When is the right time to wean your baby off her dummy?

Mums and dads know very well how important the soother is in their baby’s life: from the first months onwards, a baby turns most of her attention to this object also showing particular interest. The reason is very simple: sucking satisfies the natural and primary need of nutrition and it’s an antidote against fear and feeling of loneliness, very common feelings for both newborns and toddlers.

The dummy reminds of the shape of mum’s nipple, allowing the baby, when the mother is not around, to soothe and comfort herself; it represents a valid psychological help as a sobstitute of the mother figure.

The dummy has the following positive effects:

It induces sleep;
It helps to relieve tension;
It makes the baby feel protected and secure;
It causes pleasure: in the period that starts from birth up to two years ( named “ oral phase “ by psychologists ), the mouth represents the main source of pleasure and the sucking is a valid way to explore the world around her.
By using a flat teat that adapts to the mouth’s roof, the risk of deformation is highly reduced.

Sooner or later, the moment in which a baby will have to abandon the dummy comes: sometimes, it is spontaneously abandoned by kids around 2 or 3 years of age ( usually within 4 years ), that is when a child becomes more self-confident and independent, but in general, it is absolutely impossible to establish when it’s the right moment to wean a baby off her dummy, because it depends on babies. In any case, it doesn’t have to be a sudden interruption because it will only cause the opposite reaction: baby will be obsessed by the idea of having lost a so important and essential thing and soon, she will replace the dummy with the thumb.

Advices to gradually wean your child off

The first and most important advice is to be very patience and understanding, avoiding hurry and strictness. A good tactic is to show the child a tiny box or a proper dummy holder in which he can keep the dummy in order to use it only in particular moments. From now on, the dummy will be given only if requested ( for instance, at sleep time ).
Other tactic is to propose the child to give the dummy to his favourite baby toy that needs it more because it’s still a baby.
A more drastic remedy, more incisive is to associate the detachment to a proper ritual, like for example, throwing it into the sea, into a lake or into a river, or simply giving it to someone as a very important gift.
Moreover, another valid tactic is to set a limit to the use of the dummy in specific situation ( for example when the mother is not around ) or focus the attention on other activities that babies are not able to do with the dummy ( like singing ).
Apart from the tactic chosen, the mistake to avoid is to concentrate too much on “ the dummy matter “ even because the abandonment of the dummy has to take place only when babies feel psychologically ready to avoid inducing them to start sucking the thumb, with negative consequences for the mouth roof and teeth.