4.8 yo...dummy at night

[RedPlane]

My DD still has a dummy at night to go to sleep. She is 4.8 yo.

Is this so bad? Never during the day, but it's a comfort thing to help her drift off at night.

How do I get her off it? Without making her completely upset. She does get very distressed if we can't find it before bed.

She doesn't have it in all night by the way. It's like a sleep aid.

Dummy fairy has been tried and exorcised from this house

You know the answer really dont you ....

If I knew the answer, would I be asking?

If your 4.8 yo sucked their thumb, would you (not you, but you in the general sense) be worrying about it? I wouldn't.

It's just that this is a dummy

There's a really lovely book called The Last Noo Noo which might be helpful?

My DD is exactly the same age and does exactly the same thing and no, I'm not worried about it. She tries to go without sometimes so we're just leaving her to make her own decision when to stop.

And you're right about the thumb sucking - children a lot older than 4.8 do this and there's not much you can do to stop it.

I really wouldn't worry about this, if it's a comfort and a sleep aid then I really don't see the point in picking a battle, be kind to yourself and DD. As an aside, I have a work colleague whose 5 year old has a dummy at night and also in the car on the way to and from school. Colleague not fazed at all by it, as no-one else sees it, nor is it anyone else's business.

My DD had hers until she was over 3yo. We were advised to get rid of it by the doc as her teeth were growing squint. DD put her dummy in her mouth upside down though, so that was part of the problem.

I was really worried about taking it away but it was not nearly as bad as I feared.

First time we took it away at lunchtime (she was still having naps). That was hard. She cried herself to sleep.

That evening she asked for it, cried a little bit when I said that the fairy had taken it, but settled.

She never asked for it again.

I had built it up in my mind to being such an important thing, and that she would not sleep without it. It was fine. And she was extremely attached to her dummy.

Thanks Plumm and Linda (love the name btw Linda )

That's kind of how I think of it, as nobody else's business. I'm just getting some heat from my mother about it it

My argument to her was you don't see many 18 yo walking around with a dummy in their mouth

Thanks both for the reassurance that this isn't me being slack/babying DD