How can I stop 15 month DS sucking rabbit like a dummy? It is soggy, smelly and disgusting

[peckhammummy]

My 15 month old sucked his thumb when he was really small but he was given a soft toy rabbit for Christmas which he has become really attached to. He sucks its paw when he goes to sleep and cries in the night when he wakes and can't find it. The trouble is the rabbit gets totally disgusting, soggy and smelly despite frequent washing.
The big question is how can I get him to give it up? Should I wait until he is older and he can understand (we could do something like the dummy fairy). Or should I go cold turkey now?

leave him sucking it there is a lot of evidence that children who have a transitional object cope with life's emotional ups and downs better than those who don't
my ds2 has a blanket he sucks he is 16mths I just wash it when the smell gets too bad

DD has the same habit and she is 20m. She is getting comfort from it, so I put up with the habit. She is ok with it going in the washing machine from time to time. She is a good sleeper, and as it is a comfort thing, I rather let her snuggle and suck her teddy then anything else (fingers, toes, muslin cloth).

Ds 2.5 sucks/chews his rabbit rag thing - it's disgusting and has to be washed at least every other day, but it makes him happy. I do however only allow it in bed or on extremely rare occasions. I have succeeded in encouraging him to have a bigger soft toy rabbit if he needs something during the day. I've done this over the last few months by just saying "Raggy is in bed for when you need to sleep, but here have Bunny instead".

Hmmm, my dd2 has a similar bunny and is 3y9m, so it may go on a little while longer. She is strictly limited on when she can clutch/suck it (ie only at night-time) but gets so distraught if she hasn't got it to sleep with, we haven't tried to go cold turkey. I'm hoping she will have given it up by the time she goes to college ...

Can you get bunny mark 2 in case first disintegrates (as our dds is about to)? We didn't realise the seriousnesss of the relationship with ours and now can't find the same model

ds1 3.10 does this and has done since he was under a year - you haven't seen anything till you see his elephant that has been sucked every night for 3 years! It has now become only a bedtime thing, or if very upset, but still needs washing reguarly - I agree that having a comforter often makes them more secure and happy to face daily life and would never take it away from him - my friend took her "pandy" on honeymoon with her! Hopefully she doesn't suck it tho....

DS has two, a Tigger and a dog, he sucks their noses . They need washing frequently but he only has them in bed so I don't see any harm in it.

My SiL solved this by putting it under the christmas tree and 'father christmas' swopping it for a My Little Pony. Is there anything she could be convinced she wanted enough to swop it for. You have enough time before christmas to introduce the concept.....mind you, personally I'd just buy six of the bloody things and rotate them with every wash!

Darn these pesky rabbits!!
Glad that we don't have to go cold turkey. Didn't really want to face that.
DS1 has an elephant that he is totally besotted with but luckily doesn't suck. We bought a mark 2 but that got lost. Had to tell him that Elly has gone travelling and arranged for friends to send postcards from various destinations.

Dd was just the same. Then one day, she just stopped! Completely out of the blue, without any warning, dog was dry every morning! HOOOOOOOOOOORAY.

Ds did the same with his bunny but stopped about 6 months ago for no apparent reason (he is now 2.3). It didn't bother me tbh; we bought another one (the underbunny) and just alternated and washed them once a week. He still insists on cuddling it close every night but no longer sucks it.