Dummy...when its time to get rid of it

[saramac]

My 14month old uses his dummy to go to sleep and still very much loves it! i have managed to not give it to him during the day just for the sake of it.

What is the best way to wean them off their dummie?
The reason i ask is that he wakes during the night if he cant find it he cries and relies on it to go to sleep and i want him to be able to sleep without needing it.

Your advice is appreciated!

Thanks

[christy]

I'm sorry I can't help, we have just given our 25 month old a dummy to help her sleep & she uses it for bed time only. So... we are hoping when she turns 3 to start sleeping without the dummy and aren't going to worry about it until then.

[mbear]

Our DD turned 3 in Sept and we have weaned her to have dummy (ninny as she calls it) at night only......We use a dummy clip, and clip it onto her pj's just b4 nightime. It might seem like we're working backwards to some, but it was a big breakthru not to have 'ninny' during the day, and if she does need it at night, she eventually finds it.

PS: We've created a 'dummy box'. Shes collected several over her 3 years, so i bought one of those cute gift boxes, and all her dummys live in there now. At night, she picks which one she wants to take to bed. I believe its a security thing for her.....we found the box a great idea, it gave her some responsibility, and she looked forward to it at night. By xmas we envisage no more 'ninny' box.

Im grateful DD#2 didnt take one bit of interest in a 'ninny' !!!!

[Debbie Lee]

Sara - Gab still has her dummy for naps and at night time (and when she is sick). She adores it too. For a few months I had to do what you are doing - get up just to put the dummy back in her mouth.
I have tried to get her to sleep without it but it doesn't work.
I have found the dummy to be a god-send for teething and when she was recently sick after having her chicken pox needles.
I figure if I have to get up sometimes to help her find her dummy that it's ok compared to battling to get her to go to sleep, iykwim?
It's a source of comfort for her so I don't want to get rid of it yet.
She has gotten heaps better and now that she's a bit older, she usually finds her dummy on her own anyway (so it's not as big an issue as it used to be).
I figure I'll wean her off it when she's more able to understand things like leaving it out for Santa etc.

[Kisa]

Our 18 month old still has a dummy. She won't sleep without one.
We plan to let her have it for as long as she wants it. Although, we may have to draw the line when she starts kindy! Lol.

[AnyDream]

Hello, DD was terribly attached to her dummy, we only let her have it for going to sleep, but she occasionally would corner another child and take theirs - LOL! In the end, we had to set up this elaborate give away scheme involving putting it out for the easter bunny one year, who happily took it to Easter land for all the baby bunnies, and left a special present for Big Girl DD.
HTH
:-)

[skorpy]

My eldest son now 12 was 5 years old before I could get him off the dummy totally...weaned him down to just bedtimes at first,but it was a nightmare the same as some of you guys to getting up during the night to give him it when he has dropped it.I vowed never to use a dummy again.

My 2 year old who is 3 this month never had a dummy,she didnt need it.But my newborn hasnt been very well and he wanted dribs and drabs of milk and after half hour wanted more.I figured out after that he just wanted comfort and not the actual milk,he wanted to just suck the teat.So I had to get him a dummy today but didnt really want to start him on it....BUT it worked and he is so content.But I dont want him getting too addicted and I dont want to have to get up during the night to give him it.

[Debbie Lee]

but she occasionally would corner another child and take theirs - LOL!

LOL Marydean.. I can hear the "mission impossible" music going in the background!!

[MummaBear79]

I have a cute story about getting rid of dummies. My husband and I went to Sweden recently and took our son to their local zoo. In the childrens farm section there was a pen with kittens in it and it was a ritual for children to throw their dummies away into the pen. I swear there would have been 2000 dummies strung up over the pen as decoration. It was so cute!! and what a great idea. So mums and dads can say, ok can you give your dummy to the kittens now? and the kids throw it in...thats how we got rid of our 16 month olds dummy.

[nikbrad]

There was a thread not long ago about dummies and how to give them up. Some good ideas were the dummy fairy who you leave the dummy for and then a present is left, mailing them to Santa or leaving them for Santa/Easter Bunny. Miss M still loves her dummy but only has it to sleep. We have just started during the last few days talking up leaving a letter for Santa and giving him her dummy. It must have made her think about it as now she tells me she needs her dummy to sleep! She's never said this before she has just asked for her dummy when I've said it's time for bed. She didn't like transforming from the smaller dummy to bigger dummy for her age group and I thought yipee we are off the dummies but that only lasted 1 night. She still took the larger dummy to bed but wouldn't suck it - now it's full on dummy sucking at night. I guess I don't have answers but we will be trying the posting to Santa trick before Chrissy as I don't really want to be dealing with it if it dosn't work on Christmas night.

[Debbie Lee]

Awww what a great idea, Mummabear!