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How do I get my daughter to give up her dummy?

My daughter is 3 in January and starts playschool in October. She still has a dummy throughout the day especially when she is feeling tired and also has it for bedtime.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can get my daughter off of her dummy before she goes to playschool?

Replies

  • We have two children and our little boy used his dummy just for bed time.  However he was very attached to it.  We told him that when children are 3 yrs old dummies have to be sent to the government so that they can clean them up and send them to new babies that need them.  We cleared the house of all dummies and placed them into an envelope.  we wrote onto it a message for the postal service and posted the dummies to the man at the government.  Actually a friends house.

    the idea of someone else needing the dummy seemed to work for us.  Our son was then rewarded with the option of buying something for him to have to help him go to sleep or for when he was feeling tired.  He chose a puppy dog which he still has.  He is now 4 and a bit.  He has become less attached to puppy dog. 

    It worked for us maybe the same would work for you 

  • Thank you very much. I will give it a go. Fingers crossed there will be no tears. x
  • Why don't you try this out? Tell her that if she plants it in the garden, she will grow her own "dummy tree"!! In time she will forget about it!!
  • We told our middle sona few days before his third birthday that big boys who were going to be three didn't need dummys, he was allowed to go an choose a soft toy to take to bed with him. The night before his third birthday he put all his dummys on the back door step for the "dummy fairy" to collect and take to a new baby. His big brother has just started losing teeth so he liked that idea, the fairy left him a shiny coin which more than made up for his dummys being taken away. That was six weeks ago and he's not once asked for a dummy and he was very attached.
  • Hello,

    Our 21 month old was very attached to her dummy but i wanted to get rid of it before her little brother arrived so she didnt take his, so we started by reducing it so she only had it at naps/bedtime then when i started maternity leave we binned it and went cold turkey. By the 2nd day she had forgotten about it and now doesnt even attempt to steal her brothers.

     The other way was one i saw on supernanny, they put it in a bag on the front door handle before bed to wait for the "dummy fairy" so the fairy took the dummy/dummies and left a little toy.

     Hope that helps

  • One Christmas when my little girl wouldn't give up her dummy we wrapped it up and put it on the tree and told her that Father Christmas would take it and give it  to another baby who didn't have one,when she saw it had gone in the morning she was thrilled,it worked a treat......She is now expecting her first child in a few weeks time.

  • I like the dummy fairy idea. Thank you for all your suggestions.
  • Someone the other day told us they gave their kids dummies to Father Christmas and he exchanged them for presents. My daughter (16m) at that particular moment was attempting to put 2 of them into her mouth image - lol.

  • Hi

     I need my son to give up his dummy before he starts pre school in September.  He is 2 1/2 and he went to the dentist and he'd teeth have been pushed forward.

    Someone told me of a farm, where children throw their dummies to the pigs.  Has anyone heard of it?

     My friend used Father Christmas, but that is too far away.

  • my son is 3, and my daughter 20mnths, they both have there dummys for naps and bedtime,

    after feeling guilty for ages ive decided im going to leave them, there teeth are perfect the dentist is happy with the dummy they use, their speech is fine and sometimes, they need comfort.

    i cant sleep without my own pillow, my grandad cant without his, my other half insists on his quilt from home, so why cant my babies have their dummys?

    the stigma attached to them is ridiculous, why is a teddy cute. but a dummy is silly and babyish and makes me a bad mum???

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