I would like some advice how to get rid of my son's dummy. I hate it, but he likes it when he is over tired.

What did you do?

Is cold turkey the way to go?

He doesnt have it at bedtimes, and sometimes he doesnt have it during day time naps, but its handy to have when he is over tired.

Any suggestions welcome!

staceylou and jacob

16+ weeks

i was talking to the HV today and she said the best way to go is cold turkey, i suppose as its only needed when hes overtired you could try to tackle that first so he wont want it at all x

hmm i dont really have any advice cos my ds is 4 and we have just had such a battle get rid of his ,my dd is 17 months and loves hers but only has it for bed ....i found the dummy handy for teething i guess reducing it to bed time only for a week and then totally getting rid of it is the way to do it ..good luck xxx

hmm i dont really have any advice cos my ds is 4 and we have just had such a battle get rid of his ,my dd is 17 months and loves hers but only has it for bed ....i found the dummy handy for teething i guess reducing it to bed time only for a week and then totally getting rid of it is the way to do it ..good luck xxx

Hi there. I recently went cold turkey with Hugo's dummy but purposely waited till he was 6 months as I had read somewhere (couldn't tell you where now, sorry) that they hit a bit of a development milestone at 6 months which makes things like this a bit easier on them. He only ever had it for sleeping at night and naps during the day but didn't have it when he was playing or we were out or anything.

It was actually pretty painless, though of course I was prepared for the worst. There was definitely some screaming when I put him down for his first nap without it and I had to leave him to it a little bit but was onhand to try to calm him down every few minutes. I think for the first nap it took around 15 minutes for him to fall asleep and then every nap afterwards it was a little less. Now he goes to sleep fine without it, but occasionally there is a bit of crying (and once or twice, screaming) when he is overtired - no more than a minute or 2 though.

I think if I'm honest, I miss it more than he does as when we're out and he is overtired and not settling for a nap, I can't just pop his dummy in. It takes a few more minutes for him to drop off but he always does.

So my advice is, go cold turkey. If you give it to him sometimes and not others, it will confuse him and you might find it harder for him to give it up altogether.

Good luck!

Hi there. I recently went cold turkey with Hugo's dummy but purposely waited till he was 6 months as I had read somewhere (couldn't tell you where now, sorry) that they hit a bit of a development milestone at 6 months which makes things like this a bit easier on them. He only ever had it for sleeping at night and naps during the day but didn't have it when he was playing or we were out or anything.

It was actually pretty painless, though of course I was prepared for the worst. There was definitely some screaming when I put him down for his first nap without it and I had to leave him to it a little bit but was onhand to try to calm him down every few minutes. I think for the first nap it took around 15 minutes for him to fall asleep and then every nap afterwards it was a little less. Now he goes to sleep fine without it, but occasionally there is a bit of crying (and once or twice, screaming) when he is overtired - no more than a minute or 2 though.

I think if I'm honest, I miss it more than he does as when we're out and he is overtired and not settling for a nap, I can't just pop his dummy in. It takes a few more minutes for him to drop off but he always does.

So my advice is, go cold turkey. If you give it to him sometimes and not others, it will confuse him and you might find it harder for him to give it up altogether.

Good luck!

He will nap without it, and goes to bed without it, but occasionally his 4-5ish nap is hell to get him to sleep and he will scream and scream,

He is also teething at the moment, so i am wondering hwether to leave it a week or so, tl he is back in his usual routine, then just cut them up!

Thanks for your advice though ladies
xx

Hugo was teething when we gave up too - but I figured he'll be teething till he's 2 so I had to just bite the bullet. As I say, I did wait till 6 months though and looking back, I don't think he would have been quite so receptive to losing his dummy when he was any younger as he was so dependant on it.

Best of luck!