4 year old using a dummy

[mamabirdie]

I am tearing my hair out. My dd (4) is STILL using her dummy to sleep. she has cut up all but one dummy but won't let go of the last one. it stinks. her breath stinks. her teeth are starting to jut out. How can i wean her off the dummy?

She only uses it to sleep, and not during the day. we have tried bribery, "you are a big girl" tactics, having her little friends ask her what her dummy is, all to no avail. I know all the bad things about dummy use, so.... if you have any ideas, please let me know!

I had one until I was 5! So don't worry she will grow out of it. Have you thought about using Santa as a bribe? Such as 'if you leave your dummy out tonight Santa will bring you an extra present', obviously when its a bit closer to Christmas though.

i think I would just throw it out, say you lost it...

she will forget about in a few days

(you may have to just tough it out...)

disclaimer: i never used a dummy but my DS was still breastfeeding to sleep (so using me instead of a dummy) until he was 3...I just told him that on his 3rd birthday, there would be no more boob.

Actually, could you may be use Christmas as a target time, and tell her that there will be no more dummy after Christmas? would it be cruel to say that Santa will take it away for another little baby to use??

Xpost with ThroughGritted

It's a hard one because even cold turkey could result in her starting finger or thumb sucking, and that could be worse for teeth. I self weened from my finger age 7 or 8 (fortunately, I wedged it in sideways in a curl, and just champed down on it so my teeth didn't suffer)? My sister sucked her fingers for yonks and has slightly sticky out teeth.

My niece gave it up around age 4/5 with the 'swap dummy for very desired toy' method - she regressed one night and toy went back on the shelf, but she did willingly give it up in the end. It sounds like Bilbo Baggins and the fucking Ring...

I think grittedteeth is right really; you just have to wait. You could try some denture solution to freshen it up?!

Eugenes got a point, I stopped having a dummy and went directly to my thumb, which I still use as a comfort now
Neither of my parents made any real effort to stop that or dummy though, so at least you're trying! I suggest the Xmas option because lots of my friends/family have used it. Saying its going to a new baby is a nice spin on it too.

Thanks everyone!
i think i am going to try the bribery method closer to christmas combined with the santa took it away method. fingers crossed. she was absolutely awful last night. but at least she "tried" to leave her dummy on her table before she climbed up to her bunk bed...

DummyFairy is what you need.

The DF leaves a present if you leave the D out for her (like the tooth fairy). Just make sure it's something she really, really wants. It doesn't matter if it's a 'big' present you'll only be doing it once (because you HAVE to destroy it and remove it from the house!!) and it's just now instead of in a month for Christmas - I'm sure she'll be getting more than one pressie.

Doing it at Christmas for Santa is all well and good when it goes well, but if she's upset it has all the potential to spoil Christmas.