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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Getting rid of DUMMY tell me the best way

16 replies

steph1512 · 06/08/2010 14:02

My 4.5mth has a dummy but it is driving me mad as everytime he loses it hes awake which i dont think can be doing him much good as his sleep in now getting quite broken!

I would rather get rid of it sooner rather than later

Any ideas of the best way??

I suppose cold turkey may be best but that will involve tears

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

foureleven · 06/08/2010 14:04

cold turkey.

But mine was 3 when we did this so we could explain what was happening. 4.5 mths will be tricky.

Sorry, thats not much help is it!

sparkle1977 · 06/08/2010 14:11

Afraid cold turkey is pretty much the only way.

We did it with our DS's when they were aged 3 and 1, so again older than yours.

They took to it fine tho, were a bit hesitant the first night on going to bed minus the dummy but soon went to sleep and seemed to forget that dummies ever existed from then onwards.

I think its the parents that worry more about it than the actual children do, at least that was our experience.

BeenBeta · 06/08/2010 14:14

Take it out of his mouth, open the bedroom window and throw it as far as you can so it cannot be found.

Worked for my little sister when my Dad got tired of it one night.

cravingcroissants · 06/08/2010 14:14

Cold turkey here too.
Though I think 4.5 months is still very young.

Original poster

steph1512 · 06/08/2010 19:19

beenbeta that made me

It is still young but part of me thinks the younger the better he sometimes sucks his fingers so thought if he went cold turkey for a few nights he may resort to self comfort!

My dd1had a dummy until 2 and was fine dd2sucks her fingers cant imagine when she will stop she is two!

ds just screams like mad whenever dummy leaves his mouth

OP posts:

remindmelater · 09/08/2010 20:25

I read my DD a book called The Last Noo Noo by Jill Murphy (available on Amazon.co.uk) which is an adorable story about a dragon giving up his dummy (used to make me smile because the mum gets the usual cliche and grief about dummies from the MIL) at the end of the book he plants a 'Noo Noo tree' and there is a picture of the dragon with a basket picking dummies from the tree. She was intrigued by the story (so was my nephew and it's apparently a popular book at nursery) and we'd talk about planting a Noo Noo tree as well. This got her used to the idea.

Then we started doing the dummy fairy thing we took one dummy a night tied it with a ribbon over her bed and the next morning there was a small treat tied to the ribbon instead and we said the fairies took the dummy and gave it to little babies.

Then with the last dummy, her favourite, we made an event out of digging a little hole in the garden and planting it to grow a Noo Noo tree. In the evening when she was in bed we planted a little bush.

Whenever she asked where her dummies were we reminded her of the fairies and asked her who the fairies gave the dummies to. When she asked for her dummy we told her she had to wait for the Noo Noo tree to grow and we'd go outside to inspect the tree for dummies and water the bush. It wasn't long before she stopped asking.

I realise it's all a bit long winded but i liked the way it injected some magic in her life like the Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.

PosieParker · 09/08/2010 20:28

I wouldn't ever try it with a child under one, well two actually as it's an emotional need and to deprive a baby of that is really harsh.

remindmelater · 09/08/2010 20:30

Oh just saw your DS is 4.5 months not 4.5 years (i've got pregnancy brain!).

I had the same problem so i put a few dummies in her cot, she'd wake up in the night and find one and put it back in, but i can't remember how old she was (- my DD is 3.5 years and i'm already completely out of touch with stages and ages!)

gingerkirsty · 09/08/2010 20:34

You could try The 'Pantley Pull Off' - a gentle way of weaning off the dummy. I speak as someone whose 6mo DD still has her dummy, but a friend has done this and it worked.
HTH

Original poster

steph1512 · 10/08/2010 14:05

Well ive had a better couple of nights only had to give him his dummy on a couple of stirs other than that he has spat it out once asleep and stayed asleep!

So now im
2Choices..get rid before he get too attatched or just go with it and in a few months he will hopefully get the hang of putting it in himself.

I feel that it is affecting him in a sort of negative way during the day though in the sense he is grumbling/asking for his dummy as he def like to suck..before i got lazy and started giving it to him more he just sucked his fingers!

So in a sense the getting used to have it has caused a bit more windging..sorry if that makes now sense

gingerkirsty thats an interesting link as to begin with i used to give him a little cuddle with a dummy then take it out before i put him down..then i wanted to attempt putting him down more awake so i could give more attention to my dds at bedtime so started giving it to him and leaving it there.

Saying that today he has ended up feeding to sleep for both his naps so no dummy but another not so good sleep habit..sigh all these thing to think about being a mummy

Who know the answers..maybe i should stop being a lazy mummy and accept i need to get up to give him his dummy

Think i just got used to having it easy with dd2sucking her fingers

OP posts:

Spacehoppa · 10/08/2010 14:19

UCO still has hers at 3. She tries to talk with it in and sounds like Al Pacino...another habit to break!

PosieParker · 10/08/2010 18:51

Talking with a dummy is a reall 'no, no' as it can produce many many off target pronunciations, using the back and not the front of the tongue. Once the word is learned 'wrong' it can take speech therapy to undo it.

MassiveBumperlicious · 10/08/2010 20:41

I may be speaking out of turn here, but I believe that the SIDS guidance on having a dummy was something to do with taking a dummy away from a young child who was used to sleeping with it, apparently it stops them from going in to too deep a sleep. Though I don't think it means an increased risk in those who have dummies IYSWIM? Just in children used to dummies. I may not have remembered that right though.

We did the dummy fairy at about 2.7 months and it was very traumatic for months! But she only had it at sleep times after about 1 year.

Do whatever you feel is right, but I think there is a window for getting rid of it. The losing the dummy in the night phase is pretty short-live IIRC. Do whatever makes your life easiest for now is my policy at the moment!

AruMom1 · 12/08/2010 01:44

Hi, I got rid of the dummy for my son when he was 3mths old. Just went cold turkey and for two days needed to carry him more often as he was grumpy from not having it. After that he settled down fine. I reaped additional benefits from not having him on the dummy as it reduced his wind problems, feeding problems and he slept better (I used the dummy without any discipline, so that was likely the cause of these problems rather than dummy itself ).
Hope it works out ok for u..

tryingtobemarypoppins2 · 12/08/2010 21:10

I still suck my thumb sometimes and I'm 30! I think its so comforting for a little one. What's the problem having a dummy? A SALT told me they weren't really a big deal speech wise.
SIDS really recommend them.

I would keep it IMO.

Clarabumps · 13/08/2010 13:26

i took away my sons dummy at around that age and he took it really well until i went in one morning to find him sucking his thumb. You can take away a dummy but nota thumb now he wont take a dummy at all. argh!With ds1 i took away his dummy to sleep as soon as he dropped off so he wasnt used to sucking it through the night..that went to pot aswell. I say if u can get through the tears then go for it but you'll probably end up giving them it back at some point so why kill yourself trying to get them off it?

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