Getting rid of dummy before baby arrives

[Goldmum]

My DD is two and a half and currently only has her dummies (yes she has 2 of them!!) at sleep time in her bed. If she naps when we are out, we don't take them with. My second baby is due in January next year and I'm in two minds about what to do with DD's dummies. Should I try and wean her off now or wait until after the baby is born? Part of me thinks I should go for it now as she still wakes up in the night looking for the dummies and calls out to me (or very occasionally DH!) if she can't find them. I really could do without having interrupted sleep even now, but I think I'll feel even more fed up with it once the baby is born. My worry about doing it now though is what will happen when the baby comes. If the baby has a dummy, I think my DD will just want hers back.
Any suggestions? Any success stories to encourage me? 

[mari]

Well, I have weaned a dummy from both of mine.  Nathan was 2 and a half and Alex was 9 months.

The way I dealt with it for Nathan is to work on the 'Big Boy' tactic.  He was due to start at playschool and I said that he was big now and shouldn't need a dummy.  (Shame that, on his first day there was kid, bigger than him, with a big dummy sticking out of his mouth!)
Anyway, we also worked on Father Christmas.  I said that he was watching and if he saw Nathan with a dummy he might think that he was a baby and bring him babies toys.  That sort of did the trick!
Perhaps you could try to do it for naps first, let her have the dummy to get to sleep and then take it away and not reintroduce it during the nap.  Eventually encourage her to fall asleep for naps without it. If you are successful for naps, then bedtime should be easier.  What do you think?  That's how I did it with Alex (9months)

I hope that helps.

mari

[Goldmum]

Thanks for the replies. I thought I'd try a 'softly softly' approach and start saying how she's a big girl now, so doesn't need dummies etc. She's also mad into fairies at the moment so I dropped in the idea of a 'dummy fairy' who will come and get her dummies and leave her a special present. Well, it's all escalated! When I said there was a dummy fairy, DD said 'will she bring me a Peppa Pig present?' When I said yes, she asked 'will she come tonight?' So we are just about to put all the dummies in the box for the fairy...! Wish me luck, but so far she seems completely fine with the idea. Will post again once we've got through tonight...

[mari]

Great.  Good ol Peppa eh!!! 

Good Luck.

What I remember with Alex, when I was confident that I could do it I actually threw the dummies in the bin so that they were not there if I caved in.  (sometimes, we are more reliant on them than the kids!!!)

[Goldmum]

It went better than expected really! It did take her an age to get to sleep with lots of calls to get me upstairs ('mummy, what are you cooking for Daddy's dinner? etc  ) Once she was actually asleep though, it was OK. She woke earlier than usual, but all in all, I'm quite happy. Of course, coming downstairs to a new Peppa Pig toy made DD really happy!

[pdebuys]

I was looking for some help .... and came across this issue we just overcame with our 27 month old.
We introduced the fairy idea, but the more I looked into everything, I liked the "trim the binky" then give it to the fairy idea.
We prepared her each day before we started trimming the nipple with "your getting big, all the other babies and baby animals need the nipple of your binky so the fairy will take more of it each day to give away"
She still has the base of the binky in the bed, but can't suck it as there is absolutely no nipple left on it. We are planning on sending them away on some balloons.I felt that even though we told her that the fairy was coming she instinctively would have needed that soother for bed. This has been a better, although still not completely easy transition.