Before Immie was born I had this grand plan. She would be breast fed and would not have a dummy. I don't know where this idea had come from but I was adamant she would be breast fed, afterall it is cheap, easy, better for baby and a total breeze. Of course she wouldn't need a dummy as she would be contented and I didn;t want her to rely on it, bad for teeth etc.
Of course, reality bit. After 3 months we switched to bottle feeding (a total doddle after breast feeding!) and after a month we gave in a used a dummy, only at night of course and we took it away once she dropped off (this quickly changed to letting her have it in her cot all night, in the car and if screaming in Meadowhall!)
So 2 weeks ago we asked the health visitor when Immie should stop having bottles. (To be fair she only had them first thing in the morning, last thing at night and in the middle of the night if needed). The HV looked in horror and said she should have dropped them totally at 1, oops Immie is over 15 months (why had nobody told me about this magic number 1!?). We also asked about ditching the dummy as Immie was starting to show signs of being dependent on it (asking for her deedee when tired, going to bed etc) Again the HV looked in horror and said we were already past the point of no return so we'd have to just bite the bullet and be harsh.
So that night we started to ditch the bottle. We gave her milk in a sippy cup. This resulted in a huge paddy and demands for "bot bot" being uttered between sobs. eventually she gave it a try, only 1 oz was drunk but it was a start. The next day was much the same. Saturday morning saw a full on 30 minute paddy with screaming and slamming legs and arms down. Eventually she fell asleep for 5 mins, woke up tried the cup and she hasn't looked back since.
After several days of visitors to the house we decided to try operation ditch the deedee (her word for dummy). I was dreading this one more, I felt like she loved her deedee. Weirdly though, after 2 days this seems to have been easier than ditching the bottle. Yesterday she had a nap no problem, only asked for it once in the car, then went to bed and after 10 mins of whinging she dropped off to sleep. She cried out a few times for it in the night but quickly settled herself again and slept through till 7.30 am this morning!!!
Today she has had another good day, she hasn;t really asked for her deedee (despite being a bit miserable with her teeth!) and only cried for 2 minutes at bed time. She is now (touch wood) asleep!
So far it seems to be going ok. Not too sure how she will cope at nursery tomorrow, am a bit worried she will try and steal deedees from other children. Hopefully though the nursery will be strict with her.
Mama x
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