3.4yo son still has dummy at night

[BotBotticelli]

Starting to get lots of 😱 faces about this from my husband's family.

Is it the worst thing possible??

He only has it at night time. Has a massive vocabulary and very straight teeth.

We have an 8mo baby too who is a hideous sleeper. We are often up 3 times per night with the baby and the only good thing about nights in our house at the moment is that DS1 sleeps from 7-7 (with his dummy).

Is it ok that I just cannot face the dummy fairy at the moment? Until the baby is sleeping a bit better??

And please can someone reassure me that it won't be that bad, removing the dummy, when we decide to do it?? Ds is very attached to it for nighttimes. Proper sobbing on a couple of recent occasions when we thought we had lost it 🙁🙁🙁

[TheSkiingGardener]

Give yourself, him and the baby a break. In an ideal world he world happily hand over his dummy at 1 saying "Prithee mother, I don't need this!"

But this is real life. He is doing fine and the time will come when he will not need it so much. We tried taking DS's dummy away at 3. He decided he didn't want to be 3, didn't want presents, didn't want a party. All because of losing his dummy. So he's keeping it for a little longer at night. We'll work on it and it will happen.

[SparkleSoiree]

My daughter finally handed us her dummy when she turned five years old. She used to have two, one for her mouth and another for her hand that she played with. She never had a special cuddly toy. She's nearly 16 now and has lovely teeth!

[spanky2]

There's a book I think it's called the noo noo tree. He's only little. Does it matter?

[MarasmeAbsolu]

DD2 is 3.5, and has three dummies atthe sam time at night (which she "rotates")
not so much during the day, but it sometime happens

I do not give a crap about what friends/family/randomers think.

each child their rythm (DD1 pretty much binned them herself when she was 18 months)

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

We got rid of the dummy on ds' 4th birthday which happened to coincide with Easter weekend. He was extremely attached to it and I'd tried a couple of times before and it was hideous. When we did it the Easter bunny came and traded it for a dinosaur egg and all was well. We've had a few whinges but nothing major, you'll do it when you're all ready.

[AuditAngel]

Our dentist said that as long as we ditched the dummy at 3 DS's teeth would be unaffected. We made him go cold turkey on his 3rd birthday. It was surprisingly successful.

Sounds like I'm about to put the boot in?

DD1 was a thumb sucker, until we went away when she was 13 months and left teddy at home. After a hideous 2 week break, she didn't go back to her thumb. 3 months later DS found the dummies I had hidden 3.5 years before and DD1 stuck one in her mouth. We rocked on until her 3rd birthday, and tried to get her to go cold turkey like DS. She just reverted to her thumb.

We are still trying to keep her thumb sucking to bedtime. She is 9

Someone "helpful" tried to get me to take DS's dummy away the Christmas after he was 2, I pointed out he was due a new sibling, and it probably wasn't the best time.

My suggestion would be, try to keep it to bedtime.

[clarella]

It's really hard as if you looked at it naturally, some children would still be having bf at night at that age (I know of some) - if mum could hack it! I thumb sucked till my mother offered me £5 around 4 or 5. Worked well! So I'd leave it for a bit longer. I still bf my 3.5 year old (not at night - I couldn't hack it!) so I feel it can be a need for some children.

The only thing I'd worry about is teeth. I don't know about dummies and teeth and cavities. Incidentally, though a bit sticky out, I have never had a filling.

[clarella]

Don’t judge the Beckhams. Dummy or breast, small children need comforting http://gu.com/p/4beet?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

[Seeyounearertime]

My little girl is over 3, shell have her dummy at night until she doesnt want it any more. If someone judges me negatively for letting my LO hve something that comforts her, that says more about the judger than the judgee. Iyswim.

[SandyAndy]

My DS reluctantly gave up his beloved 'dum' just before his 4th birthday, I never thought he'd have it that long but he had only had it at bedtime since he was 2, and boy did he love that dum.
In the end I knew it was time for the dummy fairy to come, within a couple of nights he was fine.
You'll know when the time is right, try not to worry what other people are saying, you know your child best.

[StrawberryLeaf]

We got rid at about 3 years 8 months. I thought she'd have it forever but then there was a toy she desperately wanted and one day I said, we will get it tomorrow if you give up the dummies and she agreed! We didn't have one tear, I was gone smacked.

So my tip is to wait until you think they are ready and find something they want more than the dummy - something will turn up!