Is 18 m too old for the dummy fairy

[Nettiespagetti]

DS 3.5 gave his dummies to santa at 2.2m he was perfectly ok, couple of lil whimpers but fine.

DD is completely different. She is (i'm sorry but) a proper girly drama queen. Fiercely independant and wilful. She doesnt have dummy at all during day except for odd nap at home and bedtime.

Am i mad to consider the dummy fairy this early? I keep thinking the longer i leave the harder the struggle will be.

Anyone else done it this early? Any advise please?

Could you limit them even more at home and reduce the number?

Introduce a new 'sleepy friend' to replace the dummy?

If she only has it at bed time, then why not just let her have it? If you sneak into her room and take it away once she's asleep it won;t do her any harm at all.

hmm sleepy friend i like that idea. Her teddy always looks after the dummies whilst she is not in bed. Maybe he could be sleepy friend.

Need to convince DH otherwise he will just give her one in middle of night and i really want her to learn to self settle.

seeker i know she uses it at night to get back to sleep though and early in morning. When the dawn comes...

DS is 18mo and to be honest at every stage I've thought about trying to get rid of it (6 weeks, 4 months, 6months, 1yr) but we've never had the issue with getting up to him, once he turned a year we put cot bumpers on his cot so it couldn't fall out but now I think he falls asleep with it but doesn't need it again.

I'm waiting until I can explain it to him, just a personal choice but I reckon he's now beyond the age when I can just take it away and he'll forget about it in a few days, but not old enough to understand dummy fairies etc.

If it's only for sleeping, I don't see the harm in waiting

I agree - i thought i'd get rid of it much earlier but in fact, DS gave his to the dummy fairy (in return for a frankly AWESOME present!) at 3, and it was a piece of cake - he was old enough to be proud that he was a 'big boy' and he also understood the rationale that "another baby needs your dummies because he doesn't have one"

I would agree. DS1 has a dummy but strictly only for sleeping - they live in his cot. I know it would distress him if we tried to lose them just yet (he is 26 mths), but am confident as he gets older and understands more he will decide - with a little persuasion from us - that they are not for big boys.

Some kids do give them up on their own. We took DS1s away when he was 3 DD1 when she was almost 4, but DGD1 gave hers up at 3 1/2. She only had it at night or nap time anyway. Its not a big deal.

Thanks for ur advice, I'm not entirely sure I'm ready as keep being put off with idea of sleepless nights

Im dreading getting rid of it too! DD only has hers at bedtime but loves it. During the day it stays in her bed but can imagine the tears and tantrums when it disappears at bedtime.She is 22 mths now and i was thinking of getting rid of it a two but not i'm not so sure!

we took dd1's away on her first birthday
she slept much better afterwards though...