Ditching the Dummy

Ditching the Dummy

When Oliver was born I knew I would give him a dummy/soother/dodie/pacifier (what ever you like to call it!).  I really didn’t like the idea of thumb sucking, Stuart sucked his as a child and his sister still sucks hers in her 30’s, so Stu was also very keen to do anything to stop Oliver sucking his!  He knew exactly how hard it was to stop that habit, your thumb will always be with you, a dummy won’t!

The dummy was the best thing I ever decided to do.  It would help soothe him instantly, if we were out and about it would usually keep him happy and calm.  He loved his dummy, but I knew that eventually it would be something we would be taking away.

From the outset I knew I wanted to take the dummy away when Oliver turned one.  However, when he turned one, I couldn’t do it.  I had stopped breastfeeding and I didn’t ‘t want to take the only other thing he found comfort in.  So we kept on with it.  But last weekend I was sat there thinking out loud with Stu and we both decided we should just go for it. We should ditch the dummy. At 14 months, he didn’t use it for comfort, it was more of a habit!

How did we do it?

On Monday morning I made sure I went to his room before he woke up and I took the dummy away from his cot.  I then made sure all other dummies around the house were out of reach or hidden.  We went completely cold turkey, I expected tantrums, crying and just a grumpy baby.  What I got was a happy content baby, who maybe moaned a little more than normal but did really well.

Bedtime came around and I didn’t have high expectations.  Oliver has never been great at settling off to sleep alone, so I thought he would go into full meltdown.  Well I was totally surprised!  He went down with no problems.  And guess what, we haven’t looked back.  Now we are almost 10 days down the line and Oliver isn’t bothered at all.

So that’s how we ditched the dummy, cold turkey worked for us.  If you have stopped using one, how did you do it?

JakiJellz
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6 Comments

  1. May 3, 2017 / 8:23 pm

    We used to give Ben as part of his bedtime routine and when he was unwell. Once when we tried to give him his medicine through a medicine dummy he choked a bit and scared himself so refused any dummy from that day onwards and even now when he’s hysterical and I use it as a last resort he doesnt like it.
    He has a blanket that he’s taken on the last month or so which he’s not bothered with before and although he loves it, im trying to not let it become an essential aid as it would make life so hard if we lost it!
    Thanks for linking up to #TriumphantTales and thanks for sharing more photos of Oliver, he’s too adorable! =]
    Mrs Mummy Harris recently posted…Triumphant Tale #9My Profile

  2. May 3, 2017 / 8:28 pm

    That is so great! Amelia has a dummy but mostly just for sleep time. It’s the thing I do think about quite a bit so it’s great to hear success stories. May be coming back for tips! ?
    Catherine recently posted…The beginning of the family cycling days My Profile

  3. May 4, 2017 / 12:18 pm

    Well done you ! Though my elder ones were two when I ditched the dummy’s , like you I had put a time limit on it (silly really putting pressure on myself!) but they just accepted they were gone really quite easily. Was a huge relief…smallest girl on the other hand took a lot more persuading…..it was torturous! #triumphanttales
    daydreams of a mum recently posted…The one where…. My child ruins Friends for me My Profile

  4. May 5, 2017 / 4:05 pm

    i did cold turkey, but a few weeks later my son grabbed one out of another child’s mouth in the supermarket and full blown tantrum followed for days over wanting another one, my not so helpful mother had been giving him dummies behind my back, needless to say, unsupervised visits stopped shortly afterwards,

  5. February 1, 2018 / 10:09 pm

    I have been wavering in doing this for a couple of weeks now, I just need to do it!
    My little Pumpkin is 16 months now and they need to go, I can safely say he completely adores his dodies and gets very excited by them, so I can envisage a battle on my hands!
    I hope to give it a go this Monday…it sounds like I am trying to find the same will power to do this as I am for a diet!!

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