Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Is 16 months a crazy time to try to wean off dummy completely (only has it for sleep really)? I can totally see the merits of waiting until he's 2 or 3, and he's certainly well past the stage of us being able to remove it without him noticing, but I think he's so dependent it's messing sleep up - he now doesn't retrieve it himself in the night, but cries until we come and do it.
Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/11604-dummy-16mth-old/
Share on other sites

The weird thing is, often it falls out when he's asleep and he doesn't notice at all - so I don't think that's what wakes him exactly (and also he can fall asleep without it in car/buggy ie when on move) - but it's as if once he's awake he needs me to come and replace it, where before we never had this problem. I had hoped we'd missed that stage! All the baby sleep advice always seems to say get rid of crutches eg dummy...

Hmmm....we got rid of ours around 6 months. If it were me, I would be inclined to teach him how to replace it himself at this stage. It is quite old for him to have to learn a whole new way to fall asleep, and may be easier to now wait until he can understand giving it to the fairies??


Have you seen these, which might make it easier for him to learn to replace himself? http://www.sleepytot.com/ Or you could tie 4 dummies to the corners of a muslin cloth? Litter the crib with millions of dummies?


Rather then replacing it when you go into him, you could just guide his hand to the dummy and get him to put it back in himself. Might make for a few sleepless nights while he sorts it out, but could pay off once he gets the hang of it and hopefully he'll stop calling for you so much?

I would give giving it up a go right now...I remember being sure that the bottle was entirely necessary for one of mine's sleep routine and panicked about the impendng sleep doom when we left it behind once - but when I put my daughter to bed she went straight to sleep and we never used it again. Probably easier than having to negotiate with an unweildy 2 or 3 year old. Sometimes the trappings of the nighttime routine are for us as much as for them!!!

Good luck!

rydalema, we just went through this with our 2 year old. I actually think older is easier, as you are able to reason with them, and they understand the concept of the dummy fairy, or whatever method you choose.


We went outside and tied the dummy to a tree with a ribbon and said goodbye to it. We told him that the dummy fairy would come in the night and take his dummy away and leave in its place a present. He went to bed that night no issues, and didn't ask for it once! It did take him AGES to get to sleep though, as he was clearly used to the dummy as a sleep aid, but this got better and better as the week went on. The present we gave him was a big Chuggington train carry case, that fits all the little ones inside it. So for about a week, provided he had been good and gone to sleep the dummy fairy put a little train in his carry case. He was so excited to see what would be there when he woke up, he completely forgot about the dummy! After a week, he was completely weaned off it. He mentions it occasionally, but we just have a chat about it and remind him that he gave his dummy to the dummy fairy in exchange for his lovely toys.


Good luck!

I think earlier is easier! I got rid of my son's at 12 months and we had 3 nights of crying at bedtime

Night 1 - 45 mins (of pure torture)

Night 2 - 20 mins

Night 3 - 5-10 mins


After that there was absolutely no problem.


There is no way I'd have been able to negotiate/reason with him at 2 - he was at his most unreasonable!! After 3 then we may have got somewhere but we just bit the bullet and got on with it. Worked great for us

Any age is tricky. We got rid of our daughters when she was around two and as she was learning to talk began asking for it during the day. A tip from a friend who got the tip from a nursery nurse worked for us. Cut a hole in the end of the teat by cutting straight across the end, you only need a small hole,if there is no reaction from him cut a larger hole. The idea is you aren't taking away the dummy, but it doesn't have the satisfaction anymore. Our daughter then rejected it in stages- putting up with it at first, then just holding it in her hand, then gradually forgetting it- it took about a month and was fairly trauma free! I didn't use a dummy with daughter number two exactly for the reason you stated- having to get up seven or eight times in the night to find it and put it back in again for daughter number one! Whatever you decide, good luck.
i think despite the down sides I am v thankful to the dummy for saving my sanity - son was very screamy (looking back wonder if it was because of his reflux, or poss colic or just the fact he's very 'spirited') and it was a lifesaver, and there have been recent times eg having his operation for grommets when I was thankful for it (they let him keep it in throughout the op and it certainly helped calm me that he had it as he was put under). Anyway have been inspired by PR darling's story so gave it a go tonight (poss a bit mad given haven't tried any naps without it yet so not sure how I'll cope tomorrow...). Took almost exactly 45 mins so just like with your son PR D! He did stop after 20 mins and we had just started congratulating ourselves when he started up again and it was pretty horrible. What I'm now really dreading is the night as normally if he wakes we just rush in with the dummy...will have to have some resolve.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Honestly, the squirrels are not a problem now.  They only eat what has dropped.  The feeders I have are squirrel proof anyway from pre-cage times.  I have never seen rats in the garden, and even when I didn't have the cage.  I most certainly would have noticed them.  I do have a little family of mice which I have zero problem about.  If they stay outside, that's fine with me.  Plus, local cats keep that population down.  There are rats everywhere in London, there is plenty of food rubbish out in the street to keep them happy.  So, I guess you could fit extra bars to the cage if you wanted to, but then you run the risk of the birds not getting in.  They like to be able to fly in and out easily, which they do.   
    • Ahh, the old "it's only three days" chestnut.  I do hope you realise the big metal walls, stages, tents, toilets, lighting, sound equipment, refreshments, concessions etc don't just magically appear & disappear overnight? You know it all has to be transported in & erected, constructed? And that when stuff is constructed, like on a construction site, it's quite noisy & distracting? Banging, crashing, shouting, heavy plant moving around - beep beep beep reversing signals, engines revving - pneumatic tools? For 8 to 10 hours a day, every day? And that it tends to go on for two or three weeks before an event, and a week after when they take it all down again? I'm sure my boys' GCSE prep won't be affected by any of that, especially if we close the windows (before someone suggests that as a resolution). I'm sure it won't affect anyone at the Harris schools either, actually taking their exams with that background noise.
    • Thanks for the good discussion, this should be re-titled as a general thread about feeding the birds. @Penguin not really sure why you posted, most are aware that virtually all land in this country is managed, and has been for 100s of years, but there are many organisations, local and national government, that manage large areas of land that create appropriate habitats for British nature, including rewilding and reintroductions.  We can all do our bit even if this is not cutting your lawn, and certainly by not concreting over it.  (or plastic grass, urgh).   I have simply been stating that garden birds are semi domesticated, as perhaps the deer herds in Richmond Park, New Forest ponies, and even some foxes where we feed them.  Whoever it was who tried to get a cheap jibe in about Southwark and the Gala festival.  Why?  There is a whole thread on Gala for you to moan on.  Lots going on in Southwark https://www.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/parks-and-open-spaces/ecology-and-wildlife I've talked about green sqwaky things before, if it was legal I'd happily use an air riffle, and I don't eat meat.  And grey squirrels too where I am encourage to dispatch them. Once a small group of starlings also got into the garden I constructed my own cage using starling proof netting, it worked for a year although I had to make a gap for the great spotted woodpecker to get in.  The squirrels got at it in the summer but sqwaky things still haven't come back, starlings recently returned.  I have a large batch of rubbish suet pellets so will let them eat them before reordering and replacing the netting. Didn't find an appropriately sized cage, the gaps in the mesh have to be large enough for finches etc, and the commercial ones were £££ The issue with bird feeders isn't just dirty ones, and I try to keep mine clean, but that sick birds congregate in close proximity with healthy birds.  The cataclysmic obliteration of the greenfinch population was mainly due to dirty feeders and birds feeding close to each other.  
    • Another recommendation for Niko - fitted me in the next day, simple fix rather than trying to upsell and a nice guy as well. Will use again
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...