15 month old, dentist says should give up dummy now, any tips please....

[hazeyjane]

15 month old has dummy for sleep, and sometimes during day. Spoke to my dentist about the fact she has a big overbite, and he said probably best to stop dummy now. We took dd1's dummy away at 6 months, and although she screamed a bit it wasn't too bad. I have a feeling it will be hell with dd2, as she seems to love her dummy. Any hints on how to do it without traumatising her (or us) too much!

Had to go cold turkey with my son I'm afraid. Tried restricting it to nap times but this didnt work. Was distraught at first but gradually got better. He was nearly 3 though! My subsequent children[twin boys] suck their thumbs!Hopefully they will grow out of that so I dont have to chop their thumbs off!!!

thanks, any more hints before bedtime?

What about a special cuddly to take to bed instead of the dummy?

Put a teeny hole in it - obviously make sure it can't rip/ bits be swallowed. It makes sucking less nice - might put her off it. That way she's chosen. If not, at 15 mths, cold turkey's your only way..

Wish I'd read your post before i tried putting her to bed, Smee!

She was so hysterical, and upsetting her older sister (2.5), who she shares a room with, that I ended up bundling her into the pushchair, and walking around the block, until she went to sleep - oh dear.

I tried lots of cuddlies, but they were all thrown back in my face! I will persist, with that though.

I have spoken to a couple of dentists about this and they said that an overbite is nothing to do with dummy use - a dummy might push the front teeth out a bit (although this only really matters for the 'grown up' teeth) but doesn't impact on an overbite.

I asked for the same reason because I have a 3 year old who LURVES her dummy and has a bad overbite. But the dentists have said not to worry about making her give up her dummy yet.

I don't know if that advice is RIGHT but that's what I've been told, so I'm not worrying yet!

Did you notice this overbite yourself? Or did the dentist notice it? How old do you need to be before going to the dentist? My dd is 19 months and never been. I was waiting for all the teeth to come through. Feel remiss now

Sorry, for freaking anyone out! We all went into see our dentist as it was our 2.5 yr olds first visit (we thought having her little sister there might make her less freaked out, of course she spent the whole visit with her head buried in dh's neck!)

I asked the dentist about the fact that dd2 has an overbite, and whether it was to do with using a dummy. He said overbites are usually genetic, and not related to dummy use, but he believed that using a dummy up to the age of 3 1/2 (the official recommended age to give up) could cause damage to the palate and cause problems with teeth later on.

I always tell myself that I will be strict about using a dummy for sleep only, but I am weak weak weak, and end up using it when dd2 is a bit grizzly, in shops, ill, tired, etc, so that is why I was worrying - sorry if it came out all wrong!

BTW she has had 3 dummy free nights, and so far so good. I think it might have been the dummy falling out that was causing her to wake up 2 or 3 times a night - doh!

My son had a dummy until age 3 and he has the opposite problem now he is a teenager where due to the shape of his jaw his lower teeth protrude beyond his top teeth.He has been told that only jaw surgery at 18 will correct this but as it is not that bad(quite manly, I think) he has just had the top teeth straightened with braces & the result has been good.Nothing to do with the dummy I dont think, just genetics.My Dad had similar problems but didnt have the dentistry we have now!

PS: My twin boys who are 5 have only just started visiting the dentist for "check ups" as I dont think they would have gone in the chair until recently.

this worked for us and is a variation of smee's method. We used the solid type dumies when they were older...they are solid latex with no air inside.

Basically we sliced a bit off the end, so it was a tad shorter, and a bit more a few days later and so on, and so on...eventually he threw it away and said "not nice".

ds2 is however still sucking a dummy, but we have banned it all times except when settling down to go to bed and fall asleep. Once he's out for the count we take it out, but leave it in his bed in case he wakes in the night. He's 2 and a half and our dentist is quite relaxed about it...

alternatively you could buy her a real baby dummy...i.e. really soft and unlikely to do any damage...its the look of the thing and the idea of it more than anything else i sometimes think

Some good ideas there hoarsewhisperer, thanks.

yes thankyou, hoarsewhisperer.

had a nightmare trying to get dd2 to sleep last night and ended up taking her out in the pushchair for an hour! It was a lovely evening though!

she certainly sleeping a lot better at night than she ever has though, which is wierd.

We cut a hole in DD's and it was really trauma free. I left it clipped to her grobag for a few nights (I guessed she was in the habit of finding it at night) then took it away totally after three days because she had lost interest.

I wish I had thought of the snipping bits off idea, before i plunged into taking it away! Anyway I'll see how she gets on tonight, I'm surprised that it only seems to be at bedtime that it is missed.