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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

Any advice for removing a loved dummy (for good)

12 replies

Heath999 · 12/05/2009 11:35

My DS is going to be two on the weekend and I had always said that two would be the age when the dummy goes. He only uses it at nap and bed times, and is happy enough to relinquish it when he wakes up. He does wake up crying at night though if he can't find his dummy.
Has anyone been through dummy removal? Any tips? I am thinking of going cold-turkey and enduring hopefully only about 3 days(nights) of hell before he is used to it. Would this work?
Thanks!

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ZoeC · 12/05/2009 11:37

I've done cold turkey twice and the reality wasn't as bad as I feared tbh. Made a thing of them going though - dd1 put hers in an envelope which was sent for new babies to use, dd2 sent hers for santa's baby reindeer. Dd1 missed hers a little, but she knew they'd gone and got used to it pretty quick. dd2 barely noticed tbh.

fannybanjo · 12/05/2009 11:38

I popped DD1's with a pin and it deflated, I let her to continue to use it for another few days until she realised it wasn't as nice and I took it away. We had a couple of bad nights but then she completely forgot she had ever had one. She was 3.5 as well so older than your DS.

claricebeansmum · 12/05/2009 11:40

Cold turkey.
Worked for us - couple of miserable nights but then fine.
But you have to get rid of them all - it is easy to crack at 2 in the morning Good luck!

Sunshinemummy · 12/05/2009 12:02

We talked about doing it for a few weeks before so he knew to expect it (he had just turned 3). We decided that we would take them up to nursery and give them to the babies there (obviously this was a ruse but he felt like he was doing something for someone else so it made him really proud). He then got a present for being such a good boy. We did have some problems getting him down to sleep after this but it soon wore off and now, even though his best friend still has a dummy, he never asks for it and will give his bf the dummy without trying it out himself (which I was a little worried about).

Original poster

Heath999 · 12/05/2009 12:36

This is really interesting, thanks! We are in a nanny-share so the other child is going to lose her dummy too. Don't think the other mum is quite ready though, but we did agree to do it at the same time. Good point about getting rid of ALL the dummies - I can see how it would be easy to succumb. I like the idea of sabbotaging the dummy - might try that.
His nanny has been tying a muslin around the dummy handle so that it is easy for DS to find his dummy when he is sleeping - not sure whether to leave the muslin, without dummy, in his cot at night, or just do away with both dummy and muslin... don't really want to have him transfer his affections to a tatty old muslin!

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dancingmummy · 12/05/2009 19:07

Similar to the others here, ds1 was 2.10, i told him it was going to my friends new baby, i used to distract him when he asked for it by telling him to count to 10!! it all went very smoothly. he stil had a muslin for a while but it just stays in his room now-he's forgotten about it almost!

SparklingSarah · 12/05/2009 20:59

at 8 months I got rid just binned the bugger.

VeeBee3 · 12/05/2009 23:04

Have just done this at the weekend. Got DS1 who will be 3 next week to leave his dummies in a pot with DS2s (7mths)dummies in the garden. Dummy fairy came on friday night and left them presents. DH and I spent the entire evening scouring the house for missed dummies and found a few. ALL dummies went in the bin and the bin went outside as i was worried we'd give in in the the middle of the night. Think we worked ourselves up thinking it was gonna be worse than it was. DS1 only cried that first night and hasn't had a problem since. DS2 has settled well too.
Oh we also left a note from the "fairy" offering sweets for any dummies that DS1 found that we may have missed!!!.

Good Luck

vacaloca · 12/05/2009 23:18

As others have said, it was nowhere near as traumatic as we'd imagined. With both DDs we made it coincide with a weekend when we went away, and once we were back home we said we'd left the dummies behind at X's house by mistake. Oh dear. They were both around 2. They asked for it a couple of times before going to sleep and we kept saying they were at X's house and we'd get them back next time we went there. By the second night they hardly asked at all and after a week it was as if they'd never had one. Like you, they only used the dummy at night and for naps but cried if they couldn't find it in the middle of the night. Go for it!

Snorbs · 12/05/2009 23:43

With my DD, who was very attached to her dummy, we made a point with her that the dummy would go on her third birthday. That was also the day she got her big girl's bed so we linked the two events. It seemed to work pretty well.

Original poster

Heath999 · 18/05/2009 09:50

Just an update incase anyone else is going through the same, or thinking about it - dummy removal was very successful. At bedtime the first night, which was his birthday, I explained what was happening, DS is a big 2 year old boy now and has had a lovely birthday party, and now he doesn't need his dummy anymore. And he went to sleep - without even asking for it! I thought it may have been because he was worn out from his exciting day, but the same happened the next night too - so now we have had two clear nights. He asked for his dummy when he woke up this morning, but I distracted him with some milk. all going well so far...

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endless · 18/05/2009 09:55

so no one sent it to the fairies, or to Thomas the tank engine via the post???

We acually planted it in the garden because when they are 10 years old, a dummy tree will grow...BUT DEFO DEFO not until they are 10 years old. Did it together, he was utterly convinced.We checked every day for a while....then he got bored with the checkig.

I lied about numerous things to mine when they were little

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