Last weekend was kind of a big deal to us. You see, my son Matthew has been using his dodie, some call it soother, others call it dummy, for over four years. To some mums this is quite a long time. To speech therapists and public health nurses it’s a no no. Each to their own. I personally wasn’t ready to give it up at the age of two when I initially wanted to give it away. He didn’t have the speech, he didn’t understand what giving it away means.
He soon got attached to it more and I pushed it out further and further. Christmas 2015 came along and I wanted to give it away to Santa. But you know the way Christmas goes. Everyone is so cosy, you don’t want to change a habit, keep everything the same and just enjoy the time together. Guess what? I dragged it out even further. It got to a point now where I was thinking around his fourth birthday it really needs to go.
Then another excuse came into my head. We are moving house soon. I got it into my head that he needs the comfort when we move and he is going to sleep in a complete different environment.No Janine, I thought to myself, this is just making up another excuse to push it out again.So I put an end to it. Plus the two dodies were kind of disgusting looking. They are latex ones. He only likes those and my bestie from Germany has been sending them over up until now.
Around two to three weeks ago I started talking about the dodie fairy. I explained to him that the dodie fairy was visiting soon to pick up his dodies and bring them to the babies. I said to him that he is such a big boy now that he doesn’t need his dodies anymore but the babies out there really need them. This is the story we told them everyday. The last week he has been telling me about it himself. “Mammy, the dodie fairy is coming to bring the dodie to the babies“. Well that was a good start.
Hubby was home from his three trip to Dublin so I decided to start this Friday night. I got out an envelope. Before we put the two dodies in and closed it, I got him involved in decorating the envelope himself for the dodie fairy. He loved it.He wanted me to draw a star and a heart and he coloured them in. He was happy with that. We put the dodies in the envelope, closed it up and left it at the door for the fairy for the night before bedtime.
When it was time to go to sleep after I read him his usual story, there was a whinge here and there and he asked me about his dodie. But I said to him that the dodie fairy is going to get them when he is asleep and when he wakes up he is going to have a present from her instead. We went through the Smyths catalogue and he picked out something he wanted.I picked it up the next day.
The day came. Not only he slept without a dodie, but he also slept in his own bed all night. He started picking up coming into our bed for quite some time during the night. I thought it might be because of jealousy now that Chloe is here, but I read it from so many other mums. He asked for a sticker. So now I created a reward chart. Every night he stays in his own bed, he receives a sticker. So far he has three. Once he reaches ten I will get him a surprise but I haven’t decided what yet. I don’t want it to be anything big because can you imagine after every ten stickers?
I came upstairs to Matthew and he checked outside the bedroom door what the dodie fairy brought him. He was so happy and smiley. He absolutely loved it. He was very proud of himself I’d say. He got a transformer toy that transforms into a police car but it also comes with a trailer that can be used as a claw to grab things. Another small thing was a hot wheels Super Mario Bros. car. He wasn’t too interested in that but he started playing with it now. He likes Mario, that’s why I thought it would be cute.
It’s Tuesday evening, 9pm as I write this and it’s night five since he has been sleeping without a dodie. He has stopped asking about it since night three which is brilliant. I thought it would take a bit longer the fact that he had it for so long. I am really proud of my little boy and it is another milestone we reached. It’s sad to see the dodie go. It gave him so much comfort over the last few years. But we all know it can be bad for the teeth so I am glad we have this behind us.
Aw that’s great, well done Matthew! I’ve been finding any excuse to not get rid of the dummy too but will have to soon as he’s almost 3 and a half now. I’ll have to try your way of doing it 🙂
I was really worried about taking my twins dummies away, but like you it was really easy! I am so glad that the he has done so well, well done him! How about a magazine from the shop for getting 10 stickers?
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Sounds like you got really lucky. For some reason Matthew’s dummy’s never managed to have a hole in them. Maybe latex is stronger? I don’t really know. x
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It was a last minute thing to be honest. I wanted to make it a bit more dramatic and make a letter as well but this was good enough for him. xx
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I know kids who did it even in school without them realising. I am sure she will grow out of it eventually. xx
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That’s another way of giving it up. 🙂
Bye Bye Dodie, my eldest lost his and managed without when we found it I never let him know and thats when we gave ours up.
What a good boy! So glad it’s gone so well for you all. My daughter never had a dummy as she preferred to suck her thumb instead, she’s almost three now and still sucks it when shes tired/goes to sleep. Not quite sure how I will ever get her to stop to be honest! Eeek xxx
This is such a lovely idea. A gentle way to remove the dummy rather than something more drastic.
Well done on the dodie fairy! What a great idea. My toddler only has hers at night now but I’d like to get rid of it this Christmas. I think she’s almost got enough understanding to realise that she will have to give it away in return for a reward 🙂 Loved your little envelope – too cute x
Well done, that’s exactly how I was going to do things when it came to dealing with my sons dummy. But we accidentally fell into it really after he bit his last dummy through the teat after a holiday and we couldn’t replace it when we got home (when he was about 2). Luckily he was so exhausted from he flight he just fell asleep, and we just continued from then on. I never wanted to push it though.
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Yeah I think the 4th birthday is just the right time no matter what speech therapists and all them say. It’s when they understand. x
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Yeah that’s the thing. I think I will do the same with her sister. Even though she is way more attached to it than her brother. It will be interesting to see when she is at his age.
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He did well in fairness to him. I thought it would be more of a drama to be honest. x
Aww well done, Matthew. it’s such a big step for them and us, isn’t it? Amy never took to a dummy but I know a lot of friends who really struggled weaning their littles off it x
glad that things have gone OK so far. Now that he is a little older, it is easier for them to understand I suppose. My sister-in-law used the ‘dummy fairy’ and it worked well with her two as well
High five mama! I am so glad it is going well for you both. Both my girls had their dummy until their 4th birthday. I just didn’t feel the need to stop before then. We had the dummy fairies come and leave them an extra special present in the garden and they both gave up with no fuss (althought my youngest daughter found a rougue dummy under her bed a few months after and started trying to use it again!!) x