Nom nom,
My little Chop, at two and half has been a hardcore dummy addict for most of his life. That’s a ‘soother’ or a ‘pacifier’, I think, for the non-Aussies. The Chop was given a dummy by a midwife when he was 24 hours old. I had buzzed her, desperate- why would this small, undeniably cute but wriggling, screaming child not sleep? Surely 4 hours was a very long time for a newborn to have been awake….?
“Do you have any objections to a dummy?”
Erm… I think, maybe, I did have, at one stage. Whatever. Right now I just needed to get my exhausted, battered body and muddled mind off to sleep.
The Chop slept for three blessed hours that night, with his dummy firmly plugged in his mouth. It was one of the longest stretches of sleep he had for the next eight months. And he and his precious ‘dodie’ were, from that point on, the best of friends. When he stopped breastfeeding at fourteen months old, he got really attached to it. And after his sister was born, when he was 21 months old, it almost broke my heart to see how much he needed that comfort when my hands were otherwise full.
Despite all the very positive things his friend the dodie did for him, the Chop was showing all the signs of a serious addiction. He wanted his dummy all the time. He would get agitated if he could see it but couldn’t get to it. He’d even tell me about the adventures of his dodie when he got from Mummy’s Respite Day While The Chop Plays With The Nice Ladies At The DayCare Centre.
And me? I’m the enabler. As many dramas as the silly thing caused it if got lost, dirty, broken, or- heaven forbid- forgotten, I just couldn’t bring myself to take away the cheap, multi-colored piece of plastic that bought the little guy so much comfort.
So imagine my surprise when we picked him up from Mummy’s Respite Day and discovered he hadn’t had his dodie all day. Even for a sleep.
Hmm.
“Do you think, if the dummy fairy came and bought you a present, she could take your dodies away? You’re a big boy now, you don’t need them anymore. Maybe the fairy will take them for some babies who need them?”
The Chop looks at me. He’s sizing me up, estimating the strength of my resolve and how much bargaining room he has to wiggle around in. I’m sure of it.
“Fairy come, take dodies, bring chocolate eggs?”
OK, kid, deal-io. I can’t argue with that.
Best of luck, Man, sourcing chocolate eggs at this time of year. But hey, you volunteered to fetch the bribery.
Long story, short (not… really?) the dummy fairy will be visiting us in the Purple House just as soon as the Chop wakes up from his nap, or the Man gets home from work with the required bribery supplies.
I’ll let you know how the trade off goes.
And I’m not 100% sure how I feel about trading a comfort object for food. Surely that can’t be healthy….?
I’ll have to think on that one a bit more. I’ll let you know how that goes, too.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
In case you wanted to know all of the names for a 'dummy' across the globe, here in Michigan we call it a Binky or a Paci.
And, good luck. My son never had one, so I don't even have words of wisdom to share.
Just good mommy vibes to you.
Just wanted to let you know that I gave you an award.
You can find it at:
http://mformommy.blogspot.com/2010/07/overwhelm.html
HRH Mommy
http://mformommy.blogspot.com
This brings back memories! My son (who is 8 now), used his "soother" until he was 3 years old, (and I must confess that it wasn't just for sleeping, he used it through out the day too), but his play school teacher said he wasn't allowed to bring it to school, and that was the magic turning point, he gave it up himself.
I bet the dummy fairy will be a huge success – it sounds like he's ready, if he's bargaining!
OMG – I am totally living your life at the moment! Cleo is soooooo addicted to her dummy! Grandma tried eating three of them. It kinds worked – until she went to the store and found another one! Looking forward to hearing your results
Fucking Dummies hey! I just went mental and chucked them all out one day. DONE.
PS Wetting… WETTING my pants at your comment on my blog today. Fantastic. ox
Food schmood. You're trading one source of oral consolation for another (less permanent) one. Good luck!
That is a toughie! Good luck Mumma.xx
Hey whatever works! A bit of chocoalte to be rid of them forever? I'd say bargain too!
Hope you're able to find some eggs. Try Lolliland
I will be intrigued to see how it goes. Doo Dah still has his for sleeping (he's 3.5 years!). I have never tried to get him to give them up because he is the only boy in this house who actually sleeps! I know I am taking the easy way out, but I can't see how a couple of dummies in his bed at night is such a terrible thing? He just loves them. LOVES them. But never out of bed
Sorry. You wrote his age. Mine is about 3 months older.
Didn't read it properly the first time. (I hate it when people ask me a question that makes it apparent they didn't read it properly).
I have a confession. With Boy#1, we had no real trouble phasing it out. We made the decision and that was it. Done.
Boy #2 is more than 8 months older than Boy #1 was when we phased his out. I have no idea how on earth we're going to approach the subject. None.
So. Will be looking with interest to see how you go. How old is yours?
PS – your Wedding Photo with Dody is lovely!
Good luck! I'll be watching closely as The Badoo is also a dummy addict. She's just past two and MUST have it to sleep but doesn't get it out of the cot unless she is sneaky.I'm worried about the pending break-up.
Oh, and PS: thanks to your link, the HTML for my button is up!
Flynn has a dummy – his is called his " binky " – but i'm already starting to phase it out. Sometimes he wants it in while he settles before fallin asleep, sometimes he doesnt; he likes playing with it but 9 times out of 10 now he'll clamp his mouth shut if i try and wedge in there to stop him crying. I figure if we can get rid of it while we're learning to self-settle than its gotta be easier than the Fairy taking it later down the road…
How interesting, the Nuk in Perth Australia is the hardest dummy brand to get hold of. My 2 year also had an addiction to her dummy. The ultimate comfort for her. One day I got cranky and threw it across the room (think sleep deprivation and her excuse not to talk when she has it in her mouth)… long story short 9 days of bad tantrums and screaming sessions now sees the dummy only at sleep time. If she wants it she gets into bed and has it and then comes back again and its working really well for us. We even leave it on her pillow in her bed and she just leaves it there, doesn't even try and sneak it anymore. So I wish you much luck with getting rid of it, or at least reducing its need. We did it and survived! hahahahaha
I think if the pacifier is a comfort to him, it's a harmless attachment. My first one had a "dummy" as you call it until he was almost 3. When he no longer needed it, he threw it away himself, with no coaxing from me. My second one never took to the dummy; his comfort was his blanket. He carried that around until he was almost 3 and it was reduced to a straggly 6 inche remnant of what it had been; he also threw that away when he no longer wanted it.
you guys call it a "dummy"? Why??????? I've always called it a paci, but here in the upper Midwest of America they seem to call it a "nuk" after the brand name.
Oh my goodness, our babies are closer in age than I thought! My 2 are 21 months apart, and the Boy is one tomorrow – Your little babe is only a few weeks younger yes?
Good luck with the tradeoff … and the choccie egg hunt!
x