Took away DS dummy and now he won't go to sleep

[IntergalacticP]

Hello,

We took away DS's (turned 2 31st October) dummy this week. We did a build up to it, explained that they were going to go to little babies who needed them, bought a book to read about it etc.

We are on day 4 and he point blank refuses to lie down and close his eyes.

I'm so close to caving and just giving them back because it's taking so much longer to get him to go to sleep at bedtime and he hasn't had a nap at all (would usually sleep 1-2.30ish).

He isn't crying for the dummies and if we stay in the room with him he will just chat and laugh and sing. If we leave he stands and screams bloody murder.

Any tips please before I crack and give up? Thank you

Tough one, now you've done 4 days I think it might be best to grit your teeth and follow through! He needs to develop a new going to sleep association and way of self soothing. Might be worth trying a comforter type fabric to feel / snuggle with or a soft toy? You might need to sit with him and demo what to do, dd had a comforter toy and she liked to

Sorry forgot to say don't encourage thumb sucking, she couldn't stop and it wasn't just at night either it became a general comfort thing day or night. It's now caused all sorts of issues with her teeth as a teen and the orthodontist says she may need surgery on her jaw as well as braces. Big regret not stopping it when she was a baby

As he is already 2 I wouldn't give it back but create a new sleep routine (books, lullabies, whatever you want) and he will learn. I took the dummy away at autumn and it took us a week or so to get used to the new stage. Falling asleep took longer and there was crying but I kept explaining the dummy is gone now to babies and kept distracting DD with pointing out things in our books.
My DD dropped her naps completely after not having her dummy but this lasted a while and now she is back on taking naps if she is tired enough.

Put him in his cot and tell him it’s time to go to sleep. Leave the room. He won’t scream for too long.

I'd just let him have it for sleeping only - brush teeth before and after.

You don't see many adults with dummies - he'll eventually just stop needing it.

When I took my children’s dummies away (many moons ago now), I got something they wanted that they could take to bed to replace them. Is there a car/cuddly toy that your DS would like, that he could take to bed with him, and that will then become associated with the bedtime routine?

I know all kiddies are different, personally I didn't force it on my daughter.
She only took a dummy at night (one in the mouth and about 10 to play with as she drifted off, it was her wee comfort thing)
She dropped it naturally when she was about 3, she knew she was starting nursery and wanted to be a big girl.
I had no issue with her having it cause it was solely used at night time. And her teeth are perfectly fine.

Absolutely! You can get rid of a dummy, you can't get rid of a thumb