Giving up the Dummy....My Story.

I though I'd write about my experience with getting rid of my son's dummy......Which I blogged about at the time!

       Luke is 2, turning 3 in October and up until 3rd June he had his dummy just about 24 hours a day. I know what

you're all thinking....How can she let him have it so much......but until you know Luke it's hard to understand. He is classified as "High-Needs", he can make any simple activity into WWIII. So my opinion was that he would give it up when he was ready. His speach hadn't suffered at all, he was making sentances and talked non-stop, he mastered talking with his dummy still in and people were absolutely amazed as you could clearly understand him despite the dummy.  We would get our fair share of comments from people...nothing nasty....but I would just laugh it off and "Yeah, I know, you can't get it off him" and just laughed and walk away. I got where they were coming from but they didn't know me or my son so I didn't ever let it get to me.

Now to how we got rid of it......

       This particular day (a Sunday) Luke didn't have his dummy all day, I'd noticed that for last few days he would take it out and forget about it for a while, and then when it got the afternoon he started to get a bit whingy he asked for his dummy. So I started looking for it and couldn't find it.....well panic started to set in for me....lol.....dreading the response from Luke when I told him it was lost......I got everyone together and we started a full scale search of the house.....lol.....I know the image has me in hysterics at the moment.........we looked EVERYWHERE, but it was nowhere to be found. By the time we realised it was gone it was too late to go to the shop so I just said, Well this is it....we're doing the no-dummy thing....cold turkey!!!  I have to admit I was terrified.....I rang my Mum...she was terrified for me......I rang my best friend.....she was terrified for me.......

       Luke cried himself to sleep in my arms that night, it broke my heart.....he kept crying and saying, "I want my dummy, mummy find my dummy"  .....but I kept reassuring him that it was okay and that he was my big boy now and didn't need his dummy....plus he has a wrap that he cuddles so I think that helped a lot. I had to sleep in Luke's bed with him that night because he kept waking up screaming for his dummy all night. The next day my husband went and bought him a "big boy" toy. I got this idea from a wonderful Minti Mum and in my opinion this is what made the transition so much easier. Luke kept showing me the toy and telling me it was his big boy toy. that night at the dinner table Luke said to me, "Mummy I don't need a dummy, I'm a big boy now". Well that just broke my heart....don't get me wrong I'm over the moon he no longer has a dummy but when your baby says those words it cuts straight to the heart.......We have been dummy free since then with no more sleepless nights and he has not once asked for his dummy. Luke tells everyone that his dummy is gone and that it's at the shops.....I think he sees the other dummy's there and just thinks that his has gone back there..awww how cute!!!   He is my big boy now.....

So my advice is if your child has a dummy, don't worry too much, they will give it up when they are ready or when you are ready, you really need to be mentally ready to take on the task.....plus don't forget the praises and rewards, they really do work!!

Oh and by the way.....my husband ended up finding the dummy two days later.....in the toy box.......it is now in the bin!!

Thanks everyone for reading!

Amanda xxx