Give me some dummy horror stories...

[AnMum]

We are planning on going cold turkey on dummies in 2 weeks when ds turns 6months. He only has them to settle at night and for naps but is starting to need it putting back in at night which is becoming a pain. Getting rid of it is a scary prospect as he has been a fab sleeper up until now. We need some bad stories about long term use of dummies to make sure we stick it out!!!!

Aw, no horror stories yet, 6 months is tiny! Let him have it at night, keep under pillow during day. Get one of those attatcher things, and he won't wake you at night as won't lose it. No point denying him the comfort at this stage IMO. sorry!

No scare stories as such, but DS had dummies until he was 3, and although relatively easy, it was a bit of an ordeal getting rid of them (bribery, questions etc). DD on the other hand was much easier. She was 7 months and had a cold - couldn't keep the dummy in her mouth and breathe at teh same time, so we just went cold turkey and tbh I don't think she even noticed.

Both the children got much more attached to their bedtime companions (igglepiggle for DS and blankie for DD) after they'd given up on the dummies, so I think having something for them to cuddle to helps.

DD1 had a dummy at night until she was 5!!!

Took dummy off DD at 5 months for the same reasons. Had a rough first night but she slept better after that. With hindsight I would suggest stopping at night first as day sleep is different to night sleep. We did both cold turkey and her naps went a bit haywire and she ended up very overtired from not having slept in the day. Just as a personal thing, I'm really glad we did it as she is pretty good at self settling now (unless teething or ill or overtired or being a monkey) and it's nice not to be scrabbling around trying to find the damn thing in the middle of the night. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Rather than horror stories, would it help if I told you DS gave up the dummy pretty much himself at about 7/8 months (had used it loads up unitl then). As he started crawling it dropped out and wouldn't stay in, and he wanted it less and less at night.

Thanks everyone...I quite like the idea of doing nights first as DH will be here for moral support whereas I will be on my own for daytime naps! Think we'll take the plunge at night in a couple of weeks...it has to be better than training through to his room 4 times a night an# playing 'hunt the dummy!'

That would be 'traipsing'!