Before having my daughter I thought of myself as an expert on children and would always be the first to offer my know it all expertise. I would bang on about what was good for a child and what was bad for them, a dummy being something that new parents shouldn't rely on. If I could go back, I would bitch slap that know it all me in the face! Becoming a parent is full of surprises. It doesn't matter how many books, parenting forums or articles you read, nothing can completely prepare you for parenthood. Being a parent is hard, harder than I had ever imagined. In the midst of bottles, nappies, cries and sheer exhaustion, I completely caved in and gave my daughter a dummy - she was only two days old.
And so the love for the dummy, or DODO as we knew it, began!
Both my husband and I agreed that around her first birthday we would try and ditch the dummy, but it was proving more difficult than we anticipated. We didn't consider that we would be facing, teething problems, separation anxiety and another bloody sleep regression. Our daughter loved her dummy, like really loved her dummy and became very reliant on her precious dummy and to some extent so did we! Around eighteen months old she dropped her naps and it was then that we began to wean her off the dummy and only allow her to have it for bedtime, which she took to quite well.
But we figured that she's two and half now and knew it was time to get rid of the dummy once and for all, we were also getting a bit worried about her teeth. As we knew that our daughter really loved he dummy we were keen on encouraging her to give it up all on her own with the use of her imagination, instead of going cold turkey that was recommended. By using a little bit of imagination with the dummy fairy we managed to get our daughter to give her dummies away, all by herself and to actually be happy about it.
We began to talk about the dummy fairy for a few weeks so that she could get use to the idea. December came and we told our daughter that the dummy fairy wanted to come and collect all of her dummies on Christmas Eve so that new babies could have a dummy. Our daughter loved talking about the dummy fairy to everyone, even people at the check outs in the supermarkets, she would tell them all about the dummy fairy and how she needed some dummies for the other babies. When we decided that once we had our Christmas up we would try and encourage our daughter to place one of her many dummies on a branch all ready for the dummy fairy to come and collect. She did this every week, happily! Then it came to the last dummy to go on the tree and she did it without thinking too much of it, we were so proud of her and its amazing what a little imagination can do to encourage a child to give up something that they love more than anything.
My advice to other parents who want to ditch the dummy is try to be patient and wait until they are ready. As you can see, we tried a number of times to help our daughter ditch her dummy and by introducing the dummy fairy, with the use of a little imagination seem to work best for us. By encouraging rather than making her go cold turkey was the best, she could get use to the idea and actually want to give them up all by herself. If your child is not completely ready and you have to go back to square one then that's OK. All children are different. Then main idea with the use of imagination is to try and encourage your child to want to give their dummy up rather than being told they have to. No one likes to give up things they love.
It took us 6 days to completely forget about the dummy, and that's all thanks to the dummy fairy.
Do you believe in the dummy fairy? What worked best for you?
Great approach! Sounds like it went as smoothly as you could have hoped. I completely agree that it wasn't worth rushing or forcing her. My daughter gave up her dummy at 19 months which was later than I planned but she needed it for longer for similar reasons to yours. She started chewing it though and I was worried she'd swallow it so I had to make her go cold turkey. My alternative plan had been to do something similar to you. I think it's a great idea! #CoolMumClub
ReplyDeleteBy letting my daughter make the decision with a little encouragement, worked so well. She was in control and in the end actually wanted to give her dummy away. No one likes to go cold turkey. We all want to get use to not having something before it's taken away!
DeleteAbsolutely nothing prepares us for parenting! Even second time around I was unprepared for just how different the second baby would be! #KCACOLS
ReplyDeleteHaha we do make up some crazy things as mothers don't we! I got my little boy to give his to father Christmas when he was 2.5 I was dreading Christmas night and really thought I would be giving in and giving him it back. He never once mentioned it again!! Our little girl isn't very keen on hers unless she is teething or feeling unwell, Her nightly bottles on the other hand are a NIGHTMARE! So were trying to get a plan in place to stop this. Parenting ey......so much fun! :)
ReplyDelete#sundaybest
I've never used dummies so have no experience but from what I've heard from other mums it sounds like you've nipped it in the bud quite easily! #KCACOLS
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. My son is just 2 and loves his dummy. I don't think he would understand about the dummy fairy yet and I just don't think we're ready. I know we will move on when the time is right. #kcacols
ReplyDeleteOh that first picture is the cutest thing ever!! <3 Ah this sounds like a great approach. I know a lot of people who the dummy fairy idea worked really well for.
ReplyDeleteMy eldest is 3 and only gave up his dummy recently, he only had it at night but I just didn't want to make it a "thing" and wanted it to be something he decided to do himself...and he did. One night he just didn't ask for it...that was about 4 months ago and he hasn't asked for it since.
No tears, no bribes...just no more dody! I'll be trying the same approach with my other kids and hoping they give it up when theyre ready too. Thanks for joining us at #sundaybest, hope to see you again tomorrow x
My boys never took to dummies (I tried!) But one of my friends used the dummy fairy with her daughter and it worked brilliantly. If this baby takes to dummies I will definitely be trying it when it comes to the time to wean her off it. Thank you for linking up to #SundayBest x
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! I have a 1y/o boy, and he's not read to ditch the dummy yet, but he only has it for sleep time (or if he's in a really foul mood lol.) I've been thinking of ways we could ditch it when the time comes, so this has helped me greatly! thankyou! #KCACOLS
ReplyDeleteBecky x