hey yeah i heard that thumb sucking is alot worse!!!, yeh maybe you can brige her hehe

Hi

I did a routine search "7 year old with a dummy" and found your story which is very similar to mine.  My 7 year old son still has a dummy when we are home and sometimes in the car!!

He has one that he puts in his mouth, he too can sing and talk with it in!!!, and another one that he puts near his nose???!!!!!!  I am not really that bothered about it, other than the hygiene side of it, but my family think he shoud not be having it.  I cut the tops off two of them a while back and he was totally heartbroken.....I could just see the hurt and disbelief in his face!!!  So I have not tried to take them off of him since.

He is even brave enough to go into the stores and pick them out....although he does say to the cashier that they are for his "baby brother"!!!

I am glad to hear that I am not the only person with a dummy sucking child!

Regards

Marion

She is probably too old for this to work! My neighbour had a 4 1/2 year old who was very attached to her "dum dum" when at home and had tried so many ways to get rid of it /them!) One day when she was at pre-school, I took my little one next door with a big teddy bear. We cut up all the dummies and left them scattered around the bear. When she got home and discovered that the bear had "eaten them", she grabbed the bear, yelled at him threw him, and pummeled him and threw him out the door! At bedtime, she went and yelled at him some more! It worked and she never had a dummy again! In the end, she took the bear to bed instead!  If you think the letter thing will work, try it! You don't want the end of something that has been such a comfort to them to be too traumatic as there is a real attachment...particularly after 7 years! Good luck!

I would just take it away.She is 7 and I don't think that she should be having a dummy at her age. I took dummies off my twins at 3 years old. I told them Father Xmas wanted them in return for presents. It worked. Did you know that they can cause speech impairments and problems with teeth development?.You could be generating a whole lot of problems if you keep letting her use it.And don't give in to her-throw them away so you're not tempted to give in.Best of luck,Lisa

There is no weaning solution to this one.  You just have to take it away and substitue with something else.

My eldest child master 6 had a Persifier. Which i took from him when he was 18 months old. Well i didn't just take it. I noticed that he was just using it to go to sleep. Then it would fall from his mouth and stay on the edge of his bed till the morning. He would wake up suck on it for an hour or so then drop it on the floor. I would collect it and take it until His afternoon nap. Again the same routine of falling asleep with it then it sitting on the edge of the bed. I then decided that it was better if i started to introduce to him strategiys to stop using it. As it was only used in confort for going to sleep. I started to tell him that he was growing into Mummys little man and that he was getting to big for his percifier. I also told him that one day Mummy and Daddy would have to put it in a safe spot for when we had another baby so it could help the new baby go to sleep. I did this for a few weeks. Then i  decided today was the day. I put him in his toddler bed.  I put the purcifier on the side table where i knew he could see it. I reassured him it would be safe there and that when he woke up it would still be on the side table. I sat with him untill he fell asleep. i did this for a week then i put the purcifier into a box on the side table and said the same thing. It will be safe there he checked a few times but never asked for it. It took around two weeks of me sitting with him to get him to go to sleep with out the purcifier and without me in the same room. He has looked in the box months later and seen that it was there. He also made me chuckle as he did pick it up and have a little suck of it. He didnt like the taste of it i dont think, honestly. As he returned it to the biox and never tasted it again only looked. I kept it because i promised to give it to the next baby. As a reassurance. He pestured me for a new baby instead after this. Two years ago i had our second son and on the day i got home master then 4 years ran to his bed room and took out his dumby and asked master newborn if he would like it. Being a new born he was still to small for a large 18 Month soother. So i told my master 4 years this and he returned it to the box i also praised him for being such a big boy now. This made him smile. He is a very helpfull child. About 6 months ago when master 2 was 16 months old master now 5 and a half years took master 16 months to his bed room. Opened up his side table box with all his keep sakes and produced his long loved purcifier, he never forgot. Which i took and sterilized and gave to master 16 Months. I love sharing this memory. Not sure if it can help. I have heard a few storys like yours where older children still have bottles and purcifiers. The only thing i can suggest is to take it off them if they still want it explain why they cant, health affects such as teeth problems and so on, danger of choaking. Then if they still want it Be the mum that you are and say NO. There isnt anything else i can suggest sorry. 

I told my daughter that it was the last dummy. If she still wanted it, she had to look after it & it was no good coming crying to me if she lost or wrecked it... About 3 weeks later, it was a disgusting sticky flat thing that got left behind somewhere. She was upset but she covered it well & never mentioned it again..

hugs

Rosalinda

with my oldest she is 3 now we just told her the fairys needed it for there babys and she is a big girl now she she doesnt need it slide it under her pillow and said the fairys will pck it up and we just got rid of them that way and yeah you will have a few bad nights . but it will settle .

belxx

For my daughter we just took it from her and as she was watching put it in the fire, end of story, she knew it was gone so never asked again.

The young bloke was also dependant on his so as we drove along one day out the window it went.

Sometimes you just have to be cruel to be kind.

Robert

BRIBE BRIBE BRIBE lol well , it worked on my sister. She got a new bike for trading in her dummy and blankey. She helped throw them in the garbage.

I could understand her needing that comfort as an infant, but should she really need that at the age of 7? My one concern would be the effect it will have on her teeth. What has your dentist said about it?

There are lots of different techniques to get a child to part with a dummy, the one that seems to work the best is something that stems from your child. You could get her to put it in an envelope and 'mail' it to  someone (my neice mailed hers to the dummy fairy!) In return she could be rewarded by getting a new toy, and letting her choose it.

Good luck!

Hello! I just wanted to leave a comment as someone who was one of these kids. I didn't have a dummy, but I sucked my thumb and had my "gwanky" until I was 9. And let me tell you, it looked nothing like a blankey any more by that time! It was pretty yucky and ratty.

Essentially with me, my mom laid some ground rules like, I couldn't take it places. It could only be used at home. I didn't suck my thumb or take it to school, although I remember sucking my thumb in front of my friends when they would come over sometimes and they thought I was weird. My mom's attitude was basically that I would get rid of it myself when I was ready and she put NO pressure on me to get rid of it. I even tried to give it up myself once when I was five, but it just didn't work. I wasn't ready. BUT I knew that it was really for babies. Your daughter probably does, too.

On the other hand, whenever I would see my grandmother, she would suggest giving it up and even say she'd cut it into pieces for me. This scared me a LOT! I definitely would not let go of "gwanky" in her sight! That kind of comment probably made me more attached instead of less.

So I guess my take on it is, before going to a child psychologist or the like, maybe try doing nothing. Let her have her dummy and not feel pressured, but do lay some ground rules, like only at home and at bedtime, etc. She's probably a little nervous about why everyone is wanting to take this thing that is so important to her away.

Good luck!

To tell you the truth, I would just say "you are too big for a dummy and you are not having it anymore."

 I dont think there is anything wrong with saying no to a child. I know there wil probably be tears, difficulties, maybe even tantrums, but you need to let her know that you are the parent and what you say, goes.

I would let her sulk for a while but after time, it is time enough to stop sulking and get on with life. She may even suprise you and just say ok.

I am sorry if it seems unreasonable or hard but maybe it is what you have to do.

My Son gave up his dummy to the checkout lady for a lollypop, but my daughter would not let go of her bedtime bottle until I had to use the technique above. The reason was that all her teeth rotted and they had to be removed, had I not taken away the bottle, her second teeth would have rotted away as well. Sometimes it is tough love that works.

shaz

i have added a bunch or relevant previous discussions on the same topic.

links are above

I would like to say she will grow out of it but she seems pretty entrenched into the habit. You could try the lolly on a stick (hate to say to use lollies - but they kinda get smaller the more you suck) chuppa chupps I think they are called. No good for at night.

The only long term solution now is to see a child psuchologist - your GP can refer and with the new medicare rebate you may find the costs totally covered.

You better trying to resolve the issue now.

cheers - les

This reminds me of a story on oprah or dr. phil when this adult lady still had her blanky and was not going to give it up. It was so tatty and holey by now and the boyfriend hated it cause it smelt etc. LOL Hope she does give it up by then! Honestly the only thing you can do is tell her what is going to happen and talk to her and take it away, then buy no more. It will be hard if it has been a comfort for so long but it is going to have to be tough love. If you have partner, nannna, or any support to stand by you on this one, have them be just as strong. Good luck!

One of my cousins had this prob with there daughter but she was only 3. When she had her santa photos last year she gave it to him and they made sure the rest were gone from home.They bought her kiddy makeup cos thats what she wanted to give the dummy up.Its been 5months now and she hasnt touched a dummy again, not even her sisters.You need to explain to your daughter that she is a big girl and dummys are for babies.

Perhaps try buying her something and in return she needs to throw the dummies in the bin, and do not buy anymore no matter how much she chucks a fit about it, you need to stop this asap.

I really hope you can get on top of this soon.

Dannii xxo

My eldest is 5 and Santa took 2 of her dummies and the easter bunny took the last one (she had one in her mouth and one in each hand) when she turned 3. 

It must be a comfort thing for her.  Have you tried to offer her a replacement eg a stuffed toy that she can take to bed or carry around.

Good luck with it.