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Parenting

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Original poster

3 year old and giving up dummies

14 replies

wishIwasonholiday10 · 03/07/2025 06:14

My about to turn 3 year old still uses a dummy for sleep. I try to stop her using it during the day except sometimes in the car (she hates the car and gets car sick and the dummy seems to comfort her).

Is there any chance she will give it up on her own or do we need to go cold turkey and do the dummy fairy? I’m worried it will be impossible to get her to go to sleep without it as it’s already quite challenging but at least she sleeps through once down for the night.

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Hridms · 03/07/2025 06:24

I think it's unlikely she'll give it up any time soon by herself. Why should she - she enjoys it? Just pick a time to go cold turkey, explain it's coming and stick to it. Yes there might be some crying at first and you might have to sit with her to reassure her, but I expect after a couple of nights things will be back to normal. Did she have a soft toy as a comforter in bed, that might help?

whitehear · 03/07/2025 06:27

I was so worried about getting rid of the dummy with my then 2 and 3 year old. They loved their dummy and would never put it down.

One day I said to them, the dummy fairy is coming today, she will bring you a little gift if you leave her your dummy.
We put the dummies in a gift bag and left on the door step outside. Came back and there was a little soft toy bunny, chocolate bar and a thankyou note from the fairy.
They were over the moon with their gifts and never asked about the dummy again.

Good luck. I was dreading it and really didn’t need to

ChocolateGanache · 03/07/2025 07:17

Took my 3 year old to the dentist who very seriously informed him that now he is 3 he’s a big boy and big boys don’t use dummies. He nodded sagely, went home and threw all his dummies in the bin.

Worth a try?

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Rocknrollstar · 03/07/2025 07:42

My neighbour did it by degrees - no dummy out of the bedroom, then not out of bed and then no dummy.

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 03/07/2025 07:43

We got a book about giving dummies to the fairy who would take them to fairyland. We read it every night for about a week and then he decided he was ready.

I was sceptical but it worked like a charm.

REDB99 · 03/07/2025 07:45

I did dummy fairy, worked a treat. Put dummies in the back garden, meanwhile I had hidden a gift in the dining room which was miraculously there as soon as we’d left the dummies. I’d quickly binned the dummies so when we checked in the back they had gone. My DD still remembers getting her first skateboard from the dummy fairy 😂

Somehowgirl · 03/07/2025 13:17

Mine gave his up a few weeks after turning 3 by himself with no input from us. He just stopped looking for it at bedtime. But by that point he never got it at any other time than bedtime. When he stopped looking for it we just never mentioned it again and that was the end of it.

28andgreat · 03/07/2025 13:33

I was really worried about this with my 2.5 year old DD.

We cut a small hole in 2/3 of her dummies (hid the 3rd one just in case it went terribly) - she then refused the first one with a hole, tried the second one with a hole and refused that too.
We told her she can still keep it (so that its still there, we are not taking her dummy away from her) but she didn't want it as it was 'broken'.

Its been about 3 months and she hasn't asked for one since that night, much quicker than I could of imagined. maybe worth a shot?

LittleBobbyDazzler · 03/07/2025 13:34

Our dummy obsessed little one really surprised us. Did the dummy fairy thing, she left a stuffed toy from a story she loved. First night there was a few tears but was asleep after half an hour or so, next night again, a few little wobbles settled soon. 3rd night and nothing. I was worse than she was 😂

Bitzee · 03/07/2025 13:46

Mine was nagging for a massive toy so on a whim I said hmmm not sure, it’s for big boys and big boys don’t have dummies…. Then I said he could have it tomorrow if he slept without the dummy tonight. And he did and we never looked back.

OkyDoke · 03/07/2025 13:54

The elf took ours at Christmas and left a nice gift!

YellowGrey · 03/07/2025 13:56

We did the dummy fairy and as pp says it worked much better than I expected! Good luck OP!

CC222 · 03/07/2025 15:04

I spoke about the dummy fairy for a couple of weeks, that we have to leave the dummy out and it’s collected when he’s sleeping and then he will be allowed to pick a toy from the toy shop. One day soon after he mentioned a toy he wanted so I jumped at that chance and the dummy went that night and we went shop that week to pick a toy.

24Dogcuddler · 03/07/2025 15:29

Some good ideas. This book has been working its magic for years.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Noo-Noo-Jill-Murphy/dp/1406331848/ref=asc_df_1406331848?mcid=8d83c5ffd8263f98a9a5b051543545eb&th=1&psc=1&hvocijid=17345549605846434237-1406331848-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17345549605846434237&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006912&hvtargid=pla-2281435177378&psc=1&gad_source=1

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