Any tip's on getting rid of dummy for 14 month old or am I being mean ?

LittleMissMPB

I would have said 14months is too young too - I just took mine off my daughter (3 days ago) and she is 3 and a half yrs old. One evening of crying, one evening of a little whinge and last night no tears and no asking for it. We had tried before not long after she turned 3 and it was a complete disaster.

pigpen

14 months is probably a very good age actually.. their memory of having it will fade so much quicker than an older child. It is still a comfort thing not a habit.

I would restrict it to bedtime for a week or 2, not replace any lost or broken and then just 'can't find it' at bedtime .. worked for mine.. they have to learn to go to sleep without which took about an hour the first night with mine.

It is so much easier getting rid at 12-18 months.. otherwise you end up with a 5 year old wanting to take it to nursery/school!.. I've made that mistake too!!!

DS1 was 17 months.. I got rid of his bottles and dummies cold turkey the day we moved house.
DD1 was 2.. she didn't have it until she was 10 months and had breathing problems with pneumonia..
DS3 was given one in SCBU to help with breathing/feeding and I took his off him at 4 months.
DD5 was a month off 5.. she would have been 10 months younger but her rake of a father left and I felt it was too much to do that to her at that time.

The other 5 weren't allowed one at all..

Person_one

pimento wrote: »

My dad threw mine away when I was about 14 months old (apparently) and when I asked he said they'd lost it. I am told I cried for a little while and never mentioned it again.

When I gave my son a dummy at a few months old, my mum took it straight out of his mouth and chucked it away. I have to agree with her when she says sucking a dummy makes children look gormless. He wasn't bothered.

Your mother was way out of line to undermine and overrule you like that and your 'gormless' comment is pretty darn insulting to many many parents and children.

[Deleted User]

Person_one wrote: »

Your mother was way out of line to undermine and overrule you like that and your 'gormless' comment is pretty darn insulting to many many parents and children.

I thought the same when i read this.

nuttybabe

My dd was 16 months when we stopped giving her a dummy. She used to hook the plastic bit under her teeth and try to talk like it. So she went cold turkey. 2 nights of crying before bed and she forgot all about them.

Norman_Bean

My two daughters gave their dummies to the ducklings at the local park - they gathered up all the dummies in the house and put them in a little bag and hung it on the railings, waved goodbye to ducks and left the dunmmies - my husbnad nipped back and threw the bag in the bin - when we passed by the railings on the way home the bag and dummies were obviously gone and the girls were pleased the ducklings had taken them!
They each got a small present from the ducklings to say 'thank you'.
That night when they asked for the dummies we said 'but you gave them all to the ducklings' and they couldn't really argue with that as it had been their choice to give them to the ducklings, we hadn't taken the dummies off them iyswim
No problems at all (and they were both real dummy addicts!)
good luck and hope that helps x

brook2jack

If a dummy is put with pretty ribbons on the Christmas tree for "little babies who need one" Father Christmas often leaves a little present on the tree. Works well during the year if you hang dummy on fireplace for toothfairy who is often equally generous.

teasleym

When my daughter stopped needing dummies (she had them in bed, but spat them out as soon as she was asleep and no longer needed them in the night), we took her to Bear Factory and she chose a puppy with pyjamas, and called it "num num" (her word for dummies), then when she went to bed we told her her dummies were replaced by Numnum. She took him to bed and didn't need them after that.

She is now 4 and Numnum still stays in bed with her every night!

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi,

Just my experiences - if it helps! We had real issues with getting rid of my sons dummy. He gave it up during the day when he was around 2, which was fine. However, we quickly discovered that he just could not sleep at night without it. We tried everything - cold turkey, swapping it for a present, leaving it for the dummy fairy, leaving it for Santa - but he just kept waking up constantly during the night.

Eventually when he was five we said enough was enough and they were going in the bin. He screamed blue murder and said he didnt want his dummies to go in the bin. I suddenly hit on a really bizarre idea - I put the dummies in a small clear tupperware box and put loads and loads of tape around the box. He was told that if he tried to open it the whole lot would go in the bin - no messing. He went to sleep the first night clutching the box to his chest and it took a bit to settle him but he never asked to get the dummies out. For a couple of weeks he went to sleep cuddled up to the box and miraculously it worked. The dummies got moved to his bedside table for a while and then I found them in my bedroom cupboard years later when I was having a clear out! I think he was old enough to understand he shouldnt really have a dummy but just found it hard to be separated from the comfort that he associated with them.

My youngest never had a dummy, he sucked his thumb and had a favourite cuddly toy. He is 10 now and wont go to sleep without the teddy which is going to become a problem soon I think!

balletshoes

OP have you tried taking the dummies away at night? Maybe your DD is a little young, but I think if you want to try it, be persistent for 2 or 3 nights, see if she calms down first before giving in to the dummies again.

My DD gave her dummies to Santa when she was 2 and a half, it worked really well, but she was old enough at that age to understand that once she'd given them to Santa she couldn't have them back.
She was like your DD OP, off them altogether in the daytime by that stage (she never got them at all though, from when she was a baby, unless she was sleepy and either in bed or in a full recline position in her buggy).