How to get rid of a dummy

A

AussieMum

Registered User
My daughter is 15 months old, and we are at the stage now where we are wanting to get rid of her dummy. Basically she is the perfect sleeper with a great routine, and only has her dummy at sleep time, however is very addicted to them (she goes to bed with one in her mouth and one in each hand so she is ready to pop it in as soon as one falls out). We have tried giving her one dummy, and putting a few in her bed, but recently she has began losing the dummies during the night and waking up because she can't find them. We have only let her cry for upto 15 minutes during the night as I don't think it is the right time to be training her to go without it.
We feel it is the right time to get rid of the dummy as now it is becoming an issue with her at night (plus we are expecting another baby in around 3 months). I think she is old enough now to go without it, and understand the older the babies get, the harder it is. We have set a date for her to go 'cold turkey' being the next long weekend so hubby can help out and doesn't get extra tired for work the next day. I just want to hear how others have tackled this issue and what success stories they have had, especially from those who have had babies heavily dependant upon the dummy.
Thanks so much.
:thanks
 
Will you give the new baby a dummy? If so I wouldn't bother as she may want one when she sees the baby with one.

Some people "loose" the dummy. Or give it to Santa, Easter Bunny or the bin.

We just went cold turkey, although DD was 3 1/2. It took two nights only. I told her if she got out of bed again I would throw the dummy away. She did, I did - the end. I was so proud of her, we had huge dramas the first night but she said she wanted to be brave on the second and on the third when I told her it was gone she just rolled over and went to sleep.

FYI, she went to the dentist about four months before we said goodbye to the dummy and she said her teeth were fine.
 
Sorry, can't offer anything more helpful than 'cold turkey'.
That's what we did and it was pretty awful for a few nights. But my son cried it out and got over it within a few days.

If you aren't wanting to do that, and your main issue is her being unable to find it in the night, maybe you could try pinning it to her grobag with a short dummy ribbon, that way she will always be able to find it without disturbing you.
 
older kids sometimes give their dummy to the "dummy fairy" and get a present for it...but that's not going to work for a 15 month old.

i think cold turkey and the stiff upper lip (a charming combination) are your best chances of winning this one. as a pp noted, will you be giving the new baby a dummy? be on the lookout.

also, i had a friend whose daughter replaced the dummy with the thumb after they did the dummy removal. beware of that as well!!

good luck !!!
 
I agree with Oze Kid, it may be hard to get rid off the dummy with a new baby on the way if you plan on giving the new baby a dummy. My son is 3 and still has a dummy for sleeping. I'm not fussed to be frank. I know it will go when the time is right and I don't believe it gets harder as they get older. He gave his bottles up over night one day when we went to the zoo and left them with the pandas. We didn't make a big deal of it just asked him if he would give them to them and he said yes. He was also toilet trained virtually overnight (including night times) at 2 and a half with little prompting from us. When the time is right the time is right.

I can understand you not wanting to get up to replace dummies but hey look at it this way, you'll be up with the new baby all night soon enough :)

And again, as Oze Kid said dummies don't cause much if any damage to children's teeth unless they suck them all day and night long. Sucking your thumb is actually far worse.

One tip for the new baby. If you give him/her a dummy, as soon as she sleeps pull the dummy out so she doesn't get used to having it in all night long. We did that with our two boys (and now doing it with our third) and we've never had issues with them crying for their dummy to be put back in once it's fallen out.

Your daughter is still quite young and she'll be forced to grow up quicker with the smallish age gap between her and your next one. (we have an even smaller age gap) so it probably wouldn't hurt her to have a few comforts that let her be a baby a bit longer. That's my thinking anyway.

If you decide that it is definitely time to get rid off the dummy maybe you could ask her to give it to the new baby as a homecoming gift etc. The baby could give her a nice 'grown up' girl pressie and see how that works.
 
We got rid of her dummy at 6 months (very dependant, went cold turkey) and now have a new 6 week old. When mine sees the dummy she cries for it, we've given it to her a couple of times and she wanders around with it in her mouth.

Now we just keep it out of her sight as much as possible, but don't make a big deal of her having it for a little while - she loses interest naturally. We make really sure for her not to see it before bed though!

The cold turkey was ok, took 3 nights of crying on and off and then totally fine.
 
Thank you so much to everyone for your valuable comments and recommendations - you all raise great points. I am in two minds about removing the dummy, but thought the older she became the harder it would be. Plus, thought it best to get rid of it now as opposed to around or just after baby is born, I didn't want her to associate this change with a new sibling coming home too. However, it is comforting to know that so many mums let their children have them until they are older, without any effects on the teeth. She doesn't have the dummy when out of her cot, it is only a sleep association thing. Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated and I will absorb them all and work out what to do.
 
I removed dummies from my 26 mo/old and 3.5 yr old 3 nights ago. We did Supernanny's Dummy Fairy technique. I read that removing it b4 4yrs old will ensure no lasting damage is done to the teeth.

It was easier for our older one - she got the whole story and went along with it perfectly. My younger one was not so easy but not too difficult.

Whatever you decide, good luck!
 
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