BY MONTY DIMOND
Dear Diary
It’s me Monty. It’s been a while since we last caught up. If my memory serves me correct my last entry was back in 1996 when I was 16 years old. In that gripping instalment I intimately detailed my first open mouth kiss with a boy called Mark Towson.
Fast-forward 15 years and I have decided to take up diary writing again. This is because I’m about to embark on something that terrifies me as much as Mark Towson’s wiggly tongue, so I need a loyal outlet. You see, my son is a hardcore dummy junkie and its time to get him clean.
For a while it was a fabulous way to mute him, although now he cleverly spits it out and wails like a banshee until I pop it back in his gob. As much as I enjoy attending to him up to nine times a night, a part of me thinks that SLEEP might be a far better option. So over the next few days I am committed to weaning him off his mouth-heroin in hope of encouraging a little ‘self settling’ and a happier mother. Wish me luck.
MONDAY 9:35PM
Dear Diary,
Wean week has begun. I figure the only way to do this is to go 100% cold turkey. To ensure I won’t chicken out, I gathered every dummy in the house (24 of them), put them in a plastic bag and briskly walked them down the street to a public bin. If I put them in my own bin, at 2am I’d give them a quick rinse and my child would relapse. I gasped as I let the bag full of baby silencers drop and sulked off petrified for the detox that lay ahead.
The day consisted of a my mini man carrying on like a pork chop (As my mum would say!) During his day naps, the total amount of shuteye he had was a whopping 17 minutes. I didn’t quite realise how addicted my son was to the colourful rubbery goodies. This is going to be hard yakka! The sun went down, and after one hour of screaming bloody murder he finally drifted off to sleep. My boyfriend begged me to race to the supermarket to purchase a secret stash “just in case”. I was terribly tempted, but stayed strong.
TUESDAY 11.53pm
Dear Diary,
TOO.TIRED.TO.WRITE. I just cried at a Proactive TV commercial. That pretty much sums up my emotional state.
WEDNESDAY 10.52pm
Dear Diary,
This was seriously a shit idea. I’d almost take labour over this. Ahh, who needs sleep anyway right? My eyes are red raw and I’m too scared to breath because for the first time in what feels like weeks he has closed his peepers. We have had a break through though. He has discovered his thumb! It may be swopping one addiction for another but if all he gets is bucked teeth then that’s fine with me!
THURSDAY: 9.30am
Dear Diary,
3 nights have passed since the turkey went cold. The worst is well and truly over. I can now confidently say weaning my dummy obsessed offspring has been a good idea. For the first time in weeks he only woke once during the night. I shoved my boob in his mouth for a milk guzzle and he went straight back to sleep. I don’t want to jinx it but I think the dummy detox has only taken three days, each one getting easier and easier.
The dummy served a big role in my son’s life and I would not have done it any other way but the dependency turned sour and it simply had to be taken away. It was tough but not quite as intense as I had anticipated. I now have a pacifier reformed little boy and I am one seriously happy mumma.
Katie “Monty” Dimond is a broadcaster and media personality. She has appeared on Channel Ten, Channel Nine, and Nova FM. She is currently busy being a full time Mum and loving it! You can (and should) follow her on Twitter here
Have you ever had to break a really hard habit?
Comments
97 Comments so far
both my kids had dummies until 2 yo and getting rid of them was not that hard.
we were v strict about when the dummy came out, which was when we put them to bed, and if they were screaming in the car.
All other, times, we had to deal with whatever was the problem.
When i see kids with dummies in their mouths all the time, I shudder a bit at how hard it will be to wean them.
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am one seriously happy mumma.
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My kid is a dummy addict as well! Takes it everywhere.There’s no hope of convincing this furry child that the Dummy Fairy took it, she’s too smart for that!
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my brother was a dummy-addict big time. He always called it his ‘yummy’ My mum FINALLY weaned him off when he was 4 or something. Yes, 4. Like Monty said, it was like mouth-heroin to him. My mum said that it was like trying to wean him off heroin.
The big night of not sleeping without a ‘yummy’ he went through all the stages- crying, screaming/angry, begging “just one suck, mummy, please just one suck” “my eyes won’t close unless i suck my yummy”.
I was 10 at the time and still remember it clearly. It was a looooong night.
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I had a good chuckle at this article. Before my first child was born, I was dead against babies with dummies, however after breastfeeding for 4 hours straight at six weeks old, I sent my partner out to buy every dummy he could find. She was hooked and finally threw the dummies away at 3 years old but two weeks later, proceeded to suck her thumb – that lasted at least another 3 years… Fortunately my second child was weaned from the dummy at 18 months and never looked back. Now, I have a 2 year old, who we weaned on her 2nd birthday. Unfortunately that resulted in every evening spending two hours getting her to go to sleep. After a few months of wasting our precious evenings, we recently gave her back the dummy swearing it would just be for night sleeps. The good news is she now falls asleep in 15 minutes, the bad news is she screams the house down for it during the day… What I have learnt for those considering weaning, is that it’s best to choose a week when you don’t need to think too hard due to the sleep deprivation, but it’s totally worth it!
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My partner and I recently weaned our 11 month-old boy off his dummy. He had been spitting it out during the night and we were up maybe 3-4 times some nights putting it back. We also were worried that our dummy addiction might impact on his speech development. We did a similar thing, over a long weekend (so we had 4 nights) we gathered them all up, threw them out, and haven’t looked back! It did take longer for him to adjust to daysleeps without his dummy. But now, our little boy is a great day and night sleeper, self-settles, and a few nights of being unsettled at bedtime was definitely worth it!
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I have a hard core dummy addict, he’s almost 2.5years.
He’s also severely addicted to his bottle. I’m going to wean the younger one (who is less passionately addicted) onto a cup, so the older one will follow.
I’m sick of the things, time to give them up.
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When my sister was trying to wean my nephew off the dummy (he had stopped but then they had another bub and he started stealing her dummies, it all began again), she went outside on garbage day and stopped the garbage truck and explained the situation to the garbage man. She explained to mr 3 that the next week, the garbage mn was coming to collect the dummies for new babies. So the next week, they stood outside with a bag full of dummies and when the truck came, he stopped, got out and took the bag of dummies, and gave him a packet of jelly beans and a card saying thank you for being such a kind big boy! She hadn’t asked him to do that, he was just a lovely man.
That was a long story, but I think it’s so nice…. And my nephew still, proudly, has his card on his dresser!
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Timely article – thanks Monty! My little guy is nearly 2.5 and he left his “dodgies” (don’t ask: my hubby’s family all calls them that and no-one knows why! It just stuck!) out for the Easter Bunny! The Easter Bunny swapped them for some Thomas trains – bless his cotton tail.
So far so good, a few unsettled nights but (touch wood) we seem to be over the worst of it.
BUT (must there always be a “but”?) Little guy has refused to have a day sleep since saying farewell to his dodgies. I am not ready for no day sleep!
Has this happened to anyone else?
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Our 2 year old left hers out for the Easter bunny and he left her chocolate and a gold dummy charm for her bracelet. I also left her bottle at Nana’s where we spent the weekend, so have got rid of that too! But yes, the downside has been that over the last week she has had 2 day sleeps
Not sure if it is related as my twins gave up their day sleep at about the same age but who knows.
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I am experiencing the same, my 2 + 2month old is having a hard time falling asleep now without the dummy at day/nap time, and even nite time too.
we got rid of it a week ago, did the whole ritual got him a new teddy his favourite from in the nite garden the show, the first few nites were ok, then he got sick with middle ear infection, we got through those few nites, but my last few days have been hell, it is taking an hour and a half for him to go to sleep during the day, one day i just got him up because i couldn’t stand the crying anymore, he is using all his will to break me, then was extremely cranky for the rest of the day… i only decided to stop the dummy because i have a new baby due in 2 weeks, my 2 year old has been recently toilet trained, except for nap and bedtime, so now his thing is (even after taking him to the toilet before naps) is that he has dirty nappies, or his pull up is wet so he takes them off. so frustrating!!! not too sure if i can handle not having that break in the middle of the day, especially with a newborn to deal with too, last nite was 45 mins of screaming, my partner ended up laying down with him in his bed and he went to sleep 10 mins later, but i don’t want to have to replace the dummy with someone being there and laying with him either… seriously thinking about giving the dummy back.. any thoughts???
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Well done! So topical for me too. My almost 3 yr old (I know, I know) has just voluntarily given his up!. Been laying groundwork for a while but I had bigger fish to fry (his insomnia and a younger baby) which had just solved so I was leaving the dummy to next project. He said it had a hole in it and chucked it away. What helped was lots of talking about it and one practice run a couple of weeks ago. He’d obviously been thinking about it. The biggest thing for stubborn little tykes like him is that HE chose to get rid of it. Hasn’t mentioned it since and this is one little fella that had a serious addiction. Very pleased. Dummy never left the house, only for naps, but still. Long enough. Younger baby has no dummy and I don’t plan on introducing one (but a much better sleeper so its easy to say that isn’t i
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(In my opinion) there is nothing worse than a 4 or 5 year old sucking on a dummy while walking around on an outing. They are too big to be holding on to something used to settle babies.
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Any tips on how to loose the thumb sucking habit??
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I only stopped thumb sucking when I broke my arm aged 6. I couldn’t reach it in my cast haha!!
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Wonderful MM Readers,
I have a super stupid question. Have no children of my own – why do babies get given dummies in the first place?
I have heard quite a bit about going through the drama of giving up the dummy, but I’ve never heard much about why people give them to them in the first place.
Is it to keep them quiet? So they don’t drool? Do they sleep better? I honestly don’t know.
Thank you all (hold the laughter).
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My health nurse told me to give bub a dummy when he was tiny cos she saud it helped him get wind up/through. I didn’t like them, he didn’t like it, and it turned out he was lactose intolerant, so all the screaming was justified. I believe in not starting anything you are going to have a hard time quitting, so I think it’s better not to start with a dummy, they are pretty gross and kids walking around with one is just crazy. If you must use them keep them for bed or at least at home.
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It’s just heartbreaking to watch a newborn unsettled so you try anything. Especially when you’re sleep deprived and hormonal.
‘luckily’ my girl only wanted a dummy for a few weeks, she then decided her thumb was the better option. My question is now: how do you dismantle a thumb from a toddler hand?
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It settled one of my twins down beautifully MissT. And he didn’t need my help to find it in the night like some babies (I wouldn’t have tolerated that). He gave his dummy up without fuss the week after his fifth birthday at our request. His (identical) twin gave it up at 6 months and there were many moments I wished I had a quick fix like a dummy to settle him. And yes I was curious about why parents introduced dummies too before I had the babies.
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They can help with wind, reflux and just a comfort thing. My two that have had dummies were comfort suckers – much easier to give them a dummy than have a boob in their mouth 20 times a day! Some people use it as a sleep cue also, so bubs knows it is time for sleep.
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Some babies use your boob as a dummy, just sucking on it for comfort, not because they actually need a feed, so sticking a dummy in their mouth instead may give you a break from feeding constantly…..all day long, with twins, for a month, in my case. Gold bless those dummies! (may not be saying that later!)
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When my son was around two, we dumped the dummy by cutting off the rubbery bit. When he grabbed it at night time to go to bed, he said “it’s broken” then threw it in the bin and never asked for it again!
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Hi, former addict here.
My parents love telling the story of how they woke me up one garbage day so I could give my dummy to the garbage man to take away, because I was a big girl now. So the three of us waved goodbye to dummy and I never asked for one again. Of course there were a good two dozen others stashed on top of the fridge, just in case!
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Our daughter loved her dummies, and we loved the sleep it let her (and us!) get. Really wanted to get her off them before all her teeth came in though, just used a common sense approach. First restricted them to sleeping only, then stopped sending them with her to daycare (let them deal with it first ;p) – she had no problem though – we then told her that Dora took all her dummies to the moon so she could give them to the little babies and that was it – no more dummies!
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Went to the Wiggles in Melbourne on Friday and a little chap at the front had a bone for Wags the Dog. On the bone he had … well his Mummy had written his name, how much he loved Wags the dog and that he was giving up his dummies TODAY. The Wiggles were great. Mentioned it three times during the show and Wags made a big fuss when he came out. Adn every time the crowd of Mums, Dads and kids clapped and cheered. I hope that little man and his Mum are doing ok.
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Oh My! That is so cute, my preganacy related hormones have me crying like a baby at that sweet story!
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I’m coming on here anon to admit to something i’m sheepishly proud od but don’t admit to in real life.
I had 3 babies in 3 and half years and none of them used a dummy ever. It was accidental at first but it didn’t cause us any problems.
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KDot’s never had one either. Well, we *have* them, but the longest she’s ever sucked on one was about 30 seconds. Then she’d suck really hard on it to achieve the furthest distance when spitting it out. I didn’t push it too much, figured it was easier to not have a crack like habit to break later, and I haven’t had to buy them to replace!
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My boys never had dummies either anon, probably because I didn’t have one and neither did my sisters and I have always had a bit of a thing against them. I did try a dummy once out of desperation with my first boy when he just wouldn’t settle but he spat it out straight away so I didn’t push it! It’s funny, I feel quite proud of myself too for not using dummies
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My son had a dummy up until about 9 months, we did the detox because he often seemed to wake up when it fell out of his mouth and we were desperate for stretches of sleep that lasted more than 45 minutes. It only took a few days and nights and he forgot all about it.
My daughter never had a dummy but she was a thumb sucker up until about the age of six. It was so hard getting her to stop as she mostly did it in her sleep. She needed a year of speech therapy because her top teeth and palate had been pushed forward by her thumb. The dummy addiction was much easier to break.
For me, nail-biting has been a hard habit to break. I managed to stop last year by having acrylics put on for about the three months. It seems to have been long enough to break the habit. I now have regular manicures to keep them nice and discourage chewing. Expensive but worth it.
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On a professional level, I’d love to show this my clients that are too scared to try breaking the habit and don’t believe us when we say it usually takes less than a week. The reason people want to give it up is the searching under the cot in the middle of the night and further down the track it too can put the teeth out of alignment.
If you give your baby a dummy and at 3 months they’re not as interested, try to let it die a natural death. They learn to start to self sooth at that age. If they’re 15 months or so, see if you can replace it with a teddy or something. They develop strong attachments to external objects at that age. Much harder to chuck a large teddy in a hard to find corner then. If they’re refluxy, that’s a bit different.
On a personal level, my first 2 had dummies and it was a pain. The amount of dummies I ended up with, lying about all over the place was ridiculous. We did the gift to Santa etc at about 2.
My second 2 liked their thumbs. Much easier for us to deal with when they were young, but one of them had to get bitters painted on her thumb at about 5 as she was always sucking it. Can’t throw a thumb away can you.
Myself, smoking was the hardest habit to break. When I finally gave up I was living 3 doors away from the local milk bar. I’ve lost count of the number of attempts it took before I finally permanently gave up.
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I use to drink coca cola every day (a can a day), broke the habit and still have it a few times a week…small steps!
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A can a day is not a habit – it’s a drink – I drink Diet Coke but would easily drink 10-15 cans a day
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I worked with a couple of nurses/midwives that drank heaps of coke, probably in part to keep them awake on night duty, one of them had really bad teeth. Nice way to scare the kids in paediatrics.
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Have never understood the push to force little ones to give up the dummy when they are very young ( say less than 2.5) sucking gives some little ones so much comfort and pleasure. Seems cruel to my mind.
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as Monty has said it is the getting up in the night to replace spat ones that is the complete killer! I have been through this twice and didn’t wean them off it, my third is a thumb sucker
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Really? You don’t understand the stress of waking at 40 minute intervals around the clock?
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Both my girls are/were reflux babies, so the dummy was pretty much non-optional (the sucking action helps them to not throw up so much). My big girl is now nearly six and gave up her dummies a little past 2 years – we sent them in a box to Santa at Christmastime (the Post Office lady was brilliant in playing along) and Santa brought her lovely presents.
My baby is just coming up for 8 months. She has the dummy for sleep time and when she is very overtired but not in a situation to sleep. She tends to spit it out while she’s asleep, but is already adept at replacing it and is a good sleeper regardless.
It is much easier to get rid of a dummy when the child is old enough to reason with, than to break the thumb habit (because you can’t remove their thumbs!!) so I’m perfectly happy to stick with the dummy – it has been a life (or at least sleep) saver with both my girls.
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My 19mth old is a dummy boy. He loves it. He has it when he is upset and when he goes to bed. I’m in no rush to get rid of it. Why shouldn’t he have something that soothes him. No harm. I think that as a mum, sometimes we care too much about what other mums say and think, rather than just doing things when a child is ready. I let my son guide when he is ready. He is just started being able to comprehend that the baby toys are being packed up to go to baby cousin and that big boys sleep in big beds. (It’s his first night tonight). So I don’t think it will be long before he goes to daycare one day and refuses to take it because the big kids don’t have a dummy.
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My daughter had one for just over a year, but it was only for sleep time. I was so relieved that she gave it up fairly easily ( my memory may have betrayed me by blocking out any hell, but I think it was ok?) I was due to have my 2nd child by the time she was 18 months and didn’t want her stealing the babies. Then my son came along and was not interested at all. He did suck his 2 middle fingers until he was almost 5 though. Then my third child another boy was not interested either, and didn’t suck his thumb or fingers but was a terrible terrible sleeper. Ive had friends who recently had kids and I recommended they not introduce one and so far so good. But I guess each kid is different.
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Sorry Monty but I have to say whilst you may or may not have broken the dreaded dummy habit, I hope your feeding to get little man back to sleep at night doesn’t turn into a habit. I would give a dummy over boob any day or night in this case.
Master 1 was a serious addict, had a dummy from day 3 in hospital. At aged 3 I explained that he is now a big boy and dummy’s were for babies – like his brother. After his birthday party,he literally handed me his dummy that night. And that was it. It was a far bigger addiction for me than him.
His brother also has a dummy (aged 2 – god forbid) and I’m planning on doing same thing. And again with # 3.
I get the whole 9 times a night cos it falls out, but soon enough they can put it back in them selves. It’s no big deal because I am immune to judgement – especially from other mothers!
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Miss T was a dummy addict, she had them hidden all over the house!!! gave her dummy to the plug fairy on her 4th birthday (in return for a baby Annabelle with pram that she picked herself at the plug fairy toy-shop!)..she never asked for it but struggled to sleep first few nights. At nearly 9 she has lovely teeth but still sleeps with her silky!! Don’t feel pressured and do what works for u and bub!!
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I was not!
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This detox obviously came at quite a young age, it was Definately a 7 day process for me, first 3 days being hell and each day improving bit by bit, Definately recommend preparing you support network to ensure they are on stand by to ensure that you stay calm and do not do anything erational!!!
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We just didn’t give a dummy to the girls – reading this makes me glad we didn’t!
I figured if they didn’t get one to start with, they wouldn’t miss it. So far so good…
http://the-accidental-housewife.blogspot.com.au/
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I love Montys posts!!! More please
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My boys never had dummies, both sucked their thumbs until about 6 months and then just stopped. My boobs were the dummy for a little while though and I had to wean both boys off the “waking up every hour just to have a suck” behaviour. That was hard work too but worth it in the end to get a good night’s sleep!
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Hi holly just wondering how u weaned off the night feeds….im.in this situatiorn right now thank.u
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Hi Bianca, I can tell you what worked for me. It doesn’t mean that it’s the only way or that it will work for everyone as every mum and every baby are different. Firstly I waited until my boys were on solids, at 6 months, just so that I knew for sure that they weren’t hungry and were just waking up for a comfort suck. Bascially we used controlled comforting: Letting them cry for about 5 minutes when they first woke up during the night, in case they went back to sleep by themselves, then going in and giving them a pat on the back, saying “night night, time for sleepy time”. Then leaving the room for 5 minutes, going back and patting, leaving the room again, etc, etc. The first couple of nights were pretty bad with lots of waking and it took a long time for them to get back to sleep each time but then each night got a bit better and after a week they generally only woke up once each night and then by about 2 weeks they were sleeping through the night and able to self-settle in about a minute if they did wake up. It was definitely the best thing for our family as I really didn’t cope well with sleep deprivation, it was the hardest part of being a parent for me. Other mums don’t find it too bad and are happy to keep feeding their bubs to sleep or find other methods apart from controlled comforting, such as co-sleeping, etc. That’s fine too, it really just comes down to whatever works best for you and your family. Good luck with it
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Thank u so much. Im the same the sleep deprivation is the hardest part for me, I love everything else about being a mum. Thanks for the advice
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PS Holly what did you do if they got really distressed when you went in, did you pick them up out of the cot till they were calm? I’m so desperate I really want to try this thank you
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Yep I would pick them up and give them a cuddle if they were really distressed. I am too much of a softie to ignore real distress! It’s really hard at first when you know that you could just stop the crying by giving them a feed – but then they’d be awake again in another hour and the problem would just keep on, night after night. So, it was a quick cuddle then back into bed, tuck in, pat, say “night night” (or whatever suits you) and leave the room. Actually I’ve just remembered both my boys had a comforter around this age which they got really attached to once the night feeds stopped. I ordered one online from a baby sleepwear store and it was an instant hit! http://www.thesleepstore.com.au has some really lovely comforters.
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Thank you so much! You have given me hope
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You’re welcome and good luck with everything Bianca. You can do this!
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Good for you Monty – I recently wrote about the very same dilemma. I was sure the world would implode or I would consequently acquire a stimulant based habit to see me through the whole ordeal, alas, here I am still looking reasonably sane and functioning in a socially acceptable manner.
And Ben? He’s okay. Not needy, not unhinged, not damaged… let’s wait until I start sending him to school with animal shaped sandwiches at 15 before that kicks in!
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Funny! But only if you’re not living it. I have three children, all teenagers now. One had the dummy and the following two sucked their thumbs. To get my first to give up the dummy was a nightmare, no, that’s right I never slept to have nightmares while he was in withdrawal. Nonetheless it lasted four nights and I gave it back to him. Yes I know, weak. The next two boy & a girl both sucked their thumbs and I never lost a nights sleep, EVER. Whenever they started to cry in the night they found their thumbs and did what is called today ‘self soothing’ ….. bliss. People would warn me of the dentists/orthodontists bills to straighten their teeth. Didn’t happen with the dummy sucker or the thumb suckers. The thumb suckers were conned into stopping when they were told only babies did that same for the dummy sucker. I did notice however the ocassional sly thumb suck when they were tired after school, sitting on the couch. At the end of the day, they do stop with the dummy/thumb sucking eventually. We should not worry so much. But if I could have a choice, I would welcome a thumb sucker with joy. Only because in my experience, I found they slept well.
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Really? Because I have gone out with a 28-year-old man who sucks his thumb.
True story.
My children will never do it.
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Oh really! Whoops!! Well luckily mine don t lol.
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Although I have to say, it is very difficult to say your children will never do it. What do you do to stop it. My friend wrapped her babies hands tightly to avoid it. He ended up sucking his blanket and anything else he could get in his mouth whenever he was tired. The sucking instinct is very strong, it is a survival thing.
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I’m happy to be corrected…but I thought the problem was not with the thumb sucking itself but with the amount of it. My daughter started sucking her thumb at 4 months. Now at age 5, she only does it when she’s really tired. So pretty much not at all during the day. In fact her teacher didn’t even know she did it! The dentist told us its not causing any problems at the moment but said we should try to stop her all the same.
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Yes you maybe correct on that one Shelly. I can’t remember mine being constant thumb suckers and they did tend to suck their thumbs when they were tired at around age 5 as your little one does. So we maybe lucky for that reason.
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Susan Boyle still sucks her thumb…
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My first two bad dummies until around 16 months. When they started getting too dependent on them (eat a mouthful, swallow, insert dummy, suck for a minute-repeat) I secretly cut a slit in the bottom then dramatically dropped it on the floor in front of them saying “oh no, it broke!”. Then gave it to them, they sucked, nothing happened and I maintained the “it’s broken”. They didn’t want it after a few more sucks. No.3 baby is 3. Months and loving his, will do the same in due course if necessary.
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When my girl was 4 months she’d alternate breast and dummy the same way! It turned out I was addicted to it and she was trying to ditch it lol
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My 2 1/2 year old just stopped having his dummy, which he only had for sleep time. I was concerned he was getting a bit old for it but I wad probably more concerned about what other people were saying. I had no idea how we were going to wean him off so we went cold turkey. He had a bit of a rash around his mouth from the sleeping with his dummy at night and we showed him in the mirror that the dummy is making his mouth sore and it won’t get better if he keeps using his dummy. Well it worked and when he did ask for it in the following days I just told him he will get a sore mouth and he said “no dummy, no sore” so it helped that he could understand.
I would much rather my children have a dummy to sleep than suck their thumb because that can be much more detrimental to their developing mouth. Our Paedetrician said the dummy would not affect teeth etc
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I don’t really believe a thumb is more detrimental, it’s just that you can’t cut it off should it become a long lasting habit!
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My cousin would beg to differ. She was a thumb sucker and had problems later on in life because of it and had to have braces to fix the problem. That’s why I was glad my son didn’t suck his thumb because I’ve seen what it can do. However that’s not to say every child who sucks their thumb will have problems.
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I sucked my thumb til I was 11 years old, and stopped only because my teeth were so misaligned I had to have headgear… followed by braces… followed by a retainer. The headgear made it very difficult to continue. So thumb-sucking can be detrimental… but I still remember the feeling of happiness and comfort it gave me, and I’m 30 now!
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I had a big overbite before I got my braces and the first thing my orthodontist asked was whether I sucked my thumb as a kid. My mum and dad both say I never did! Lots of things cause teeth problems, and a lot of the time it’s just genetic.
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Best way to make the dummy yucky is to cut a piece off the end, then it is not so nice to suck on. Keep cutting slices off if necessary and make sure you throw out the spare dummies too…
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At 8 months old my daughter could put her own dummy in her mouth so never had to get up for her. Now at 2 1/2 years only had it for sleep (day nap and night). She has three in her bed and finds them herself. I’m not phased re getting rid of them. If it means I get sleep she can have it till she’s at uni for all I care!!!! Note: have a 9mth old who has never had a dummy-he completely refused it-he took a lot longer to ‘sleep thru’ but he’s a good bub too. Do I’ve had both! I would pick a dummy baby any day
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Oh u r so lucky….I was up at least 5 times last night replacingdummy for my 8 mth old…..I wish he cld find it! It’s either the dummy or boob to get him back to sleep and I am slowly losing it….
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While pregnant i argued with my bf that our baby will never have one,fast forward
18 months and my ds loves his dummy,but only have one left and only when sleeping or very upset.by the time he turns 2 if its still here santas taking it
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My daugter is 2 1/2 and still sleeps with a dummy, and i honestly don’t care. we will get here off it by the time she is 3, but I really don’t see the harm.
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I had the same attitude
My youngest son LOVED his dummy, and it didn’t bother me at all – it seemed to bother others more when he was 2.5 years and still using it. But by almost 3, we just took it from him and explained he was too big for the dummy now, and that was it, we had no problems with him asking for it back 
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I was the same with my daughter. I figured that around 3 she would be well and truly down with growing up. The dummy was only used for sleeps and it was Miss J’s job every morning was to put her dummy into the sink for washing so it was gone for the day. In our house the dummy fairy takes it on third birthdays. There was no fuss.
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I did the same with my twins. Cold turkey and within three nights it was over. When they woke I refused to feed or even go in the room and they quickly learnt to self settle. I had an awesome rebirth as a result. Sleep is seriously underrated!
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I was the opposite. I was a pusher. Man, I tried to get her addicted, I really did but she just said no. I would pop one in as soon as she opened her mouth but she would just give me a woeful look and spit it back at me. If it wasn’t a boob then it wasnt passing those lips.
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You poor thing! I don’t envy you!
This is exactly why I never gave a dummy in the first place! Take note mums to be- being “mummy the dummy” (sticking your boob in their mouth every time they cry) is easier in the long run and better for your supply!
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tried sticking my boob in my first one’s mouth every time he cried & ended up with cracked nipples, a painful oversupply of milk & a very unsettled baby, who was over fed & consequently vomited a lot. I stopped feeding so much and as he loved his dummy & worked out how to put it in himself it was never an issue regarding waking us up to reinsert. Followed the same process with the next 2 ie more structured feeding times & dummy for soothing inbetween & at night…never got up to put the dummy back in at night & all 3 slept thru the night ie at least 10 hrs from 8 weeks, 5 weeks & 12 weeks & have been great sleepers ever since. They are all at school now & no one still has the dummy or bad teeth! Dummies can be great some children.
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Not necessarily…..
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My son was nearly two when we weaned him – I know a bit late but we loved our sleep. We told him for a few weeks prior that the Dummy Fairy was coming soon and that she would take away all his dummies and replace it with something that he liked. He told us he wanted the Shrek DVD (he’s seen it at his cousins house). On the night the Dummy Fairy came we gathered up all the dummies and when he was asleep we took out the couple of them that was in his bed and put the Shrek DVD under his pillow. He has not asked for them since. I thought that when his little brother arrived a couple of months later that he might want them again but nope….
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Ha when I was a kid my sis and I had dummy fairies as well lol
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Seriously your not 2 year old said they wanted a shrek DVD instead of a dummy? My nearly 2 year old does say words but could not vocalise or comprehend that conversation and I don’t know many under 2s who could. My 2 year old still has hers and is seriously addicted unlike her older siblings who didn’t have one. I am waiting till she is old enough to reason with but was thinking that would come from 2 1/2 onwards.
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My not yet 2 year old would understand that conversation. Each child is different.
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My 2 yr old would understand and does converse with us like this. all kids are different. he can understand and has a huge vocab…but he has a dummy and is miles away from being toilet trained. none of this will matter in ten years.
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I would suggest waiting, knowing now what i have just gone through in the past week of taking my 2 year olds dummy away… he understood that it was gone, but still goes to the spot in the kitchen were we used to keep it before bed time thinking he is getting it and its been a week since, so its not like he has just forgotten i think it would be easier at 3 years when they can talk more and are more ready to give it up willingly
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I want to know how hold he is, too. Mine is still addicted to her dummy at 18 months, but she’s also a late teether (only had 2 until about 6 weeks ago), so I’m loathe to deprive her of the relief the dummy gives her. My aim is to have her off it by the time she’s two. We were told it’s better to be addicted to the dummy than the thumb; you can remove a dummy, but you can’t chop of a thumb.
Someone suggested cutting off the end of the dummy, they don’t like to chew on it after that. Might end up having to go that route……
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You’re a better woman than me. I never went down the cold turkey path. I knew her addiction was bad when she’d hide her dummy as soon as a guest arrived for a play. She learnt to live with her addiction, only using her dummy at night and when really upset. Oh and blankie was a part of the collection as well. Eventually she gave up dummy and blankie, around the time she started prep! She’s my third child which may go some way to explain my lack of effort with cold turkey.
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I was the Dummy Addict! My parents said i ALWAYS had at least 5 dummies with me at all times! 2 in each hand and 1 in my mouth (there are photos to prove it!!). My mum said on Christmas Eve when i was 2, you have to give all your dummies to Santa or he won’t bring any presents. I put them all in my stocking and never asked for my dummy ever again….the power or Santa!!
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I did the dreaded dummy wean when my now 16 month old started standing up in her cot. It went very similarly to your story! But now she’s a thumb sucker…she doesn’t favour one thumb, either is good for her!
How does one wean a thumb & what is the appropriate age for that exactly? Can u do it first so I can b prepared for the sleepless horrors that await me? Lol
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Paint the thumbs with the polish designed to stop kids biting their nails. It tastes horrible and works a treat
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Having had two children who sucked their thumbs I just want to say they stop eventually. I never had any with braces either. They were GOOD sleepers as well. The older one sucked his thumb a little til he was about 5 but only after a tiring day. I do remember telling them little stories about babies and the things they do, like wearing nappies, sucking their thumbs or dummies etc and eventually both of them decided they were too big to suck their thumbs. No shame no blame.
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Oh this is going to be me in the not too distant future!! Monty I’m wondering how old your little addict is?? Mine is 6 months … the child health nurse said something about getting rid of the the dummies by 8 months, but maybe i can just pretend I didn’t hear her …
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Hey Sarah, my son Bax is only 5 months.. There are so many different ‘rules’ and ‘ages’ for things, if your baby is driving you nuts because of it chuck em i say.. Good luck… xx
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Sarah, please do not take the words of child health nurses as gospel. You do whatever is right for your and your family. There is no rule book!
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My little one had his until after 3. Ignore them and follow your babies needs
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