We gently weaned her off the dummy!!!

After stressing about how to get rid of the dummy in a gentle way or whether to just live with it until she did so herself I am happy to report DD is dummy-free and perfectly happy!

For those who are interested, we started off by making sure from the very beginning dummy was only ever used at sleep time. And not when we were out. She would always fall asleep in the car or pram without it so I never offered it.

Often I bring her home and she falls asleep in the car before her nap, so I transfer her to bed, no dummy needed. Well, last week I forgot to give it to her when we came home and she was awake. I wondered why she played in her room for so long before going to sleep, but there was no crying!

When I realised I had forgotten I thought I'd try it the following day at nap time and this time only ten minutes of playing before sleep. The following day, no playing.

So after a week of no dummy at nap time we didn't give it to her at bed time. Bit harder, wasn't impressed, but after a couple of minutes of complaining (not distressed) there was silence. The following night she cried a tiny bit, then complained for a bit longer (again, not distressed) then fell asleep.

Not a murmur since - and she has only asked for it at one nap time and once going to bed, easily put off with 'you don't need a dummy now, you're a big girl'.

I can't believe it! Friends had told me stories of screaming toddlers and days of anxiety and it was too easy! Yay for you Lucy!

PS I should add that she had been occasionally refusing to be put off with a dummy if she came in upset during the night (wanted 'boo-bie' instead) and seemed to be more interested in playing with it when she was getting up than having it during the night.

That's so great Jennifer!! Great job!

And YAY for Lucy!!!

Wooohooo, yay for Lucy, and you Jen. You lucky woman, I hope it's so easy for us when the time comes :)

Well done to all of you! It just goes to show how different we all are and how things that work for some, don’t work (or aren’t even needed) for others. Yay for that!

oh well done!!!! I wish it were going to be that easy for us, will be giving you method a try though, making him give it up cold turkey just sounds way too cruel

Well done, you are very lucky! We tried to take it off DD a few times but it was just too distressing for her and me (was prg with DS too) but finally did the 'give it to santa' thing last year. Still having a few issues with her bed time, she doesn't settle as easily or as quickly as she used to but now that she's 3, there's no way I'd give it back to her. Funnily enough, she has never asked for it.

I swore I wouldn't give one to DS but alas, he has one :rolleyes: just found it so much easier to settle him with it.

We only ever use dummies for settling, they don't come out of the cot, but it was still really hard to get it off DD. This time I am going to try a lot earlier, they say around the 12 month mark is the best time, I waited till about 18months, then 2, then 2.5 etc etc!!

Well done Jen.

I am sooo glad I read this post. I just moved dd out of my room into her own and has been wondering if I should not get her off the dummy also???? I am going to begin by leaving the dummy in the cot (like Jen said - only for naps) and go from there. See how she reacts. She is not constantly on the dummy so I am HOPING it would not be to bad. She also will spit it out just after she has settled. Just have to tell that to the day-care also.
Now when that is finished I have to wean her off the spit-rag-tag!!!!!

Thanks for your replies girls, good luck Nadine and I hope your DD transitions easily as well! Still no fuss and I know for sure the dummy is in Lucy's past. *sniff* she's such a big girl now!