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Sleep

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Original poster

what age did you take your dc's dummy away and how was it?

20 replies

cheritongirl · 02/08/2007 22:12

Have been following the diary of a dummy weaner (on another thread) which inspired me to try and wean ds who is nearly 9 mo off his dummy. If i carry on letting him use his dummy is it just going to be worse later when i take it away? Or is there any chance he will just get fed up of it? And at what age can you explain you are taking it away to a child?
My ds only has it in his cot to drift off to sleep at bed time - can manage to settle himself any other time usually - so tonight i took it away from him which resulted in over an hour of screaming which no amount of distraction/cuddles could stop. So i gave in and gave him the dummy - but I had pricked it with a needle as i had read somewhere that the lack of vacuum puts them off it!
Has anyone else tried this? Views and opinions welcome! thanks

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Seona1973 · 03/08/2007 09:28

I only took ds's away as he was waking multiple times for it at night. He was 5 months and it took a couple of disturbed nights but now he sleeps a 100 times better than he did before. If your lo's dummy is not causing a sleep problem do you need to get rid of it at all (just asking)?

MaloryTheExciterTowers · 03/08/2007 09:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

cheritongirl · 03/08/2007 19:21

no i think you are prob both right - there is no great reason to take it away as it isn't doing any harm! So may just continue and see how we go. Thanks!
Anyone else?

OP posts:

tassisssss · 03/08/2007 19:26

dd is 10 months and has one for sleep and i do wonder if i should withdraw it, but tbh i can't be bothered and it means she generally falls asleep easily and quietly which is lovely.

i expect some time when she's about 3 i'll intorduce a huge bribe and that'll be it, but i'm not sure i'll worry before then.

maybe it depends too on your tolerance for crying...mine is surprisingly low...so i just don't feel the need to put either of us through the pain!

batey · 03/08/2007 19:27

Just wanted to add a word of caution to do it sooner rather than later. Have 2 friends who have just got rid of the dummies with their kids ....age 7 and age 9. Both kids would hide them and argue the toss about them to the cows came home!

Scootergrrrl · 03/08/2007 19:28

If there's no reason to take it away - ie waking in the night for it or wanting it all the time - I'd just leave it tbh. It's a nice comfort for him and the only gain would be you wouldn't have to take it when you go away.
We got rid of DD's when she was 2 and was old enough to understand. She gave them to Father Christmas, who gave her a present in return, and that was that.
It was always handy for her to have when she was feeling rubbish, kind of like a comfort blanket so I think we did the right thing.

notnowbernard · 03/08/2007 19:36

DD1 decided she wanted to give hers up just after her 3rd birthday (by then was only using it at night, anyway). Mind you, she only said it once so I seized the opportunity... she was pretty miserable the first night and cried for it a lot but by the second night went to bed with no problems.

Original poster

cheritongirl · 06/08/2007 20:31

bump

OP posts:

Theclosetpagan · 06/08/2007 20:32

DS gave his up aged 4 after biting through the last one.

Nemo2007 · 06/08/2007 20:35

I have just taken DD1s tonight and she went to bed o problems. She is 19mths and has the dummy for sleep only which I initiated at 12mths. I did take it off her a couple of months ago but then found she was waking up at 5am. So will see how it goes this time.

Nat1H · 07/08/2007 22:17

My DS1 was 4 when we took it off him. He only had it for bed anyway, but we explained that 4 year olds don't have dummies and he handed it straight over to us. Had NO problems at all. Don't try to take a dummy off a baby! You're just making life hard for yourself and stressful for your baby!

puffling · 07/08/2007 22:20

This question really stressed me when dd had a dummy. However, wHen she was 5 months, she got her first cold and couldn't breathe with a dummy in her mouth. This coincided with the dummy becoming too small to stay lodged in her face, so she just spat it out and thaNK GOD DIDN'T WANT IT AGAIN.

macmama73 · 07/08/2007 22:32

DD was about 3.5 and I was feeling like a really bad Mum because she still had her dummy, and she always put it in upside down with the result that she had a bit of an overbite.

The dummy fairy came one lunchtime and took the dummy away, bringing her a pressie. I deliberately did this at lunchtime so that it was a shorter sleep in case she was upset.

She cried for about 15 mins, "Mama, tell the dummy fairy to come back and take the present back, I want my dummy!!!"

That night, she cried for 5 mins, the next day she never even asked for it. I was so relieved, I thought we were going to have weeks of terror, and it was no bother.

DS was similar, he was younger though. And even less bother.

I wouldn't try to take it off a younger baby unless there was a specific problem with it.

Earlybird · 07/08/2007 22:39

I never took dd's away, just gradually reduced the times she could have it based on the fact that she was getting older and 'didn't need it the way a baby does'. The next step was that she was not allowed it outside home. In the end, she could only have it at bedtime. If she wanted it outside bedtime, she had to go lie on her bed and use it.

In the end, we agreed a time that she would stop using it, and she did. That seemed to work best for us, rather than a 'cold turkey' removal with subsequent upset.

cat64 · 07/08/2007 23:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Kif · 07/08/2007 23:11

at about 2 made it a 'sleep' thing (i.e. you want dummy? Sit in your buggy and sleep then) which meant that she only used it when needed. Then only night. Then three weeks to her third birthday started talking about dummy fairy. Took them all away overnight third birthday - she handed in her final one in the morning and got a present. Difficult first night - then fine.

rapunzelle · 11/08/2007 20:37

My daughter only ever had it for getting off to sleep, we even called it a 'night night dummy' Just after she was 2yrs we decided to lose it. She received a letter (in the mail) from the dummy fairies, asking her if they could collect her dummies for the new babies.

We agreed a day they could come and get them and we had a shopping trip to buy a shiny box to put the dummies into, all wrapped up in tissue for the new babies.

The fairies collected the dummies during the day and left her a sticker chart, explaining when she collected 7 stickers (1 for each night she went to sleep without making a fuss) they would bring her a thank you present.

Took her about 10 days to collect the stickers, the other 3 or 4 there was crying and support needed to get to sleep. She received her present (it was something a bit special) and we never looked back.

Very long winded, but it worked for us. From my experience I would say don't take it from a baby IF it is working out for you all but lose it before school.

castille · 11/08/2007 20:43

DD1 had one (only for sleeping) and when she was 3 I was wondering how to get rid of them... but before we could implement our cunning plan she suddenly declared one day that she didn't want dummies any more and threw them all away And that was it, she never asked for, or needed, one again

Not counting on DS doing the same though.

MaureenMLove · 11/08/2007 20:43

DD was 2.3yrs when she stopped having a dummy. It was Christmas Day! I know it sounds mean, but it was explained for weeks before that Father Christmas would take her dummies and replace them with presents. The reason I did Christmas day is because I knew she'd be so engrossed with other things, she probably wouldn't be that bothered and I was right. She never had a dummy again!
The sweetiest thing was, we went to a playgroup party a couple of weeks before christmas. Father Christmas was handing out pressie and she took her dummy out of her mouth and gave it to him! It still makes me sigh and she's nearly 12 now!

kay1981 · 15/08/2007 10:55

My DS is 1YO and I was wondering the same thing, but it seems like I have a while to go before the need to take it away, he needs it for bed and naps, but I'm hoping he'll be ok when "the dummy fairy" comes!

Rapunzelle - what a beautiful thing to do - I wonder if your daughter remembers that (depending on how old she is now!)

Thanks xx

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