So when, at the age of just 3 weeks old, my Health Visitor advised me I'd be better off giving a dummy to MC I was distraught. I knew I had to, I knew that I couldn't go on with her using my breast for comfort - I was exhausted by it. I sobbed when Matt put the dummy in her mouth and she took it and loved it.
She's been good with the dummy though and only had it for night times and nap times and eventually we cut out the day time nap dummy when she was old enough.
Back in June last year I said that the dummies were going completely when we returned from Italy. We didn't even attempt it though, following the superb advice I received from my lovely readers on my blog and Twitter (thank you) we decided to leave it until after potty training and until we felt MC was really ready.
MC was fully toilet trained by November last year but with a holiday to the U.S. planned for January, Matt and I decided that we'd wait until after that so she had something on the flight to stop her ears popping!
When we were at Disney World we bought her this Deluxe Tangled Figurine Set but didn't show it to her.
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So, when we returned (and had got over the jet-lag!) we started to talk to her about what was going to happen. We explained to her that little babies needed her dummies and that at the end of the week we would place her dummies in a box and the Dummy Fairy would visit. She would collect them, leave MC a present and take the dummies to other little babies that needed them.
To make her understand more we even went as far as to show her a You Tube video of a little baby crying. As soon as she saw it she said "He needs my dummies".
The scene was set.
D-Day was finally upon us.
We prepared an empty box and that night, before she went to bed, MC placed her dummies into the box without a problem. We went upstairs and got ready for bed. We read a story and then she said "There's something missing from my mouth".
We explained that her dummies were downstairs and the Dummy Fairy would take them to the little boy that needed them.
She seemed to accept that and went to sleep without a problem.
She woke about 2am and was a little upset for about 15 minutes but never mentioned her dummies. Then she went back off to sleep.
The next morning she was delighted to see the Dummy Fairy had left her such an amazing present!
The dummies were never mentioned again and she's slept through ever since that first night of the dummy 'cold turkey'. She turns 3 on 11th March and I'm so proud of my little girl.
Will I use a dummy with my next baby? Yes, if one is required I'd have no problems this time. Dummies aren't the devil (as some people I know think), they provide a comfort to children and are easy enough to phase out - the Dummy Fairy can't take a thumb away now an he?
I know it's each to their own and what works for you but sometimes, just sometimes, a dummy is necessary. Without one in MC's life she wouldn't have had a fully-functioning Mummy in those early days.
Three cheers for the dummy and the Dummy Fairy!
