Getting rid of dummy

[moocow123456]

Is it a bit cruel to just throw all of my 2 year olds dummies in the bin?

She is VERY attached to them. She nearly always has one in the mouth and one in each hand. She speaks very well etc and pulls them out to speak so not affecting her speech but she has started biting through the dummies. She not quite a large bit out of it yesterday and I'm worried it could be a choking hazard.

She doesn't chew through the night so potentially could try keeping them just for naps and sleep but I'm wondering if it's just easier to get rid of them in one go.

She is rraaaaally attached though 😩

Hi!

We got rid of DS1 dummy at 2.5, we let him fall asleep with it and went in once it had dropped out, took it away and threw them all in the bin. He woke up a few times but he's always had a comforter as well (a teddy) which we offered instead. Has your LO got a teddy/comforter? Distraction is key to these things!

When he asked for it we said tinker bell had come and taken them away to give to all the babies who needed them, as babies need dummies not grown up boys! Perhaps you could show her Peter Pan and start talking to her about tinker bell and how she looks after all the babies/little children?

We put a lot of emphasis and praise on him being a big boy and really grown up so that there was a lot of positive reinforcement. When he cried for his dummy we always comforted him and reinforced his teddy so that he basically swapped the dummy for that!

DS2 will go through the same thing, we found cold turkey much easier - it took about 3/4 days before he completely forgot. One thing we noticed was a massive improvement in was his teeth! We never noticed before, but when we looked back at photos we saw how much straighter they were so we're so pleased that sorted itself out! His sleep also improved as he wasn't waking up searching for the dummy.

Good luck, it's a mighty hurdle for them to overcome but like a lot of things, you've got to be cruel to be kind and know you're doing what's best for them in the long run. Hopefully someone will come a long soon whose tried a different approach so you have a few different perspectives xx

My son was like this.
But it was affecting his speech.
We took them away and kept them just for sleep, I didn't want to take the comfort away for nighttime.
Couple of rough days but he came out the other end.
Distraction is key.
It's worked well for us.

I got rid of my 3yr old twins dummies 6 months ago. They weren’t interested in the dummy fairy idea. One of them had a sore mouth for a few days so I told him the doctor had rung (he loves the doctor) and said he couldn’t have his dummy that night but if he did well he would be sent a present the next night. He accepted it and the next night he got a set of new books ‘from the doctor’. My daughter saw this and immediately threw her dummy on the floor and said her mouth was sore and that she couldn’t have her dummy anymore. I said OK, if you do well without your dummy tonight, there will be a present from the doctor in the morning too. In preparation I’d got her a toy that I knew she’d wanted and wrote a fake letter from ‘the doctor’. They were so delighted that they never asked for their dummies again. My daughter had an open bite (front teeth didn’t meet when teeth closed) due to dummy use and it literally disappeared two weeks after we lost the dummy.

Thank you all for the ideas!

She has bitten a hole in another one this morning 🙈. Wish I had started getting rid of them yesterday.

Will have to wait for next weekend now as she has nursery on Tuesday and I'm worried she will spend the whole day crying and screaming about her dummy. She hates it there anyway so can only imagine the sort of day they would have!

Will be taking everyone's tips on board, thank you!!

I snipped the ends off them and told her they were broken. She slept with them in her hands for a few weeks and that was that.