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Original poster

How can I get rid of the dummy - cold turkey??

10 replies

tori26 · 04/04/2002 08:02

Hi anyone got any tips for getting rid of the dummie. My son is 9 1/2 months old and has started waking in the night. He also uses it for his daytime naps. When should I start? Would really like some encouragement as I am dreading doing it but I think it's time to be done.

OP posts:
EmmaM · 04/04/2002 08:58

Hi Tori - there is an archive topic about dummies which you might find useful, go to the Search board.

We went 'cold turkey' on the dummy. I can't remember now how old ds was, but it was sometime between one and two. Basically his favourite dummy broke and he wouldn't have anything else, so he had to go without. We had about 3 unsettled nights where we had to use sleep training techniques, but after that he just got used to not having it. We used lots of praise and comments such as yukky dummies and over time he stopped asking for it.

I think if you can put up with a few unsettled nights then go for it. I'm glad we did. One word of advice though - get rid of the dummy completely, put it in the dustbin, don't have one in the house. There may come a point where your child gets so upset that you may be tempted to give in and get the dummy - this will not help! If you can ride the storm then chances are things will settle pretty quick after that.

Good luck - and like I said, check out the archive.

Rosy · 04/04/2002 11:40

Tori - this might sound like a stupid question, but have you asked yourself why you want to get rid of your son's dummy? (Controversial, I know.)

sister · 04/04/2002 12:22

Rosy, Don't you agree that the easier you do it the easier it will be??? I hate seeing toddlers with dummies. Also they say that it doesn't help their speech development.

lulu40 · 04/04/2002 13:41

My ds had his dummy until he was 3 (shocking I know) as I swore he would never have it this long but when your child is a horrific sleeper you will do anything for a bit of sleep. In the end we both decided that when we came back from holiday he would throw it away and surprisingly he did unfortunately his day time nap went out of the window along with the dummy but at least I could hold my head up high!!!! seriously I think there is far too much judgement held against dummies and my son's speech was never affected nor his teeth so dont be too hard on yourself if you want him to hang on to for a little longer he is only still very small but I do think the best thing is cold turkey and they soon get used to not having one I thought we would be in for the most horrific time but it was a lot easiser than I had imagined. Good luck

JoAnne427 · 04/04/2002 13:55

I'm curious - what is a dummy? I have never heard that term before mumsnet, and have had this picture in my head of a huge stuffed doll that looks like baby's mom!

But from this thread I am beginning to think it may just be a pacifier...not quite as much fun to envision...

susanmt · 04/04/2002 14:03

We got rid of my dd's dummy at about this time. I'm afraid we went for the cruel but fast cold turkey and inside a week she was fine and never looked back. We chose to do it then as a close frind of mine is a speech therapist and she said 9 months is the time when children start to get speech probs rlated to dummy use (though nat all children get these problems) and it is easier to get rid of it at 9 months than 18 months or later! But I since heard that if you are only using it at night/for sleeping its not a problem. We got rid of dd's because we were having to get up 3/4 times a night to give it back to her and didn't want to keep doing that, as she had been sleeping through the night from 3 months.

bea · 04/04/2002 16:19

change the locks and go away on holiday!!

WideWebWitch · 04/04/2002 18:25

I left it until ds was 3 too! By then he was ONLY allowed it at bedtime and eventually it broke and we just didn't get another one. Because he understood that it was baby-ish he didn't seem to mind giving it up at that point. His speech is great a year and a half later, as are his teeth. HTH

Rhiannon · 04/04/2002 21:10

JoAnne, yes it's a pacifier you're right. R

Original poster
tori26 · 04/04/2002 22:15

Update - so far so good. No dummy all day. DS had his morning nap as usual but cried on and off for about 1/2 hour and the same for the afternoon nap. Also gone down to bed ok with a little crying. Rosy - I want to give up his dummy because he used to sleep through the night and now we are having to get up with him a few times. Emma - will check out the archive, thanks.

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