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Parenting

Best way to get rid of the dummy?

31 replies

gemloving · 14/10/2021 11:47

We left it late due to convenience but I really noticed the gap between my sons teeth this morning (he'll be 3 in January) and it actually made me feel like a shit mum because I caused this. I'm quite sure his lisp stems from that.

How did you do it? What's your success story? X

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gemloving · 14/10/2021 11:48
  • it's only for nighttime, he doesn't have it during the day.
OP posts:
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Lazypuppy · 14/10/2021 11:51

We did dummy fairy.

Got dd to put her dummy in a special box then went to bed, and then nezt morning there was a present from the dummy fairy.

Took about 3 nights of tears and then she was fine.

You have to go cold turkey

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ElspethFlashman · 14/10/2021 11:54

I did it the cowardly way!

We said nothing, and snipped it with a pair of nail scissors.

When they noticed, you say oh that happens, you probably bit it in your sleep, don't worry.

They lose interest after a while.

So we never actually stopped them, they stopped themselves because they weren't working.

That said my eldest has an oral fixation and we did end up buying him Chew Buddies as he was chewing his clothes to bits. But that's not typical.

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twirlinginthesnow · 14/10/2021 11:55

Dummy fairy both times at a similar age to you. Dummy in a bag by the child then back up to the bedroom later to find dummy replaced with a toy of their choice (a cuddly one so they could cuddle in bed in place of dummy). Then cold turkey. Bin them all!

No issues either time.

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EsmeeMerlin · 14/10/2021 12:03

We got rid of ds1’s when he was 18 months old and just chucked them
in the bin and he went cold turkey. He was a little fussy for about 2 days but soon got used to it.

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Theforest · 14/10/2021 12:09

Mine put it on the Christmas tree for Santa to collect and give to newborn babies. And a gift in return. Worked fine.

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Fallagain · 14/10/2021 13:16

Dummy fairy and cut the teats and put them in the bottom of the wheelie bin so you aren’t tempted to give them back to him in the middle of the night.

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HollyBollyBooBoo · 14/10/2021 13:18

Dummy fairy! Also used nappy fairy and bottle fairy.

Wave them off in a pretty gift bag for the real babies in the World. They weren't ever mentioned again.

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Rno3gfr · 14/10/2021 13:23

Don’t worry too much about the teeth. I took my son (3 in December) to the dentist yesterday and he said that, although ideally the dummy usage would be reduced, that it’s not a big problem for baby teeth.

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GoodnightGrandma · 14/10/2021 13:24

We had about 3 or 4. When we were out we would ‘lose’ one, I actually put it in the bin, until there were none left.

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agirlnamedjen · 14/10/2021 13:28

DD was around 18 months when we got rid of hers. We gave ours to the dummy fairy, we made a fairy garden outside and I hyped it up loads for a couple of days, read stories etc then we got up one morning and I said "let's give your dummies to the fairies today, they might leave you something to say Thankyou".
She Put them outside in her fairy garden then while she was eating her lunch I snuck outside and swapped them for a couple of sticker books and a new toy. She was so excited to see what they'd left. She asked once for it that night and I reminded her about giving it to the fairies, she accepted that and has never asked again. Good luck!

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notacooldad · 14/10/2021 13:29

DS1 dropped his dummy and I deliberately stood on it and said ' oh no, it's broke. It had better go in the bin. HE was upset for a short while but in all honestly it was something I wished I never started. I didn't let DS2 have one as he didn't need it either.

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FuckmyHead · 14/10/2021 13:32

@Theforest

Mine put it on the Christmas tree for Santa to collect and give to newborn babies. And a gift in return. Worked fine.

This is what worked for us also (after the dummy fairy failed), Dd got an extra special present and a soft cuddly toy to sleep with and that was it dummy was no more.
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Alicesays · 14/10/2021 13:33

It was traumatic when DC gave the dummy up at 3, I have to be honest. She wanted a particular toy so we took it in and gave all the dummies to the sales assistants in exchange for the toy. We started prepping her a few days in advance saying that we had to give them to the new babies. The told her the sales assistant would give them to the new babies. She was happy as a clam until bed time and cried for them for three nights, it broke my heart, and hers. But she did get over it and it was the right thing to do for teeth and speech. Good luck.

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JollyHostess · 14/10/2021 13:33

Yes to Father Christmas. He arrived to collect them at the front door when DC were in the bath and always left a little toy.

I'm quite staggered at my elaborate lies looking back 😂

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Alicesays · 14/10/2021 13:34

I would recommend getting rid of every single one in the house, out of the house. If we had any left I would have caved and given them back to her.

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Billandben444 · 14/10/2021 13:35

We also snipped away at the last one until in the end there was nothing to suck!

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FuckmyHead · 14/10/2021 13:36

We did build up to it in the lead up to Christmas so she knew as such what was going to happen

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AlphaJura · 14/10/2021 13:39

Dummy fairy. My ds was similar age to yours, he only had it at night from age 2. He put it in the hedge outside and the 'fairy' left him some money to buy a treat. He coped with it fine. He's now going through at (age 15, but started at 13) extensive orthodontic work to correct crooked teeth and overjet Sad. Had to witness hun having 2 heathy teeth pulled to make room for the braces to work recently. I'm sure the dummy caused it. I didn't let my girls have one after the trouble it caused him.

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AlphaJura · 14/10/2021 13:41

I think the 'it's broken' or lost thing works quite well aswell. I said to dd, when all the teats break on the bottles, I'm not buying any more because they're for babies. She coped just fine.

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Twizbe · 14/10/2021 13:41

Dummy fairy. We did it the December before he turned 3 in the January.

One morning he put his dummy under the tree. After preschool the dummy was gone and a present in its place. He didn't bat an eyelid

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brewstoo · 14/10/2021 13:44

After being traumatised by DC1 screaming for a night with the cold turkey approach. We did the gentle method with our other DC. We put it in a box near the bed. If they got it out the box then we didn't mention it, if they didn't we made a huge fuss. It took about 3 or 4 weeks before they just forgot about it.

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MonkeyPuddle · 14/10/2021 13:44

Snipped a slot in the year, made it much more effort to suck on it and he lost interest couple with me saying ‘oh they must not work on Big Boys’ after a couple of days I just binned them all. He did ask for them for a week or two but was never upset by it, I just reminded him that they don’t work for big boys and made a fuss about that.

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Wagglerock · 14/10/2021 13:50

We just went cold turkey, bit of fuss for a couple of days and that was it.

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steponthetightrope · 14/10/2021 13:57

I could've written this!

Mine had a gap when he clenched his teeth together and sticky out teeth appearing. The older one had nothing.

We went to the dentist and I made a big song and dance in front of the dentist and we went cold turkey that evening with all of us just saying matter of factor that it was over. It was one evening of crying and cuddles and endless books as a distraction. Probably had to co-sleep for parts of the night. Even put an iPad with lullabyes on for him. Then about 5/7 days of slight moaning every so often but with us totally ignoring any mention of it.

Within a week/10days the gap has noticibly closed and the the top teeth went back a bit.

6 months in and gap and teeth are back to normal and lisp has definitely died down.

With the older one we did dummy fairy and a present that they could choose and it was fine.

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