Weaning off the dummy

[pinkhyena]

Wasn't sure where to put this but oh well.

DS is 10 months old and by the time he's 1 i'd like him to only be having his dummy at night and even then only for a short time but i'm really not sure how to wean him off of it during the day. I try to only give it to him when he's really upset and at nap times but in the last few weeks he's been teething and ill so he's had it a lot more than i'd like. We also have to hide it from him when he's happy because if he sees it and we don't let him have it he has a strop. How can I make reducing his use of it a reasonably pleasant transition? Help!

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

He's not having a strop, he just wants his comfort item and doesn't understand why you won't give it to him. Why do you want to get rid of it?

[pinkhyena]

Ok maybe that was a poor choice of words on my part, what I mean is he's normally very happy and doesn't look for it so we assume he doesn't need it. If he spots it however he makes a beeline for it I think more from habit now.

I'm concerned about his speech development mostly, when he doesn't have the dummy he babbles and chats so much but obviously when he has it he is much less 'talkative'. Also I think the guidelines are they shouldn't really have one after the age of 1? I'm willing to be corrected on that though. The other reason is that it is becoming less effective now, it doesn't calm him down like it used to which makes me think its time to move away from it.