DS is 20 months old and adopted, if that makes a difference. He has a dummy for naps and bed time and that is it. He is learning new words everyday but doesn't yet know "dummy", and we are careful not to use the word either so he hasn't yet learnt to ask for it. We keep them out of reach and give it to him ten minutes before we take him up to bed.
I'm keen to ditch it asap as I know it will be harder when he can ask for it. He's not massively attached to it.
However in 5 weeks I go back to work and he starts with a childminder 3 days a week. He has visited there and loves it. He also adores her husband (who we know socially) who is there throughout the day. I think he will thrive there. But there's a part of me that worries that his dummy can bring him a lot of comfort in those early weeks. Is now a good time or bad time to get rid?
For what it's worth, we take his dummy off of him once he's woken up - it used to be within half an hour, now it's pretty much straight away. I used to distract him whilst I did it but no need to any more. The past three wake ups, I have gone into his room and the very first thing he does is give me his dummy.