Age to stop with the dummy?

[Sarahdesert]

i have a feeling i might be opening a minefield up. my daughter is 2 and a half, is this a good age to stop the dummy?

My DS is 16mo and still has his at night time and for naps, as well as in the buggy if he's getting really grumpy and on long journeys. Oh and if he hurts himself (as well as me cuddling him of course!).

I guess 2.5yo is a good time if you think your LO could do without it?

If she is still having it during the day you could wean her off it slowly? ie just for bedtime and her nap at first? (my SIL made a little 'bed' for her girl's dummy out of a shoe box, they decorated it all nicely and then during the day it lived in her cot. And when she got up in the morning she put her dummy in its 'bed' and it stayed there all day. If she asked for it, her mum just said, oh no dummy is in bed now. You don't want to go to bed now do you? You're a big girl and we're about to do this baking/playdough/watch the tweenies or whatever. Seemed to work!)

DS had it night time only from about the age of 2. Just after the age of 3 he was gently persuaded not to use it at all.

My DS is the same age as your DD and we have dummy for in his cot only (ie bed and nap) he's fine with this and doesn't ask for it during the day. He does now lick his lips and put his fingers in his mouth when he's tired which he never used to do, but we made the call that we were giving in and giving him his dummy too much during the day when he didn't really need it.

Probably best to limit it to bedtime only now.

I'd agree with others, limit it to bedtime only if possible. Then perhaps gently remove when your dd is older? 3 seems to be the magic age...

I see other children at dd's nursery sucking their thumb and now dd has started doing that when she's tired. Not a lot that can be done about that though :)

I think it is completely dependent on the child. My DD stopped having a dummy just gone 2 but it was because she had gone from having it only in the cot to wanting it all the time so I felt I needed to make a decision. Also she was at a stage of saying how she was a 'big girl' so I played on that a bit so it was quite straight forward.
Equally one of my good friends has a DD who is 3.5 and still has a dummy out and about, personally for me this is too old but it works for them.
On a health perspective dummies can sometimes impact teeth so that's one thing to consider if they are still using one a lot.

my daughter was 2.5 and only had it for bed at that point but the dentist told me it was starting to push her teeth so we stopped it that week and she didn't bat an eyelid although the dummy fairy was very generous so that might have helped lol

Dummy fairy came very recently to dd3 and she's 2.5. She cried for about ten minutes then was fine. Our fairy bought a tinker bell dvd so all 3dds could enjoy it as it felt unfair on the 2 who didn't have dummies, especially as dd2 and 3 are twins. She really understood. Dummy fairy also left flashing tooth brushes so dds could look after their teeth and she took the dummies to give to the babies.
I just had a feeling now was as good a time as any. Dd then got a really bad cold and temperature 2 days later but still wasn't bothered.

I tried.

I started by cutting down to sleeps and naps only - absolutely no dummies in the day, no wandering around with them, from around 18 mo.

Then I was stuck as to what to do next. I suggested that maybe another baby might want one, he told me that the babies Mummy should buy one. I despaired. There were always other reasons not to go cold turkey - starting a new daycare, going on holiday, coming back, something that meant life was busy and we just couldn't face the horror of stopping with the dummy and the inevitable life ending heartrending screams of loss and deprivation.
Then one day, at 3.5, he told me he didn't need it anymore, put it on a high shelf by himself, and hasn't looked back. Just went to sleep without it.
Still a bit gobsmacked actually!