Ditching dummy - 23 months

[jodesxx]

My son is 23 months and we have been trying to wean him off the dummy. He went down without it on Sunday so we have stuck with it this week but it is breaking my heart as he seems to be struggling so much. He's only really had it for the last six months for sleep and car journeys. He's been waking up at 5.30am and is so upset. We can calm him down but he won't go back to sleep. Naps this week have been awful as he jsur won't settle down. It took over an hour yesterday and I ended up just having to let him cry it out as when I was comforting him he was just hitting me constantly. That was about 10/15mins. Tonight has been the same. Put him down and it's taken half an hour. He wasn't upset up wasn't sleeping. We went in and it's just made him worse.

How long does it last and does anyone have any suggestions?

I feel like maybe we have made the wrong decision and he's not ready for it. Feel like an awful parent at the moment.

Reasons for ditching the dummy are the waking up in the night wanting it (got better), baby no 2 is arriving in next few weeks and the dentist said we should try and get rid of it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'm probably not the right person to ask but I think they'll give up in their own time. Most young children have a source of comfort, be it a toy or blanket or thumb sucking (which can go on for years). There are bigger things to worry about than a dummy in my view.

Give your toddler his comforter back. Ds binned his himself about 3. 5. Perfect big teeth now at 9 and no speech problems.. Or you will be dealing with a newborn and a miserable toddler...

I agree with PPs. He’s still so young and if it gives him comfort, what’s a few more months/year or whenever? My DS is 2.5 and we’ve been trying to get rid but he gets so upset if he asks and we say no, so we’ve just decided to leave it for now. We did have a rule of just for nap times a week ago but a nasty bug put the end to that, so that’s our aim to try and tackle next week, but if he needs it he needs it.

I’d give it back to him for now op. Only because I think they either need to get rid of it when they are really small. Like 6-9 months or they need to be ready to understand giving it to another baby. Or the dummy fairy, Easter bunny or whatever way you get rid. If he’s only having it to sleep his teeth etc will be fine. I’ve done it twice. My first liked it but didn’t need it and she gave it up really easily. My second. She was a dummy in the mouth and one in each hand kind of girl. I was so worried about how she’d give it up but she gave her dummy’s to the dummy fairy no bother at all when she was around 2.5. The little one is still too little but hopefully she will when she’s ready as easily as the others have.

I’d wait longer as others have said. Do you put plenty in the bed/cot with him so he can find them himself in the night?
I also think the dummy will be a comfort when the newborn arrives, and might make life easier for you too. It’ll be a big change and best to
keep things consistent and easy for your DS where you can.
I waited til mine was 3, when no more naps and only using it at night, we used the dummy fairy. It was a breeze and we’ve never had to give it back.

I agree

I think he may need the extra comfort when your new LO arrived

We used the dummy fairy approach and the dummy fairy gave the dummies to “the babies”; DS collected them all up and when he returned from play school the dummy fairy had left him a wrapped up gift complete with gift tag thanking him for his kindness and for his dummies that were now being used by the babies. He was so excited - any time he asked for a dummy or mentioned it we said we didn’t have any as he’d given them to the babies / dummy fairy gave them to the babies….we spoke about this all to him for a little while before hand ie very soon we’ll have to give the dummies to the babies / you’re a big boy etc etc - he’s never had one since 👌