MSE Parent Club - Part 2

rosies_mum

I once read that someone started "cutting" little bits of their LOs dummy and telling them that they wouldn't "taste" right when they got too old! I didn't like the thought of that in case any bits of the rubbery bit got chewed off and choked her! You could pop a hole in it with a pin so it doesn't feel right when sucked, that was another tip I read somewhere?!
So, I started showing her how different her teeth were to mine - you could see her tongue through a slight gap in her teeth and not mine. I said people would call her goofy loofy instead of rosie posie and one day, she decided enough was enough (she was well turned 3 by then and like others, she was only allowed it indoors and eventually only in bed). We'd tried bribing her with toys/giving it to a baby reindeer but that just resulted in an absolute fear of Santa that year LOL!
I really hated the idea of her having it when she grew older but as it didn't leave the house, I wasn't too worried. I think they say that unless you get rid of it by 12 months, you need to wait until they can understand feelings etc and decide to give it up on their own (obviously some persuasion never goes amiss!). Hers was a definate comfort thing and so I felt awful to just take it off her without her consent but I guess each child is different.

I was a bit wicked and used to point out toddlers her age and older when out at the park who had dummies and said how silly they looked. We also had the Little princess book "I want my dummy" and in that the older cousin says dummies are for babies and he is the only one she will listen to and gives it up. Perhaps the library may have similar books?

TBH Sami, you may want to see how he goes, its going to be an unsettling time for him anyway when the baby comes along, is it really a bad thing if its only indoors? Good luck whatever you decide, keep us posted x

Lu_T

Hello girls

I'm afraid I went hard-core on the dummy when Imogen was 5 months old. OH was away for a week on a course, I was back working (self-employed) and needed to be at an all day meeting the next day. She started waking every 20mins in the night crying out for it - which had never happened before. After 2 nights of getting up every 20 mins from 2.30am until 5.30am I just took it off her the first time she woke, sung Twinkle Twinkle for 45 mins til she went to sleep and she never wanted it again.

Congrats Chris on the tongue rolling. How cute!

Imogen has been performing for us recently, singing lots of songs. Her latest one made me laugh til I cried as she proudly sang, "Twinkle, twinkle, chocolate star..." We asked her who decided it was a chocolate star and she said, "Me!". She's only had chocolate stars once (to my knowledge) in her stocking at Xmas cos I went soft (she doesn't normally get chocolate) so I'm not sure where it came from. I've videoed it, so will try to post it somewhere you can see it.

Hope you're all well.

Dormouse

When DS1 was at nursery, they used to sing "Twinkle twinkle chocolate bar, my dad drives a fancy car" etc etc, so maybe Imogen heard that somewhere? :rotfl:

Re: dummies, I did the same and took them away at 5-6 months with both my boys. They were also waking up for it and I got fed up and went cold turkey on them. It was fine, and they've been brilliant sleepers ever since. :T

I think the general feeling is to take the dummy away either before 1, or much later, when they can understand what is going on. Actually, I think people say that about giving up breastfeeding as well, it's easier to stop at 12 months than at 18 etc.

COme to think of it, I remember I met a woman once who said she remembers coming home from school and having her dummy while she watched TV! That's a bit extreme IMHO! :eek: :rotfl:

nadnad

oh this has been a trying morning! Oz is getting more teeth (i think) and has moaned and groaned since he got up this morning. He has 8 teeth now and they seem to all be coming really quickly, he's never been like this before with any of them and I'm at my wits end. He wont eat anything other than gnaw on a slice of toast and so I think he's hungry too but wont eat, so I've been bf him more often and of course he's been biting me (ouch). I've just put him down for a sleep and he's still crying, so am hoping he'll go over - I usually give him 20 minutes and that does the trick most of the time fingers crossed. I've also given him nurofen and then calpol within 4 hours of each other today which is something I try not to do - i hate giving him medicine it seems recently he's been getting a lot of it.

Becles

I hate giving medicine too, but sometimes it's for the best if they can get some sleep and hopefully wake up in a better mood.

Have you tried Medised? It's got something in it that makes them sleepy. I used it last week as Charlotte had a bad cough and kept waking herself up. I felt it was kinder to drug her to sleep so she got a decent sleep, rather than have her being in a bad mood as she was tired.

I've been having a clear out this morning and found a box of Mega Blocks that belonged to the boys. She thinks they are marvellous and it kept her occupied while I got on with the decluttering

nadnad

Becles wrote: »

I hate giving medicine too, but sometimes it's for the best if they can get some sleep and hopefully wake up in a better mood.

Have you tried Medised? It's got something in it that makes them sleepy. I used it last week as Charlotte had a bad cough and kept waking herself up. I felt it was kinder to drug her to sleep so she got a decent sleep, rather than have her being in a bad mood as she was tired.

i had bought calpol night a few months ago (same as medised and dozol), before i realised you werent supposed to give it to children under 2 - bottle must have been produced before that because it didnt say, so I was giving that to him when he was about 5 months old but he's such a little hardy boy who fights sleep, it didnt make any difference to his sleeping. Of course since i found out about the 2 yr plus thing I would feel guilty giving it to him now, but it didnt work anyway.

he was sleeping within 10 minutes of my last post anyway :T , but he's just woken so must go get him!

tsstss7

Hi all - loads of posts today!

Have only had a chance to skim read as my mum has LO and since she has a new job I only get an hour a week tops now.:(

Re dummies ds2 wouldn't take one fortunately (I say that now but way back then it might have given me some more sleep) but ds1 was a dummy demon.

I got rid when he started to wake up crying for it in the night after it had fallen out. He had stopped having it in the day by then as he was nearly 3 1/2 and way too busy in the day for it, but I eventually got him to "buy" a toy he wanted with the last dummy (I hid all the others) and it took about a week for him to not notice it had gone and not miss it.

2 is trickier age though as it really does depend on how much they understand as to how you "reason" with them.....if you decide to get tough and go cold turkey I'm sure it wouldn't be more than a week before the new habit of no dummy kicks in (you just have to hope he doesn't substitute something else then though ).

Good luck Sami !

Sami_Bee

tsss, that deffo my fear! my OH still sucks his thumb now :eek: only when he's ill or stressed and its in his sleep so he doesn't realise he's doing it but still.. he had to have teeth out and fixed brace to fix his goofy teeth.
My original plan was to take it off him much younger but what with teething and going on holiday it kept getting put back and so now here we are :rolleyes: I'm not too worried about him keeping it coz we have a strict only in bed rule that he follows so if all hell breaks loose I'am 'happy' to give in and leave it til he's older.

for bump I'm gonna try to go without and maybe get a few matching comfort objects (in case one gets lost) I'd rather they insist on carrying a little teddy around.

purplepatch

Dormouse wrote: »

When DS1 was at nursery, they used to sing "Twinkle twinkle chocolate bar, my dad drives a fancy car" etc etc, so maybe Imogen heard that somewhere? :rotfl:

I was going to say that too! Except Olivia's version is

Twinkle twinkle chocolate bar
Your dad's got a rusty car!

nadnad

Sami_Bee wrote: »

for bump I'm gonna try to go without and maybe get a few matching comfort objects (in case one gets lost) I'd rather they insist on carrying a little teddy around.

as i said above i didnt give oz one and think i only caved and bought one when all around me everyone was asking me where his "dodo" was, i'm actually glad he didnt want it. when he woke at night I was happy enough to feed him (every 2 hours til he was 6 months!!). He actually did suck his thumb for about the first month but then stopped by himself. at the risk of being shouted at - I really do not like dummies at all, although if they're only used at night or for sleeping then thats not so bad but again at risk of getting shouted at i HATE it when kids of 3years old are running round ALL DAY with one stuck in their mouth. thats just my opinion

it can be done Sami, they don't need them, it just makes things a little easier for us parents if they have one, if you're willing to give it a go without one good for you! Tell yourself you'll go a month without one and take it from there.