Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

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

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Dummies!

27 replies

clarinsgirl · 12/10/2006 12:10

My 18M old DS loves his dummy. He uses occassionally during the day but won't contemplate sleep without it. He sleeps very well and slept through from an early age. I feel like I should start to wean him off the dummy but I'm afraid he'll start night waking. Will he just grow out of it or should I take it away? Any advice?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

TutterIckOrTreat · 12/10/2006 12:11

hi ds (16mo) is also a dummy addict. only has it to sleep, or if he's really really upset and i can't get to him to comfort him (e.g. in the car).

i plan on waiting til he's old enough to understand the dummy fairy concept - maybe in a year or so's time. it doesn't worry me that he has one.

Original poster

clarinsgirl · 12/10/2006 12:15

Your DS dummy habit sounds very similar! Maybe I'll need to create a dummy fairy later too. Thanks.

OP posts:

2nervesleft · 12/10/2006 12:18

Waited until DD was 2 and a bit and the easter bunny took it away from a special box left in the garden. Of course he replaced them with lots of little eggs and treats. Had 2 nights of asking for 'dodi' and getting same answer about not knowing where he lived, and never asked about them ever again.

Original poster

clarinsgirl · 12/10/2006 12:26

Brilliant! I can see that I'm going to have to get more creative when the time comes for 'nummynummy' to leave..

OP posts:

earlysbird · 12/10/2006 12:34

My DTs only used them at night up to 2ish. I told them they were too old for them and bought them new PJs as a treat plus a pressie - they got to choose between pressie and keeping dummy, no contest! They put dummies in bin themselves and have been fine about it ever since.

erinssleepymum · 20/10/2006 15:18

i remember the dummy dilemma!!! trust yourself, you will know when ds is ready to give it up. why risk the tears? if it gives him comfort leave him with it. bless him

VanillaMilkshake · 20/10/2006 15:23

My DD has just turned 3 - dont be shcoked.
We mnaged to get her dummies down to sleep only at about 2, but gradualy as she has got more agile she was able to go find it and help herself.

She no longer needs it during the day and this is proved because all 3 had holes where she had bitten them. But when she's tired she needs one to get off to sleep. So we got her to throw all the old ones away, and bought 2 new ones - she chose them. They are kept in her bedroom drawer (she doesnt know where though) for bedtime only. And our mantra whenever she asks for her dummy during the day is 'dummies are for sleeping' 3 days in to the new regime and she's giving them up more easily already.

MaloryTowersPonceAndProud · 20/10/2006 15:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thewill · 20/10/2006 15:29

ds is 2, and lovse his 'doodah' for bed time, or somethimes if feeling poorly.

does anyone else feel frowned upon for using one? dd has one now, (6 months), and it helps her sleep, plus which both had terrible trouble with teething, and dummies relieve the pressure.

I get fed up with dissapointed looks and sighs (mainly from grandparents) , but if it helps them be happy, ill let them have them till they are old enough (prob in a year or so for eldest)

erinssleepymum · 20/10/2006 15:30

good for you!!

VanillaMilkshake · 20/10/2006 15:42

We were talking about getting DD to give it up completely by leaving it out for baby Rudolph at Christmas - a friends did this with her DC's and it worked a treat - cos baby rudolph left them a special present. But as I have a new baby due in December, it would'nt really be fair to take hers away while she has a new sibling to get used to and who has a dummy as well.

Perhaps next year or on her 4th birthday if she still has one by then!

CHOCOLATEPEANUT · 20/10/2006 23:46

My dd is 3 in a fortnight and loves her 'dodi'

We have told her that Father Christams is going to take them away and leave lots of toys. In the last six months I have taken it off her in the day time and recently she has been handing it to me and saying 'mummy I dont need it now'.I think shes starting to get embarrassed about having one as in all other ways shes very mature.

I have never seen it as a problem. She was a sucky baby and I would rather have the dummy sucker than a thumb sucker.My 34 year old cousin still sucks her thumb!!

Gillian76 · 21/10/2006 00:05

My DS is 3y 4m. He has it for bed and is not ready to give it up.

I feel similarly to Malory.

Snowboo · 21/10/2006 00:09

My ds is 4 and he still has his. Says he will cry for 'lots of days without my dodi' so hey, who am i to traumatise him?!

(Do feel guilty thou)

CheeksHulbert · 23/10/2006 15:23

My 7mth DD is a complete dummy addict. Problem is due to an episode of teething she has got into a habit of waking up repeatedly through the night over the last 8 weeks - sometimes 10 to 15 times. She will only go back to sleep with her dummy, the alternative is hysterical screaming for hours on end. This weekend and following weeks of sleepless nights (I've now returned to work too) we've removed the dummy completely and gone cold turkey. She is hysterical. However, the more she screams, the more I'm convinced I'm doing the right thing as she shouldn't be so dependant. Am I an evil mother? We're now on the 2nd day and she is not happy!!

MonkeyBabyMum · 23/10/2006 16:41

Its so nice to read this thread, my 9 wk old has a dummy and I think they're great but get the impression from a lot of people (including some friends who seem to think I'm mad for letting her have one!) that they are a terrible habit and I'll never be able to get her to give it up. I'm happy to let her have it as long as she needs it as I'm sure when the time comes to give it up we'll work it out. It's nice to see there are other people who don't think they are horrible and thanks for the tips on giving up, I'll keep them at the back of my mind for the future!!

Bugmum · 23/10/2006 18:24

I really, really don't see the problem with dummies; why would anyone be worried that someone so little is too dependent on something? My DS is nearly 21 months and still has his for sleep and if he's poorly (like today ); until he was a year he had it all the time. I'm pregnant, and don't think it would be at all fair, as a previous poster said, to make him cope with a new baby and the loss of a sleep dummy, especially when the new baby will almost certainly have a dummy. I am thinking maybe next summer, when he'll be 2 1/2 and can perhaps understand about the dummy fairy and the concept of presents, then I might try. But I'm not going to stress it.

princessmel · 23/10/2006 18:34

My ds stopped having it when he was 3.
He was only having it for sleep ( day and night sleeps) since he was 1 ish anyway.
From about 2.5yrs we used to say to him 'you'll be to big for your dummy one day, how old will you be when you won't need your dummy?' etc and he used to say 'when I'm big like daddy'!
Anyway, one bedtime when we went to get a dummy, he just said 'I'm too big for my dummy now' just like that, all by himself.
We were v shocked and kept expecting him to change his mind or cry in night etc but he didn't. I was a bit sad actually as it seemed like I was taking his comforter away from him but I wasn't , he decided by himself. he still has Muslys and teddys etc. He has them with him quite alot.
His sis didn't have one, she sucks her thumb so we've not got the jelous prob there.

Anyway they do sometimes just decide themselves and I think thats the best way. He did the same with his gro bag at 2 and 3/4.

unpaidcleaner · 23/10/2006 20:28

Oh Dont Get Me Started!! Just had 19mth old neice for weekend (with her 3 suitcases of clothes - see travel thread . At our house she has her dummy at bedtime, and if she's very upset/teething. She never 'asks' for it or seems bothered about it any other time. But as soon as her mum appears, Mum stuffs the dummy in her mouth and there it stays until baby takes it out. In fact a few times I've seen baby remove dummy, chuck it down, and Mum pick it up and stuff back in!! I don't know her well enough to comment on this, but really don't understand her doing it.

rustycreakingdoorbear · 23/10/2006 20:44

A friend of mine made an arrangement with a local toyshop and told her DD that she could 'buy' the doll she'd been wanting for ages with her dummies. They went to the shop,the little girl chose her doll & the assistant said "That'll be three dummies please" Worked like a charm.
I was completely anti-dummy when my two were born - regretting it now as DD still sucks her thumb at 16.5 - even getting her lip pierced only stopped her briefly....

Snowboo · 23/10/2006 20:44

Now that i don't understand unpaid! If ds kept throwing it out i'd get rid of it like a shot!!!! As it is i'm just too soft to take it off him (i've just had a baby etc etc, prob another lame excuse from me )

taffy101 · 23/10/2006 20:50

dd is 3 and still has it for bedtime only. New baby due soon so hoping she will decide she is too much of a big girl for it. But if not what harm is it doing.
LOL on the thumb sucking creakingdoor - my sister is 35 and still sucks her thumb when tired

princessmel · 25/10/2006 10:48

I LOVE that story rusty, I'm going to remember that in case any RL friends need dummy-stopping ideas!
I can just picture the little girl bringing her dummies in a little bag! So cute.

unpaidcleaner · 25/10/2006 20:57

saw neice & her mum today. Baby perfectly happy, chatting. Mum put dummy in baby's mouth. Not only stopped her chatting, but then a few minutes later Mum gave baby some bread to eat - neither of them thought to take dummy out - food thrown on floor. Mum says she always has dummies around as baby 'so dependent' on them . I think she's officially bonkers. Of course I don't mean that, she is beloved inlaw

saffymum · 05/11/2006 22:10

Great idea worked for us by accident, dummy got bitten through and was the last one left, so we cut the chewed end off so there was just a stubb. He looked quite surprised to feel it the first time and kept taking it in and out, he still had his dummy so wasn't fussed about yelling for it. The next day he said 'dummy broken' so I said 'broken things go in the bin' so he obliged and threw it away by himself. Funny that I did precisely the bin thing unprompted when I was 3, apparently. Must be in the blood....

Flip

1 2