Getting rid of dummy

[curlycurlymoo]

I need help! My 3 year old is just so attached to her dummy! How can I get rid???

A popular way is to get father Christmas to take it away for other children. Our nursery had a little tree at Christmas that you could clip your name too so the big guy knew to look for their dummies.... Do you think the Easter bunny could offer a similar service?

The easter bunny with swap it for some chocolates.

for us - we gave it to my friends new baby. Worked a treat

That's a good idea. I'll have to give that a try. She understands I think but you can see she just loves it so much.

She might suprise you. The week my DD turned 3 and started part time school she told me she was a big girl and didn't need it any more.

Gave it to me, went to bed and that was the end of it. She was also very attached had it every night at that point. I was so shocked as thought getting rid of it would be very hard.

We stopped dummy in the day at 2.5. If you haven't done that yet, stopping it in the day might be a good way to start x

@Tryingtoconceivenumber2 thank you. Haven't stopped in the day but I do leave it on the side so it's out of reach and out of sight but when she starts to get tired then I give it to her.

I'd weave a story; Easter bunny/new baby etc then cold turkey. I think you may be surprised how quickly she gets over it. I had a dummy addict, couldn't believe how easy it was to get rid, once the scene was set.

Put a pin prick into the teat part of it to puncture it iyswim

Don't say anything about what you have done but they will decide themselves it isn't as soothing as before

Could also use it with Easter bunny idea at same time

I did the opposite. The dentist was fine with DD having it till she was 3 so a few months before she was 3 I said we needed to stop using it. We planned to stop the following week, said it would be different and change is often difficult but she knew it was the right thing for her teeth and she was growing up then stopped as planned. She cried a bit the first night, mentioned it the second night but had extra cuddles and nodded off, didn’t mention it the third night, did again I think the next then it was just done.

She’d only had it for naps and nighttime.

I didn’t want to risk ruining a celebration like Christmas or Easter if she didn’t accept the story on the day. I didn’t want to lie to her tbh. Straight forward and open and honest, firm but loving and reassuring worked fine. I’ll do the same with DS.

My eldest was absolutely glued to theirs and I really worried that giving it up would be a problem, but we just made up some crap about leaving it on the tree for Santa and it was fine. So my advice would be don't worry about it until it actually becomes a problem.

Take her to a shop and let her pick a Teddy or something similar. Then she 'pays' for the teddy with her dummy.

We did this and it worked wonders. She then used the teddy as a comfort instead of the dummy.

That is great but please get at least one more copy of the TEDDY and wash them and swap them round regularly

So if one TEDDY gets lost you have an equally worn out replacement

Or even better 2 replacements so another spare

But swap them regularly so they are all worn out equally

It was much easier than I thought when my twin DDs were 3. We went on holiday to spain and i
told them dummies weren’t allowed there. They just accepted it. I did hide some in my luggage in case it ruined the holiday but they didn’t mention it.

You might be surprised OP

@FrenchandSaunders I like that idea. We are going away next week! Might be worth a try?
She already has a little bunny that she has when she has the dummy too. I might try breaking them.

The dummy fairy took my daughters and left her a necklace with a tiny silver dummy charm and a note telling her she was growing up and didn’t need dummy anymore. My dentist absolutely wanted it done before age 3 due to changing the shape of the roof of mouth bit of tears and then forgotten. And she has beautiful teeth now. She lost the necklace the next August but it had done its work by then.

Presumably she only has it for sleeping now. My dd's was kept on the top of the wardrobe and given after stories and put back as soon as she was awake.

If that's the case, I don't see a problem.

Dd decided the day before her 4th birthday that she was too old and threw it away.

DS loved his dummy more than anything. We gently started telling him around 3.5 that he wouldn’t have it after he turned 4. He didn’t seem to actually be taking it in, but then on his 4th birthday he went to bed without it and that was that!

He’s nearly 9 now but still sometimes and rather adorably sucks an imaginary dummy in his sleep.

Just to say I did this with breaking the habit of milk in a bottle before bed. We went on holiday and I said that they didn't have milk for bottles in Portugal and said we were just going to have a cuddle instead. She totally accepted it and was so tired every night she just passed out anyway. Once we got home she never asked for a bottle again!

Well done to all your littlies and all you fantastic mommies. I'm glad it's gone ok for most of you. It's horrible seeing them so Heartbroken isn't it.

We did the Christmas thing when DC was 3.5 and it was fine. She was enthusiastic about having them swapped for presents and waking up for Christmas day and was fine.

It was the second night where the novelty had worn off and she was terribly upset at bed time. She cried and said she wanted Santa to come back and take all her presents away cos she just wanted her "dodies" back. I was really upset tbh! But we reassured, loads of cuddles and she went to sleep and then that was it, she never mentioned them again.

So I think we're on day 5/6 since getting rid of dummy. First two days/nights were ok. Then she seems to have been ill since then! Frequent wakings in the night. Struggling to get to sleep. Not gonna lie, the thought of just giving her the dummy back is so strong. I won't, but I feel so sorry for her.

Really struggling with sleep. Bedtimes taking up to an hour and night wakings are loads. Didn't have any before. Anyone else had this? Do I need to just push through??

unpopular opinion but I would give it back. My first child was the same (kept waking crying and upset) and I gave it back. A few more months won’t make a difference to her teeth at this stage. My child gave up hers with nearly no problems 6 months later (yes was nearly 4). But we never allowed day use, only for sleeping/napping not running around w dummy in mouth.

Also some children start thumb sucking instead and I prefer a dummy over that.

I definitely don't want a thumb sucker, I can't get rid of that!
She was so so tired and she's asked again this morning. I'm worried if I do give it back that it will just happen again next time we get rid. But as she's tired it's like we're going round in circles!
Back to nursery tomorrow. So maybe being back in a better routine might help? I don't know. Seems weird it's been over a week and she's still asking for it?

@curlycurlymoo just give her time. Next time might not be a battle at all and she might outgrow it. Atm she needs it to sleep.

as I said my first gave up the dummy after a failed attempt a few months later without any issues, presents or tears. But I gave it back after she found her thumb. And she was inconsolable at night and started shaking like someone on drug withdrawal.