Advice on getting rid of the dummy?

[ZebraLeg]

DD is 2.6 and I think it may be time to get rid of the dummy. We are fairly strict with it anyway, only for sleep, never during the day. Despite this I've noticed her front teeth are starting to get a bit 'gappy', and obviously she's getting older now anyway!

I'm dreading it to be honset, she's very attatched to her dummy, and doesn't have any other comforters. I've bought a present and thought I could try the dummy fairy trick, does anyone have any experiences with this? My other problem is that DD2 (3 months) has a dummy and DD1 has on occasion questioned why baby can have her dummy and she can't

Sorry, I should add, I'm not interested in people's personal oppinions on dummies. A close friend loosing her baby to SIDS was enough to convince me to try everything I can to reduce the risk

Dummy fairy is great, she takes away big girls dummies and gives them to babies. Get a special box/bag get DD1 to help find all the dummies and leave them for the fairy, the next day as if by magci the dummies are gone and a present is there. If she asks for dummies remind her she would have to return the present. Our dummy fairy also left a stocked each night she settled without it and after 5 stickers got another dummy fairy present (smaller this time) and then 10 stickers, then 15, then just stickers and eventually they forget!

Good luck!

i dont personally but my friend used it for her twin boys when they were about 3. She didn;t use the dummy fairy but instead said that they had to leave it out for Santa's elves, as they came and collected all the big boys dummies and would use magic to make them into toys. And that they only took them if they knew you were a big boy now and wouldn;t take them if they thought you still needed them.
Low and behold they left them by the side of their bed out for the elves one night and were very excited the next day as they must be a big boy as the elves had taken them. Genius (It was very near Christmas though)
They didn;t seem to miss them at all

Is she old enough to be told that dummies are for babies and isn't she lucky she's a big girl so she doesn't have to have it anymore? Or would she take offence!

Dummy fairy was great, even for an extreme dummy addict. Collected them up, slept( found it hard to sleep for 30 mins or so), present and stardust in the morning. Her little brother still had a dummy but she just found it a bit repulsive after she'd got rid of hers! Did the same for ds and worked a treat.

We discussed it beforehand for a few days, children themselves then threw them all in the bin to be replaced with a bedtime teddy they themselves chose.
Worked really well all 3 times.
My 11year old DD still has her bedtime bunny complete with pink dressing gown and slippers on her bed:)

You should go for it, it is not going to be easy especially when your DD2 is using one. For a couple of months it will take longer for her to fall asleep and she will constantly ask for the dummy. It is all a phase which will come to pass.
Good Luck.

You know yourself whether she's ready to give it up or whether it's just you that's ready. If the former, then great, dummy fairy will probably work. If the latter then let her be. I'm not a fan of taking away a child's comfort item just because you think it's time she didn't have it. I assume you wouldn't part her from a bear or blankie.

Apart from the comfort that they provide, having a bear or blankie cannot be compare to haveing a dummy.

sorry for the spelling- meant to write cannot be compared to having a dummy.

We were geared up for sleepless night, screaming etc but it was fine, talked about it to her for about a week (decided on a Friday night as we were both home and no work in the morning) every day we searched for dummies leaving just one out for bedtime, left a bag downstairs containing dummies next morning dummies gone present in its place. She never complained! Still talks about how she gave her dummies to the little babies

My DD gave hers to Santa a few weeks before christmas on the understanding he would give her lovely presents in exchange on christmas day.

It was just before her third birthday and went better than i expected. Think the key is that once its gone dont give in! Good luck!

My DS was given a dummy when in Neonatal Intensive Care (TBH, I wasn't a dummy fan, but we had way bigger issues to worry about) and a tip I was given there that worked for us is that when they reach roughly 6 months old and the dummy goes thown across the room, it is a sign that they don't need it for the sucking reflex any longer. If the dummy gets taken away at that point before the attachment to it starts and to replace with a comfort cuddly to take to bed.
We took the dummy away at that piont and once he went to bed once without it it was fine.
So sorry - I don't have advice for your DD1 (but from discussions with friends with older children the advice given above is sound), but it could be something to think about for DD2.

Thank you for all the responses! I'm so sorry, I tyoed out a response the other day but I must've been impatient as it obviously hasn't been posted!

To be honest, I'm getting a bit of cold feet about it! I don't know if I'm just being a wimp but the thought of getting her to bed without it, along with dealing with DD2's colic is more than DH and I can perhaps face at the moment! (this is the point where pre-DC me would be at pandering to my children!)

I've been thinking a lot, DD2 isn't nearly as fussed about her dummy as DD1 is. I think what I might do, as MumOfWombat has given me the idea, is get rid of both DD's dummies at the same time (probably in about three or four months) then DD1 might not find it so hard if theirs no dummies in the house whatsoever.

She'll probably still have it in 27 years time

I shan't give you my personal opinion on dummies, but I can correct the common misconception that they reduce the risk of SIDS.

That is frequently reported, but it's actually based on a study which found that if a baby already has a dummy then taking it away increases the risk of SIDS on that night. It's not that giving it to them in the first place reduces it. In fact giving them one in the first place sets up the possibility that it might be used inconsistently, and therefore increases the risk from baseline!

Regardless of the additional misreporting on co-sleeping (mostly based on a NZ study of Maori women who widely drank and smoked, which are known issues when co-sleeping, and the additional confusion of some data between SIDS and suffocation, which are unrelated), it minimises the risk of SIDS as your presence stimulates the child to breathe again in periods of apnoea. I won't say it reduces the risk, as co-sleeping is the biological norm for humans, so it's more that sleeping alone increases the risk of SIDS than vice versa. That's why SIDS is very rare in many cultures which co-sleep as a matter of course.

So SIDS is a reason not to use dummies (or if you're going to, make sure it's consistent over the main risk period), if anything. Can't help on the main question though.