Please tell me it gets easier!!!

[happymumof4crazykids]

I have been trying for over 2 months to get my youngest child off her dummy. She only has it at night but she will not sleep without it! I've tried the dummy fairy and a new toy, the dummy tree and a new toy, cutting the teat off and letting her cry till she exhausts herself and fall asleep! Yesterday she had her first dentist appointment and the dentist said her top teeth are becoming affected by her dummy. Dentist told her dummy has to go now as she is too old. We got home and put her dummies in an envelope and told her we were posting them to the dentist. She cried a bit but was ok then the rest of the day. Come bedtime she was horrific! We had screaming, temper tantrums and crying for over 2 hours. Finally she slept for an hour then woke up crying for her dummy. All night was like this and I ended up with her in bed with us and she was a nightmare. We've had about 3 hrs broken sleep and since about 6 am all she has done is cry for her dummy. My other children were fab and I took their dummies away at a much younger age with no difficulty, I know I've made it harder by giving in before but I am determined not to this time. How can I get her to understand? Any advice greatly appreciated!

How old is she? It depends on that really in terms of what she can and can't understand. I gave mine up on my third birthday apparently. My teeth are fine

She probably still needs the comfort. They do until around school age.

If you want to lose the dummy, try replacing it with something else comforting - mummys pillowcase for example.

I waited until mine were around 4 years old before stopping the dummy, so that I didn't need to leave them without comfort too young.

We started the idea of dummies being babyish and general you-dont-need-It negative associations from about 2.5-3y.

Then offered the Argos catalogue, let child choose a £20 toy and used this for bribery - you can have that as soon as you have done 7 nights in a row without a dummy. Up to you when you start. They've all chosen themself to give up dummy on this basis. No pressure from me, it could have waited. It was the first night since choosing the you with all 3 of mine.

Any wobbles resulted in no force from me. "You can have the dummy if you want. It just means starting again for the 7 days to get the special you". Their choice. Total child empowerment to make the decision.

They had to be old enough for this to work though. But had no adult teeth through until many years after being 4y. We also restricted dummy use to strictly in-cot use only from 12 months. So no dummy aside from going to sleep. This is very different to a toddler who has a dummy in their mouth seemingly every moment of every day.

She has only had it for bed, she is now 2 1/2 years old and has a slight lisp. She has it all night in her mouth. If she looses it she wakes up and if she can't find it I have to go in and find her one. She has never been a good sleeper so it's my fault she is so reliant on it at night! She has cwtchy cloths ( muslins ) and isn't really attached to anything else. I think it's just going to be a case of sleepless nights till she relearns how to sleep without it

I don't think anything is your fault, it's ok for little uns to have a dummy for comfort! As FATE says maybe you could wait a bit longer? Or are you 100% certain you want it removed? I had shocking teeth before I gave up my dummy. They were pointing outwards almost, but they are totally fine now. Many people I know who had dummies as kids, their teeth are fine.

I just feel like if I give into her again she will never give it up! I'm giving her mixed messages and I don't want to do that. I've thrown every single one away today so I can't be tempted in the middle of the night to give in just so we can all sleep! Her teeth are different to all the other kids and she definitely has dummy mouth.