10 month old addicted to dummy for sleeping / napping

[TuesdayMonda]

I'm Conscious dummies aren't recommended after 1 year old and want to start weaning my son off the dummy. He only uses it to sleep in the day and at night. He won't settle (apart from the rare occasion) without it. We always try to see if he will settle first without and the answer is no. How can we drop the dummy before 1y? Dummy fairy won't work on this age!

Stop stressing over the dummy, how many 5 or 6 year old do you see with a dummy? At 10 months your little one is still a baby, take away the dummy & they will most likely start thumb sucking & then you will have a battle on your hands.

Does he have a comforter? At this age its cold turkey.

Tbh I left it and the dummy fairy will take it when he's old enough. Mine only has it for sleep and I dont think its the worst thing in the world.

Not a chance I'd be taking his dummy away yet. Don't do it to yourself! I was devastated when my second child wouldn't take a dummy, preferred the real thing instead 🙄 alllllll night.

I believe the biggest issue with dummies is them affecting speech? So as long as it's just for sleep, and maybe occasionally for comfort, I'd have no concerns. DD had a dummy until around 2.5 and her speech was well ahead for her age.

If it comforts him, leave it. The instinctive urge to suck can go on until around age eight years, and he'll have given up his dummy long before then. Let him be a happy baby.

DD had one for naps and bedtime until 2yo. She wasn't a great sleeper and it helped her settle which meant I got half a night sleep rather than no sleep! We did cold turkey at 2yo.

And don't use the word 'addicted' for a 10 month old, you are setting up a whole heap of problems for yourself in the future with such emotive language at age where it's simply instinct driven behaviour.

No dummy after 1 rule applies to awake time only. It's for speech development. Dummy after 1 is fine/great/useful/comforting for sleep.

Don't stress it and leave baby to it.

My son had his until almost 3 when we did the dummy fairy. He loved it at bed time and naps but didn't have it during the day. Speech and teeth are fine

Agree with other posters, if he only has it for sleep time I'd leave it. The issue with dummies is that they can affect speech but that will only be if he has it during the day. DS2 loved his dummy but DD refused a dummy and sucked her thumb instead. It's harder to wean them off that!

I remember one of my Nephews and his dummy, well dummies, he would run around with one in his mouth and one in each of his trouser pockets!
I can only imagine the carnage if they didn't let him have it.
He is mid twenties now and it doesn't seem to have had any negative outcome. My DD, was a thumb sucker and did it until nearly Eight, it would have been impossible to stop her.

My son was the same and he was still obsessed even when he was 2/3 and I was desperate to get rid of it.

One day he had a cold and he was so bunged up that when he kept going for his dummy, he would spit it back out as he was breathing through his mouth. Whenever he spat it out - I would hide it, and kept doing this until all the dummies were gone. By the time he recovered he had forgotten about the dummy.

@Nat6999

Stop stressing over the dummy, how many 5 or 6 year old do you see with a dummy? At 10 months your little one is still a baby, take away the dummy & they will most likely start thumb sucking & then you will have a battle on your hands.

My aunt had a dummy that she wore on a string under her clothes at primary school, she would go into the toilet at break with my mum standing guard so she could have a few sucks on her dummy.

As a result my aunt's children didn't have dummies, my cousin was still sucking her thum aged 10, she did stop in the day but if she fell asleep her thumb would be in her mouth.

Agree with everyone else. Dummies are fine for sleep. My 4 all had them until they turned 3 and then the dummy fairy came, or we went on holiday and "forgot" to bring the dummies. No speech or teeth problems and SO much comfort!

Thanks everyone I can't tell you how relieved I am by reading some of these stories. I guess some babies just love their dummies. I just feel do shamed by the dummy mafia sometimes!

Yep leave it for now!

Why do people have such strong opinions on dummies anyway

Strong opinions come in when the kid is 3 and has a dummy in 24/7 to the point of having drool rash and being unable to properly pronounce words IMO.

In the situation you've described I wouldn't be concerned at all. In fact I'm envious as my DD wouldn't take a dummy at all.

I really think its about class and the generations before us looking down on people that used them