Getting rid of a dummy!!

[astridoo]

Please give me your best tips on how on earth to get rid of the dummy!!

My ds is 2 next week and still has a dummy. He has is a lot. Always at home, in the car, asleep, in the pram, at friends houses. The only time he doesn't have it is when we're out in public like the supermarket, park, soft play etc etc (unless he's in the pram).

I want it gone so bad, but I'm mortified because he is absolutely obsessed and has to know exactly where there is one and when we get out the car to go somewhere he has to know where I've put it in the car and I have to reassure him it'll be fine and it'll be safe 🤦‍♀️

Help please!! What have I done!

Don't stress! You haven't done anything, it's his comfort.
Going to be honest, we had the dummy until 2.5 and then we stopped it and only allowed for sleep.

If he can manage out in public without it for afew hours he can manage at home. So hide it. If he asked where it is, wanting to know it's safe, tell him it's in a safe place and mummy's looking after it.

First few days are hard but they soon adapt.
A lot of people go cold Turkey and it works great but I didn't like making bedtime harder than it needed to it be hence keeping it for that time.
As he grew older, he's now 3.5, he just liked holding it so fall asleep and now it's gone.

I am trying to go slowly with removing it so where my DD used to have it always, I cut it down to just in pram, car or bed- lots of tantrums which I rode through. Then I said no dummy in pram or car, just bed- again lots of tantrums but now accepted.
Im just building myself up to removing at bedtime!

I have a 2.5 year old dummy obsessive, don't worry there are lots of them about!

My older two children had them until they were three. The eldest wasn't that fussed on his and gave it up easily, but the youngest would literally put three in his mouth! He was less keen on getting rid of it but ultimately it wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be. His sleep did suffer though, he found it really hard to settle back and eventually started sucking the ear of a soft toy. Which I was fine with as he didn't do it outside of his bed. I'd say within two days he was over the worst and only occasionally asked for a dummy after that. I'm hoping my youngest will be the same...

My DD only had hers when she needed it, and I'd pop it out when she was playing happily and show her here it was. Eventually she only had it at night, and when we agreed it was time, she had a star chart with the reward of a My Little Pony at the end of it.

I cut tiny bit off end and let child have it whenever he wanted it. He kept saying it was broken and spat it out and wanted a new one. I kept saying I'd buy new one next time I was shopping but never did. After a week or so he got sick of putting a broken dummy in and stopped asking me to get new one.

My dd nursery does a story book called the dummafant. It's an elephant that eats dummies that lives in a post box. After reading it for a week, we put the dummies in an envelope and posted them in the nursery postbox. She was given a toy elephant as a gift. We're on night 6 and she's done amazing. Maybe make up something similar and give a little gift.

My now 3 year old developed speech and language problems and her therapist basically told us we needed to get rid of the dummy ASAP. She was 2.5 when we did this....

We told her that she was a big girl and that she didn't need her dummy in the day anymore. We let her choose a new cuddly toy and told her that if she ever needed her dummy in the day she could cuddle her new toy. The next day when she got up we told her to put her dummy on the side and to bring her toy downstairs with her. She screamed and screamed but we didn't give in and just kept repeating that she could cuddle her toy if she needed it. After about 45 mins she gave up and left her dummy upstairs. We had a few meltdowns throughout that day and the next but never gave in and after those two days she was fine about only having her dummy at night.

We are now talking about not having it at night. She no longer cries for us to come and find it so I know she can sleep without it. We are waiting until she tells us she's ready and I think that will be soon.

Good luck xxx

That's a lovely idea! Well done that nursery.

I had a dummy which my mother was desperate for me to give up, I was old enough to remember this, she told me that now I was too old for the dummy my mouth would twist and I would turn into an ugly Witch, it done the trick!!! She was wonderful my mum. I made sure my children didn't have dummies, I can't understand why babies need them.

Just get rid of it. Baby will soon get over it and make do x

DD is 2.5 and started taking dummy away during the day and only give her it at bed time. It's a lot of screaming and she reminds me to pack it in her bag for the day but I always "forget" and put one in my glove box haha. She suffered with reflux so relied on her dummy to soothe so it's been really hard to take it off her during the day buy she's doing ok-ish

They covered this on Woman's Hour years ago. Useful to me! Basically, just start cutting the dummy a tiny amount. Then a bit more and a bit more. It works. Panic not.

Give it to the ‘ Dummy Fairy’, a bit like a tooth fairy but for dummies. You could even say the dummy then gets given to a newborn baby. In return, the Dummy Fairy gets a present for the child. Eg. Cuddly toy. Maybe the toy is a thank you from the baby.

I took my children to the dentist and when he looked at the youngest child he told me to get rid of the dummy as it would push his teeth out.
This child loved his dummy. He would walk round with one in his mouth and a plastic cup full of them !
That year Santa took the dummies away and that was that. He was a big boy now and did not need them. Santa took them for other babies 😀
Perhaps you could try this ? You will have to think of a mega super hero that he loves who could come and get the dummy. Peppa Pig or George? Or similar

I think I'd let him have it for now, but only in bed. So not for naps in the car or pram but daytime naps and overnight in his bed (or cot ). He can keep it under his pillow so he knows it's safe.

We had a friend who was pregnant when DD was about 2. I said the new baby needed them so she helped me wrap them, handed them over to friend and she barely mentioned them again. I was shocked, she was addicted! It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

I would phase it out so he only has it at naps/bedtime, then whrn he has the understanding do the dummy fairy and take them away, but make sure you replace with another comforter like a teddy or something. We didn't get rid of DDs till she was 2 and a half i think, wasn't too worried as waa only for sleep and waited for her to have the understanding needed.

With ds we did it in small stages, eg only at nap time and bed time, then only at bed time, then we stopped as we “had to give it to the new baby who was born next door to us! “ ds hated that baby 😂

Dd we went cold turkey and just told her we must have left all dummies at grandmas and that was it. One unsettled night and that was it.

Cold Turkey is the way. Snip the end off and explain they are broken. My daughter just held hers instead for a few weeks. She soon forgot about it.

My children only had them when they were asleep so they stayed in the bed. It was quite easy when they gave them up all together.

Could you try leaving in the bed for a few weeks then getting rid of completely?

I got told not to panic, you very rarely see a school starter with a dummy. They will grow out of it. The Easter bunny took our dummies when my daughter was 2.5. She understood it and was happy to accept it which we were amazed at as she was obsessed. They were hidden everywhere and she knew exactly where. It will happenZ

Could you attach one of those comforter blanket things (hankie size) and keep him on that for a month then loose the dummy and he just carries that round with him until he drops it and forgets about it?

Dd (at her addicted height needed one in each hand and one in her gob to sleep) was conned out of hers persuaded by an exchange for a big girl's barbie doll and ds's went (in a watched dustcart heist) in exchange for Woody from Toy Story who could only live with big dummyless boys.

They hadn't had them in the daytime other than for naps since one and while there were a few weeks of hideous unsettled nights we stuck with it and they eventually forgot.

I just did cold turkey so I couldn't cave threw them all in the bin my daughter only asked for it for two nights and she was fine she was around 2 aswell at the time and she loved it she's 6 now and I see her still eyeing up her brothers dummy's .... I think she'd have one now if I let her 😂

Dont stress too much, you will get there. Just hide it throughout the day, out of sight out of mind. We are doing it with DD 20 months at the moment and are only trying to give it to her at night and when she’s really grumpy. But she’s not stupid and when she’s bored she keeps walking around saying “dummy?”, we just give it to her then take it straight off once she’s distracted again.

My brother who is a dentist said as long as they are off it by 3 it won’t affect their teeth/jaws. So that’s our aim haha.