Is it time to get rid of the dummy?????????

[Ozzie]

My DD is 4.5 months and her sleeping is getting worse. She has been getting in the habit of waking every 45 mins to an hour during the night and she goes back to sleep as soon as she gets her dummy back. My first intinct is to take the dummy away and endure a few nights of crying and hopefully she will manae to get herself back to sleep. I'm worried thogh that she is too young and I'm being cruel. I don't know what to do for the best. Any advice would be gratefully received.

No offense, but thumb-sucking 12-year-olds are exactly what I want to avoid by using a dummy for a short period in their lives rather than the thumb.....

I agree with dummies, at least you can take them away. Yeah they are a real pain at night, but I took my DS's away at 2.4, and haven't looked back....We just threw them in the bin and he was fine. He was a really sucky baby and the last thing I wanted was a boy who sucked his thumb till he was 16 ( my sisters ex...).

A dentist has said to me that it is actually possible to suck their teeth inwards if using a dummy for too long, but I'm sure thumbs are worse because of the constant pressure on the teeth, also wet thumb nails are very nice either.

Well I'm sure the dummy debate will always go on and on and on......

but it's good to see I'm not in the minority and there are a few people on my side

It would be interesting to run a poll, to see what the percentages are for, for and against!

Definitely bin it and you'll be glad in the long run - my dd (now 3) had one from birth as she was so colicky, then we couldn't face giving it up as she was always teething, then whe became totally dependent and by the age of 2 was obsessed with it - on her third birthday we said she could only have it at night and she accepted it but now we have finally said she can't have it at all as both the dentist and health visitor said it was bad for her facial muscles. I so wish we'd got rid of it at 3 months before she started teething as once that all kicked in she had illness after illness and we just douldn't bear the screaming if she didn't have her dummy! So get rid of it as you'll have a few bad nights whenever you do it but at least it won't affect the muscle development if you bin it now! Good luck!

My dd has just gone 3 and still oves her dodee!!
We have agreed for bedtimes and in the car but she is addicted bigtime and i can't just take it away. She has binned 3 that are old and past it and we have agreed that i'll buy no more so i discussed with her that when the ones she has get broken, she'll bin them and that will be that!!

(I said to dp should i put a pinprick in so they age faster but feel too mean)

Just to make my post clear, we have agreed for bedtimes and car but i can't just take it away altogether!!

Like the fairy idea but i think she's just got her head around our agreement

i think your agreement sounds fair, as long as you're consistant and stick to it. when its gone its gone, no getting a new one and giving it back.

When my dd reaches 3 she will give it up as I think it's best to then. Maybe you can replace it with something else. My dd has a little bunny which will no doubt take its place.