portable radiator from B&Q because we thought he might be waking up because he's a bit cold. Seemed to make a big difference the first 2 nights but the last 2 nights he's still woken up 3 or 4 times. We're going to just let him cry, we've tried that a couple of times and he does get himself back to sleep after about 5 minutes - its not fun though - we're hoping the crying will gradually get less as he learns to fall asleep dummyless.

The only thing I like about the dummy is he falls asleep really easily with it when we put him to bed which is nice, we can just plonk him in his cot, pop his dummy in and go back downstairs, job done.

[NannyL]

This may sound harsh but throw all dummies in the bin and get rid of them...

ok you may not have good nights for a few nights but within a week you wont regret it!

[mazzystar]

Hmmm. I suspect that NannyL is right. I think this is what we should have done, but didn't.

DS is 13months and LOVES his dummy. He only has it for sleeping. He does babysigning and has made up a sign for his dummy (which we ignore in the daytime). Bur another part (the bit that likes getting him back to sleep in less than 3 seconds) of me thinks, well the sucking reflex is there until they are three, so why not just let him give it up in his own time...... but if only we'd got rid of it before the addiction really kicked in!


Good luck

[Lucy99]

our dd is 7 months and became really reliant on her dummy when she was about 5 months, waking up all through night and immediately going back to sleep when you put dummy in. We decided to go cold turkey and binned the lot. It took about a week of crying when she went to bed but with a lot of shushing and patting she eventually went off and was fairly quick to re-settle in the night (about 10 mins as opposed to 10 secs when you put her dummy in ). It was very hard but worth it as she no longer wakes up. Think if you do decide to get rid of them it's really important not to give in as they then think that if they cry enough you'll give it back! Good luck!

[JennyWren]

My dd (5.5 months) also has a dummy for sleep times, and whilst she spits it out after she's had a suck and doesn't need it to stay asleep, and doesn't wake for it in the night, I am starting to get antsy about it. I am torn though - I'd rather she used a dummy than her thumb, because at the end of the day I can go cold turkey with the dummy but I can't chop her thumbs off. I am concerned that becoming a major thumb sucker will mean she pushes her teeth out of line, as my sister did. I'm trying to get her to cuddle a comfort blanket as well as the dummy, as she will suck a corner of the blanket too, and I'm hoping that over time she'll accept just the blanket. Has anyone tried that - any chance of it working????

[Calmriver]

It's really not something people should be stressing over, HAVE YOU EVER seen an 18 year old with a dummy in their mouths???

[chipkid]

It is a good idea to go to boots and buy about 20 dummies and scatter them over the cot mattress -that way they can always put their hand on one...has worked wonders with my 13 month old who has a dummy attachment.
Cannot bear the idea of cold turkey-maybe after Christmas

[GillL]

Thanks. I think we will go cold turkey. Agree that we should throw all the dummies away - otherwise we'll end up giving in.

I had been thinking about baby signing recently. I'm going to look into it as my husband's colleague said his dd doesn't really cry now she can tell them what's wrong with sign language. Do you know of any good online resources Mazzystar?

[mazzystar]

Sadly, I've seen of children with dummies seemingly permanently glued in their mouths who are WAY over 18 months. Children old enough and able to hold down whole conversations. But to be honest I am not that stressed about it just yet. But if anyone's got tips for the too old to go turkey easily but too young to give it to santa in exchange for presents age group i'd be grateful!

Gilil baby signing at www.tinytalk.co.uk. We go to a little local class, which is really good and fun but a bit expensive really - we go as much for the socialising as the signing. There are some signs shown onthe site, all based on BSL (ps didn't reckon much to the tiny talk DVDs etc). Also the "something special" part of the cbeebies website has some signs on it and is quite fun to use.

[GillL]

The TinyTalk site is great. I work full time so I can't get to the nearest baby signing class (which isn't really that close) so I've ordered the pack so we can learn at home. I'll have to persuade her childminder to join in too! I'm really looking forward to it now.

[matnanplus]

Calmriver:Recently saw a 13yr old with a dummy at school and she has it in classes, just can't/won't not have it!!!

Children can become thumb suckers wheather they had a dummy or not.

The best way is to start the process when you have a calm frame of mind and nothing else going on, but once you start this process if you go back after a few hours or a day then your hard work till then is lost and it will be SO much harder the next time you try it.

Maybe have a cd you play at bedtime for a week at sleep times to give a new association with sleep and then continue with that cd while you go thru the no dummy nights, it will be hard work but can really stop being a struggle within a few days, shh/calm baby and keep going into them to reassure them, i pat while in their cot so you don't disturb them like you would if you cuddle them to sleep, then they learn to settle themselves to sleep while awake in their cot and also to settle themselves at night.

A little agro for long term peace and a full nights sleep for everyone, a fair quid-pro-quo.

Idea's to lose the dummys'
[1]COLD TURKEY Is truely the best way.
[2]reduce the number to 1.
[3]give them as a 'present' to a mummy due to have a baby if you know one[don't expect her to use them tho].

GillL:There are several good books on babysigning at big bookshops with a good starter list of signs.