Parenting Toddlers (1-3) Support Group

I am sorry I might be stupid but what is a dummy?

sorry - pacifier/soother!! my mistake
ellie

Thanks we call it a binkie lol
My friend took one of her DD pacifiers and cut a slit in it not that anyone would notice it though and when her dd sucked it it felt different and she gave it up. My boys gave it up willing ly before 1 year so I havnt been through this

First I have to ask, Are you giving her milk at bedtime? That is not good, your dentist will tell you that is a major cause of child tooth decay.
I can't help with the pacifier as my son never used one even as an infant.
Here is how I got him off the bottle at 15 months. I tought him to drink from a cup. Not a sippycup but a regular 2oz cup. I put his bottles away so he couldn't see them and when he wanted a drink he got a cup. Yes there were alot of messes at first and I had to deal with crying for a couple of days. But it paid off, within a week he was off the bottle completely.

Bob is right about the tooth decay. I did about the same thing with my children. At 12months old the bottle was gone and they were drinking from a cup. My stepson was still getting a sippy cup at night when my partner and I got together. It took a little convincing with her, but I was able to get her to not give him a sippy at bed very quickly. She still puts him down and sits with him until he is asleep, so the lack of a sippy was a little easier. I am trying to assist with her getting him to stay in bed and go to sleep on his own. I even fall into that trap often as well.
Really, just do the cold turkey thing and after a couple of nights, she will be fine.

think i will try the cold turkry thing! she does drink water from a regular cup during the day time and she doesnt have milk in the day anymore - just at bedtime -
we are told differently in the uk about milk. we are encouraged to give children milk to promote good bone growth and restrict juice due to tooth decay - at least my health visitors always have!!!

thanks for the advise - will go with just cutting it out completely i think, hide the bottles and see how we go from there, thanks all x

Hey Snufflepig, I would pick up a copy of Secrets of the Baby WHisperer by Tracy Hogg. Especially the 3rd book as all of them are great and will help you with your issues. Based on these books, here's a condensed version of what you can do.

For the bottles, every 3 nights you are going to water the bottle down more. So starting tonight, put 7 oz milk and 1 oz water. After 3 nights, put 6 oz milk and 2 oz water. Every 3 nights put more water in and less milk. Eventually you get to pretty much all water and she is probably going to get to the point where she is like this isn't what I want anymore. The other alternative is to every 3 nights put less in. Start with 7 oz, then 6 then 5 etc until they are all gone. Same result, she's not going to get the comfort she wanted in it but it's gradual (my suggestion is go with the first plan, then with water go with the second plan).

As for the dummy, I do like the hole in it (sucking isn't the same) but also maybe try to do a trade in (supernanny idea). Collect all the dummies, tell her you are going to put them in the tree for the dummy fairy to come and take them to all the little babies that need them. Once she's asleep, toss them in the trash. Before she wakes up, put a present out (dolls maybe?) just for her because she's a big girl!!!! Then when she asks for it, tell her she sent them to the babies and that she has the big girl doll to keep her company.

Good luck.

Snuffle,
Babies defiantly need their milk and lots of it. Best to be given whole milk until they are 5 years old for their developing brains.

The bottle at night with anything but water causes the tooth decay.

Good luck witht he cold turkey and getting the dummy away.

My little ones didn't like theirs, so it was never a worry.

Can't wait to hear how your nights have been going.

so we have been trying the adding water to the milk scenario which worked excellently on the first night - she only had 1 x 8oz at 2am and slept till 6am!!!
then, two days ago she starts with teething of the final 4 back teeth - the big ones!!!all at once as usual with esme. she only drinks milk when she is teething - hardly eats at all - we have tried, but i figure as long as she is taking on liquid she will eat when she wants to, so we have lots of soft snacks to hand - so now we are back up to 3 bottles a night and sleeping with me again as she is in a bit of pain and i am needing quite a bit of sleep at the moment. hopefully once the teeth are finally through we can tackle the dummy/bottle problem, but at the moment i just want her to get enough sleep through the night as she wont go through the day (another typical trait when she is teething alng with dribbling and snotty nose!!!!! mmmmmmmmm!!!!)
so thanks for the advise - i will update further once we have got the teeth out the way and tackle this thing head on then. x x