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Original poster

How did you get rid of the dummy?

21 replies

Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 14:51

Not your dh , the dummy.

My dd is 4 in a couple of weeks and still has her dummy. To be frank, it drives me mad. As soon as she puts it into her mouth, she turns into a whinging, tired, snivelling little pita. She goes to nursery three days a week, and doesn't have it at all there. However she keeps it in her bag, and as soon as she sees me, the first thing she does is run to her peg for the dummy.

Now, I have no room to talk as I had mine until 1 was 5yo, but any suggestions?

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buffy13 · 04/05/2011 14:54

Tell her the dummy fairy needs her dummies to give to the little babies, get her to collect them all up and put in envelope then post them (yes really) and make sure the next morning there is a note from the dummy fairy saying thank you with a little present :)

Flippingebay · 04/05/2011 14:57

Told her she wasn't having it anylonger, she threw it in the bin, I gave her a reward - simples...

Actually, smugness here it was easier than I expected, I did expect WW3 to breakout but after two days of slight whinging she was fine.

Original poster

Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 15:06

It's bedtime that concerns me the most. She is, and always has been, a dreadful sleeper. She has NEVER slept through the night, and I am concerned about the upset getting rid of it will cause at bedtime.

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Original poster

Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 15:06

Also, she may just nab ds' dummies.

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strandedbear · 04/05/2011 15:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

kitcat83 · 04/05/2011 15:54

we did the fairy thing and bed time was very stressful the first night, but he slept through and no problems and now a few months on if I say to him ( when he is whingeing) "oh the babies back do you want your dummy?!!!" he says "no way!!!"

I think I was more worried about it, we gave him a reward in the morning, as a thank you from the dummy fairy. This decision was the best I made

Original poster

Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 15:56

She is going through a phase of insisting one minute that she is a big girl, then telling me she is 'still little' the next, so I'm not entirely sure how successful we'd be with the babies approach.

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Mollymax · 04/05/2011 16:26

It may be worth tackling this in two stages.
Letting her only have it at night in bed first.
Then few weeks, months or whatever later have the dummy fairy pay a visit.
You can put them all in a pretty bag, hang them on a tree overnight and she will find a present in the bag in the morning.

Original poster

Pinkjenny · 04/05/2011 16:30

Mollymax - that sounds like a plan.

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25goingon95 · 05/05/2011 21:41

Pinkjenny, we have the same dilemma, my DD is 5. The reason we haven't done it yet is because she has always been a terrible sleeper!!! We worry she will be even worse without the bloody thing....we have done as mollymax suggested, DD only has he dummy at night now. Soon when she turns 25 we will leave it out for the dummy fairy....

beachyhead · 05/05/2011 21:48

We left ours out at Christmas for Father Christmas and she got 50p for each one we left out. We said they got given to all the new babies (Yuk!).

No problem here - it is so much easier than you think it will be

candleshoe · 05/05/2011 21:53

I phoned the manager of the local toyshop and organised a cunning plan ....
I primed my DD too ....

Next day we went to the toyshop and I told DD aged 18 months that she could choose a toy. When we got to the till the manager asked for 8 dummies in payment as arranged. DD opened her little bag and 'paid' the nice lady for the toy.

Sorted!

candleshoe · 05/05/2011 21:56

(On the other side of the coin - I myself sucked a dummy at night until I was 7 - and I dreaded birthdays because there was always the 'you can't have a dummy once you are 2/3/4/5/6/7 etc.' threat hanging over me every birthday bedtime )

lilnutter · 05/05/2011 22:00

hey!
I fretted and worried for weeks but weighed everything up and decided to go cold turkey.
I chucked them all in the bin and braced myself.
Don't think DD even noticed. She had just turned one. Felt like supernanny even tho I hadn't actually done anything. Not sure I'd highly recommend the approach - think it depends somewhat on the nature of the childs attachment to the dummy i.e. is it for comfort, to sleep etc.

Even as much as a year later, I used to catch her staring at other children who had dummies in - wonder what she thought!

candleshoe · 05/05/2011 22:04

My friend just 'lost' the dummies while out in the buggy 'accidentally' until there was only one spare one left and then she left it to fate to decree when that one was really truly lost by her DS1. Her DS fretted for a day or two but was then fine.

ailsanimi · 06/05/2011 21:13

Just been through this with DS who is 3y 2m. He too was a terrible sleeper which the Groclock has worked miracles with his sleeping ( no night time wake ups and rises at 7 o'clock now every morning - wonderful), but this made us very nervous about getting rid of the dummy. First he just had the dummy at night time for a couple of weeks, then we gave them to the easter bunny who left him extra eggs to thank him for the dummies! We had 2 nights of crying for about 20 mins at bed time, 1 night of a bit of moaning and then nothing ! He hasn't even mentioned a dummy since. If I'd realised it would have gone so smoothly I'd have done it ages ago
Give it a try!

AnaS · 07/05/2011 16:28

the weeks leading up to dd2 2nd birthday we talked about her becoming a 'big girl' and big girls not having dummies. the morning of her birthday she watched me throw it in the bin! I was dreading bedtime as that was the only time she really had it but she never ever asked for it. phew!

flimflammery · 07/05/2011 16:39

DD had never slept without a dummy in her mouth since she was about 6 days old and was also not a great sleeper, so I was dreading getting rid of them, but a few weeks after her 3rd birthday we had a visit from the dummy fairy too - worked a dream.

I had primed her by talking about how she was a big girl, the dummy fairy gives them to babies, she would get a present, what would she ask the dummy fairy for, etc. Then on D Day, she agreed to do it, we left the dummies in a box in her room at lunchtime, went out for the afternoon and when we came back there was a trail of glitter fairy dust from the window to the box and a tiny doll and teddy, with a tiny note from the dummy fairy too . Big brother age 5 even totally believed it! She grizzled a bit the first bedtime but no full on crying, no waking crying for a dummy, nothing! I was really amazed by how easy it was. Just do it.

PegPolkadot · 07/05/2011 16:40

We put DS's in a big brown envelope together with a picture of a toy cut out of the Argos catalogue and sent them to the dummy fairy. He was 3 1/2 so old enough to appreciate once they went in the post box you couldn't get them back. I made him post them in himself. Next morning the dummy fairy had delivered the toy and that was that!

We posted them to my mum just in case- I think she still has them 4 years on!

HecateQueenOfTheNight · 07/05/2011 16:43

chucked them all in the bin and dealt with the three days of hell until dummies were forgotten about forever.

I have no heart

mummybookworm · 07/05/2011 19:02

I timed mine with Christmas and dd's birthday (24th Dec). I told her that as she was going to have a birthday and be a much bigger girl, Father Christmas would take all her dummies and give them to the new children being born on Christmas Day and he would leave her presents in return to say thank you (I had been building up to this for a good couple of months. I couldn't believe my luck when she went to bed like a dream on 24th Dec. I went upstairs and looked in on her and the little bugger treasure had got one firmly planted in her gob. Unbeknown to me, she had hidden one, and then got it out when I went downstairs. Cue rethink plan. I then said on 25th Dec, that I would post the errant dummy to Father Christmas. Bedtime on 25th Dec was uneventful, all dummies were gone and I did not hear a peep. I was absolutely dreading it, and it was fine. Good luck! I love Candleshoes' idea - genius!

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