The babies in our family loved to suck. They only had dummies if they were in bed or if I was trying to keep them pacified in church, but they were devoted to them for those times.
When our oldest daughter was about two, we decided that it was time for us to leave dummy use behind. How best to wean her? I came up with this idea and it worked a treat. I've never heard of anyone else doing this, (anybody out there?), so I thought it would be good to pass it on.
What is a good way to wean a baby or child off a dummy or pacifier?
... Bit by bit. Literally. I started by using scissors to cut a thin slice from the end of her dummy, just enough to make a hole in the end. When I gave it to her for bed that night she took it straight out of her mouth, examined the hole, looked a question at me, then put it back in her mouth.
A couple of days later I sliced another couple of millimeters from the end of the dummy. Again: a look, a question, then acceptance. Into the second week the dummy was getting hard to hold in her mouth because there was so little of it left! For a night or two she held the dummy in her hand, then stopped bothering about it altogether. Voila!
Not only was this very easy and completely painless, it also involved no lying or emotional manipulation, so -much better!
http://www.futurememories.com/moustache-pacifier.html
I may have accepted it, but I've never forgiven you!
ReplyDelete:)
xo Tammy
It's time to move on, Tam...
Deletexoxo
well, I guess I will have to wait and see if this works when I have a baby :)
ReplyDeleteBut will pass it on to whomever I know, who is trying to get their baby off the dummy!
lol - Thank you Nina :) We'll rid the world of traumatized babies, one dummy at a time..
DeleteI've always remembered that this is how you said you did it and I always thought it was a really great way. Like you said, completely painless and not manipulation involved or anything.
ReplyDeleteunfortunately, despite all my best efforts, Hallie never liked the dummy (can you imagine the sanity that little thing could have helped bring into our home?! Hallie wasn't going to let us off that easy...) but if ever I do have a baby who is addicted to their dummy, I'll try this :P
xoxo