Ha dummy! Take that! We’ve finally got you licked and being 3 weeks dummy-free now, I think we can safely say that the war is over. Phew!
This is not going to be the time or place where I open the can of worms that is “to dummy, or not to dummy?” There is an abundance of interweb literature on the matter of choosing whether or not to pacify your baby with a pacifier, some of it science-y based on research, some of it opinion (at times heated) based on experience and much of it contradictory, as is so much parenting advice. I’m a firm believer in doing what works for you, burn those books if you need to!
I’m the Mum of three and my two older boys, now aged 15 and 13 did not use dummies. With the first, my Big Boy, there was certainly a concerted effort on my part to force a dummy upon him. He hated it. I’d poke it in and hope like hell that he’d take to it. Please suck on it, pleeeeease. But nope, spit and thud as it landed on the floor. I eventually gave up. He survived … and thrived … and by the time my Middle Young Man arrived, using a dummy was something that didn’t even cross my mind.
Then I welcomed Baby Girl. It was ten years later, I’m ten years older, ten times tireder and she seemed to cry ten times more and sleep ten times less. Let’s give this dummy-bizzo another whirl. And. She. Loved. It. Hallelujah!! It got to be that using a dummy became part of our sleep time routine – for day time naps and also for heading to bed at night. I should say dummies – plural, as one was never enough. There had to be one in the mouth, one almost up the nose, one in each hand and a couple of spares close by. Just in case, you know.
Too many dummies or not enough mouths?
ps. she really IS sound asleep here! Crazy hey!
A little while ago, we started talking to her about life-after-dummies. Preparing her for the inevitable. We had a friend expecting a little one and Baby Girl chatted excitedly of gifting her dummies to the new baby, how kind, how cute …. but nope, when it came to crunch time there was no way that little wrinklepot was getting her dummies!
A few weeks ago when we headed away for the weekend …. ooops we forgot to pack the dummies ;) … oh no … :( (shhhhh of course I packed them, I’m not entirely crazy) but after only a little whinging and asking for them about 38 times, sleep eventually came. Then of course you’ll remember the kids and I went here and she must have thought me stupid to have forgotten to pack those dummies again. Damn. Each night though she remembered and begged for them but eventually drifted to sleep. While on holidays, parts of our floor were ripped up and replaced (not that this has much to do with the story) but holy-moly the mongrel floor guy was a bloody dummy thief and now they’re gone. Gone, gone.
So, how has it been? Great now … though it did take a little while. For the past four nights there’s been no whinging, no begging and not even a mention of the D-word and so woo-hoo I declare the war won.
Did you ever have to take your child through the dummy D-I-V-O-R-C-E? How did you do it? Was it easier than you thought it would be? I’d love to hear your strategies!
Playing Friday linkup with 2 fabulous blogs
Grace’s Flog Yo Blog Friday and Bree’s Flash Blog Friday.
Awesome linkups, so head over for some great blog reading!
Also linking up for the first time with a US blogger I’ve been following who just cracks me up,
go check her out at You Know it Happens at Your House Too!
photo credit: NoVa Hokie via photopin cc
October 12, 2012 at 8:31 am
I’m just strting to ween my girl off her day time dummy and only giving it to her at night. She is doing well but if she can see it and reach it while it’s sitting in her bed she will still get it and have it with her. I can say the other 3 were fairly easy to get rid of their dummies. I normally do the whole no dummy thing at around 2 years old.
October 16, 2012 at 11:54 am
Hi Salz, I’m glad that you’ve had some easy dummy-separation experiences, you’ll be well prepared then. Baby Girl is 3 in January but I felt that going away made sense for us .. I’m just glad we’ve done it now. Good luck x
October 12, 2012 at 8:39 am
hahaha I love that you pretended to forget them. The things we do huh? I can’t decide if I should give my baby a dummy. My first little boy was a dream definitely no dummy required. Now #2 is also such a easy baby too ( not sure how we have managed to be so lucky) but he keeps stuffing his fingers down his mouth and everyone keeps telling me I should give him a dummy to stop the fingers but I feel I would be just replacing one problem with another so still deliberating.
October 16, 2012 at 11:57 am
It’s a hard one isn’t it Julia? We’ve not had the finger sucking but hey, those fingers are so handy and portable! I guess when it comes to ‘give up’ time the dummy could be easier to toss than the fingers :) I’m sure you’ll make the best choice for you and your fella x
October 12, 2012 at 9:44 am
my son sleeps with 5 dummies too…
my daughter only had 1.. and it took a while to stop giving her one.. it wasn’t until she broke one late at night that we said oh.. thats it they need to go in the bin. and she put them in the bin and that was that!
October 16, 2012 at 11:58 am
The multiple dummies is a crack up isn’t it Yvette and what a good girl you’ve got there, I love how she just agreed to bin them! x
October 12, 2012 at 10:03 am
Hahahaha I LOVE that photo, hilarious!
Congrats on going dummy free, hooray!
My first born was the only dummy taker in this house, and he gave it up quite easily before he turned 2 so we were stoked. #2 and #3 have been dummy free and coincidentally better breastfeeders, interesting?
Anyway when my son stopped using the dummy, I cut a split in them so they wouldn’t hold shape in his mouth, so he said they were yuck and threw them in the bin, and that was that! Winning :)
October 16, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Oh Kelly, I could barely keep the camera still the snooze of a thousand dummies was cracking me up so much! Well done on having your young bloke give it up so easily – that most certainly was winning! :)
x
October 12, 2012 at 10:18 am
That photo is hilarious! Can never have too many dummies… hahah
We had 3 out of 4 boys use dummies. One of them, when he turned 4, gave his dummy to the dummy fairy (in the mail box) to ‘give’ to a new baby that needs it. In return he received a present.
October 16, 2012 at 12:27 pm
What a kind young man you have to donate his dummy to a new baby who needed one!! Very considerate and the present in return would have been a lovely reward! :) x
October 12, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Oh go Sis! And baby girl!! Well done :) We went cold turkey for day time dummy, but she does still have it for nights. We’ll cross that bridge another time ;)
October 16, 2012 at 12:30 pm
All in good time Sis, and cold turkey from the daytime sleep is awesome :)
x
October 12, 2012 at 4:17 pm
We forced the dummy for a while and then had to divorce. Now we have other crutches like the $10 teddy bear that must go everywhere and the rain noise that must be playing in her room to fall asleep.
October 16, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Hey Kevin – I think teddy tag-along sounds cute and we used to do the lullaby music each night until she started screaming for it to be turned off. Maybe a rain soundtrack would have been more soothing than Patsy Biscoe?? ;)
October 12, 2012 at 11:35 pm
Still got this ahead us… it’s not going to be pretty!
October 16, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Oh Danya, good luck!! Here’s hoping that it goes smoothly and painlessly x
October 17, 2012 at 8:13 pm
This post couldn’t be any more timely!
We just filed for dummy divorce the other day! We made a little ceremony out of it – took the boys to the bins where we threw them out with them, one by one. And did the whole, “Bye, bye, dummy!”
2 weeks later, things are still a little shaky, but we’re slowly getting there.
The photo of your little girl is just too cute for words! :) x
October 18, 2012 at 11:03 am
We tried so hard to get Mia to take a dummy but she just refused. The only time she had one was her second night in the hospital, and then the midwife came to take her for a few hours so I could get some actual sleep (which wasn’t much coz I was wondering how she was going! Lol!) and they took it off her. I’ve tried again on and off over the last 11 months but now she treats them like a toy and really likes to chew on them when her gums are bothering her. They are a good teething aid if nothing else I’ve found.
October 18, 2012 at 7:44 pm
That picture is hilarious!
October 24, 2012 at 2:35 am
I was so confused for a minute; in the U.S. nobody calls them “dummies.” Good luck to you, I’m sure she’ll be over it very soon! I actually just posted about this not too long ago… I don’t want to be pushy and post a link, but if you want to read it, just search for “pacifer” on my blog.