Dummy,How to get rid/reduce?

comping_cat

A dummy is only beneficial for the first 6 months of a childs life, after that it is comfort/habit - not the practice 'sucking' reflex that dummies were originally designed to help.
I was lucky, neither of my children had dummies, which i am glad about, as some of the children i now look after, you can tell the ones who have had dummies because of thier teeth and speach.
My DD did suck her thumb, which i must admit made her teeth worse than a dummy (the dentist wasnt concerned tho, said most children these days need braces, due to thumb sucking and dummies, and it was quite fashionable!!!), but the way we stopped that was similar as fluffyscuffy, we painted her thumb with nail bitting stuff, and it worked a treat!!!

RibAd

As dummies are more for comfort at that age, try and find an alternative comforter, or something that will completely distract and make them forget about it. I never had a dummy as a child so I've never really understood it (?!) but always had a stuff toy...

Alternatively, you could have another child and maybe he'll give it up as a gift to the baby?!?!?!

Spendless

My daughter gave hers to a little tiny baby who hadn't got any, and the baby gave her a present to say thank you.

When I spoke to my dentist re dummies. One of my children had one, the other didn't. She said that though they do push the teeth forward, like thumb sucking also does. This affects their milk teeth, so ideally they need to not be thumb/dummy sucking as the 2nd teeth come along.

As I mentioned on another thread, dummy sucking didn't delay or affect my own daughters speech. She spoke earlier than her non dummy sucking brother. And she def chatters more, though that might just be a girl thing.:D

sturgeon62

My husband's good with kids, told our then three year old a burglar had taken it!!
But then he also told her the story of Sweeney Todd as a bedtime story one night.
Neither is recommended.:eek:

ailuro2

Tell him the tooth fairy is scared of dummies and won't come while he still uses them!;)

arushofblood

I told my DS that Gus, Grandma's dog, ate it Went down quite well, we had a good laugh, for a while anyway... Lots of hugs and chats about what colour we would get next.

Silly me though, I always forgot to get one when I went to the shops :rolleyes:

Took a few nights but we got there in the end

Smashing

Cut a small slit in it.
It won't 'feel' right anymore and chances are they'll give up on it.

emmaroids

my kids only had there dummy at bedtime and to get my son out of his habbit i asked him if father chrismas could have his dummy for his new baby and in turn he would leave you some presents, and it worked a treat.

that was when he was 4, my daughter is 2 and i will do it with her next christmas.

i hate to see kids of 5+ with dummys in there mouth it just looks odd lol.

modgit

My SIL cut little pieces off my nieces dummy every other day or so, in a fortnight there was nothing much left and my niece handed the "stump" back as there was no point to it!

Plain old bribery worked in our house.

Sarahsaver

5 years old OMG hope his speech is not affected!
Just throw it away, now! You are the adult, you are in charge.

Saw on the tv once a parent tied the dummy onto a tree in the garden and when the child was in bed replaced it with a present. Nicer than 'just throwing it out', if a bit airy fairy.