Removing comfort items from 2 1/2 yr old

Sweet Vix. Dylan still shakes his head from side to side, but he has his blankie, an airplaine of some sort, his dummy and a book every night.

I took the daytime dummy away after my usually non judgemental paed thought D was a bit old to be walking around with it and so Neil took it away and his speech improved overnight.

I used my dummy until I was 3 /4. I remember throwing it away. It is my first childhood memory actually. I am seriously in need of orthodontics. I recon most kids are these days so we have a braces fund already set up for Dylan.

Thankfully Dylan took to his white cellular blankets and at school he took to a nappy so they are easily replaced.

I was also a really dedicated thumb sucker.
I can't recall how or why I stopped.
But I did do it until I was much too old.

Yep, my teeth took a hammering - love my overbite!

GW - I have no real issue with a child who has a "security attachment" but there also needs to be a time when the child feel secure enough to let it go.


That being said - Connor (9) has a soft doggie that K bought him when he was a newborn. Connor uses it to put his head on. He still does, and calls it his "doggie." If he sleeps out, I send "doggie" along.

Georgia does not really have any attachment things - though she was a dummy sucker, and I chucked that after aged 2 (after a dentist visit).

Isabelle has her thumb and her doggie.

The one problem with an "item" that is an attachment is if you lose it or misplace it and it is unique, you are screwed.

We often play the "everyone stop what you are doing and let's all find Isabelle's doggie"

I have a cow that looks a lot like doggie, but Isabelle is not easily fooled.

GW - I have no issue with a child having a security item, I do think dummy sucking and thumb sucking is a dental issue.

i wouldn't have minded C keeping the dummy at night if he would have just left it at that but with him in everything he does it's all or nothing and he just wouldn't get up in the morning and leave the dummy in his room. He would moan the entire day for his dummy and i just can't deal with that so we took it away completely.

For C we did it at the wrong time, he was too young and going through too much with the arrival of the boys.

he never took to a blanket or teddy, i wish he did, i think it's cute when they have a little toy to soothe with. C's comfort or soothing thing is to rub our ears or even his own as he falls asleep.

@ JoJo lol maybe I was just a little more ready. I think considering what he has been going through though it is quite understandable that it has suddenly increased. It does sound like he is well on his way to stopping though especially if he is hiding it and feels embarassed about it. I sympathise - with him. I remember the habit fondly =)

Thanks for that info Julz.

I get the dummy during the day thing needs to be limited otherwise it will affect their speech development. We also had a HUGE dummy war about 4 months ago, because my LO insisted on having the dummy not only at nap times anymore. It was very traumatic to take it away from her but we succeeded and we have a very good understanding now about when she is allowed to have it.

But why do you want to take away a doe-doe blanket/soft toy? Is it because of the embarresment that the child might experience from his peers? My sister told me that her 8 and 10 year old boys still sleep with their "soft toys" from when they were babies. Surely they will replace it with another self-soothing habbit when they are ready, like rolling around in bed for a while to fall asleep or lying a certain way with your head, stroking your head etc. ? Who are we as parents to decide it is unacceptable for a child to have a comfort object?

Once again, I am truely puzzled by this, I am not trying to stir.

Hope someone can clarify.

I have tried that Juno! After he has the money stash the thumb goes stright back into his mouth when he goes to sleep! Or behind my back when he reckons I am not looking!