DD is five and still has a dummy at night. I KNOW. I know this is terrible. In my defence, her dad/my lovely DH died suddenly just as we were starting the process of getting rid of it when she was 2, and honestly I couldn't face it for while after that, not least because it was her comfort when she was missing her Daddy and I felt she'd lost enough already.
Thankfully her bite hasn't been affected yet (the dentist said that because it's a 0-6 month orthodontic dummy it's so small it hasn't really made any difference!) but she's got her first wobbly tooth AND she's starting to think about having sleepovers (with me there obviously) so it really is time.
She is DEVASTATED at the idea. She says she can't sleep without her dummy, she would rather have it forever and never go on any sleepovers, she's terrified of needing braces but more terrified of not having her dummy. Since we started talking about it seriously she has sobbed about it every night at bedtime and has even started wetting the bed during the night on occasion, something she's never done before. She is a lovely, obedient, well-behaved kid who loves nothing more than to please me, but she cannot contemplate doing this. All the reward charts and bribes and praise in the world have not helped. She is genuinely frightened about it and I don't know what to do for the best.
I know this situation is 100% my fault and I should never have let it go on this long. I'm thoroughly ashamed and I feel awful about it, so please please don't berate me too much, I have already hurled every insult that you could possibly imagine at myself. But we are where we are. Does anyone have any advice, ideally if you've been there yourself?