Long story short ..
My DS is 9 years old and has autism , is non verbal and still has a dummy and uses it on a daily basis both and in and out of the house, we adopted DS when he was very young ( had very little human contact as a baby/ toddler - this might be relevant ) and now struggles with human contact / hugs etc .. we are still waiting for the day he feels comfortable enough to let us hold him or cuddle him! So when he is upset he won't let us comfort him.
Mother in law has made lots of comments regarding the dummy and has said we should use Christmas as a time to get rid of the Dummy as he is 9 and " doesn't need it" ..
I am feeling a bit " 
" about this .. DS is still very developmentally very young and has very little understanding of what's going on around him, His teeth are absolutely fine ( checked with his dentist) , and he is slowly starting to say words!
I told MIL all of this but it seems every time I see her she mentions it and tells me off of the " facts" about how bad the Dummy is!
I am dreading Christmas now as I know she will be watching like a hawk and will definitely mention the Dummy situation 😩
I don't want to make things awkward within the family but I dread every time she comes around .. it isn't even December yet and she is saying all these ways to get rid of be Dummy 😩