How to wean a baby from a dummy

The content of the article

• Why do weaning from the nipples
• When to wean a baby from a dummy
• How to wean from a nipple by a method of smooth rejection
• How to wean from a dummy by a sharp rejection
• How to not wean from a dummy

The nipple becomes a true friend for the baby, since he spends days and nights with her. In the life of a child, a time comes when you have to wean from a dummy and a bottle, but this is not easy to do. The kid behaves capriciously, depriving parents of sleep and peace. The question immediately arises to the district doctor on how to wean a baby from a nipple?

Why do weaning from the nipples

Before weaning a child from a dummy, it is important to understand what the harm of this childhood habit is. In fact, such a sucking reflex, if stored for up to 3 years, can cause a number of complications in the child’s body, so this must be abandoned in a timely manner. To facilitate the decision of parents, it’s time to find out what harm the nipple and bottle to the little tomboy. The negative points are as follows:

• anatomical malocclusion;
• insufficient nutrition amid sucking a dummy;
• decreased sucking reflex;
• the risk of infection of the oral cavity due to unhygienic care for the dummy;
• inhibition of the child’s psychomotor development.

When to wean a baby from a dummy

The first months of life, the help of the nipples is invaluable, because the constant sucking reflex helps the baby sleep peacefully at night, instills emotional restraint, and suppresses an acute attack of pain during planned teething. Being interested in when to wean a baby from a nipple, parents and doctors come to the logical conclusion that it is better to do this at the age of 3-9 months. This is explained by the absence in the children’s body of a stable dependence on the sucking reflex. In practice, the optimal period is 1 year.

How to wean from a nipple by a method of smooth rejection

To make the process of weaning painless, parents choose the gradual weaning of the crumbs from the dummy. This is the advice of many pediatric doctors (including Komarovsky), which in practice does not always remain effective and reliable. If adults are satisfied with this option, it’s time to clearly adhere to the recommendations below on how to wean a child from sucking a dummy:

1. Offer the child to abandon the dummy in the daytime, leave it only for sleep. Weaning from the nipples can occur in a playful way, the main thing is to captivate the baby and explain new rules to the baby. Initially, the actions are uninitiated, but then the baby will get used to leaving his “girlfriend” alone in the daytime.
2. Offer the peanut a worthy replacement, for example, the baby gives the pacifier, and the parents read a fascinating fairy tale before bedtime, or rather two. When the baby sticks a finger in his mouth, the first time you should not stop the baby, in this way he gets used to new conditions, looking for a temporary replacement to maintain the already familiar sucking reflex.
3. Much depends on at what age to wean a child from a dummy. If the child is already a year old, he can gently explain the harm of the dummy and persuade him to change, and it is better to wean the baby crumbs from the usual reflex, and to do this sharply, unexpectedly for the baby.
4. It is necessary to take the dummy before an evening swim, so that the water procedure distracts the child from the vagaries, tears, and indignation. This is the first advice of pediatricians, and after bathing it remains only to gently rock the baby, tell him your favorite fairy tale or sing lullabies as a distraction.

How to wean from a dummy by a sharp rejection

If the child does not agree to the changes, demonstrates an open protest, parents should take radical measures to quickly eliminate this “bad habit”. The dummy will have to be taken away, and the baby should be weaned from the eternal search for the sucking reflex. First, he will pull his fingers in his mouth, then toys and other foreign objects. The situation is dangerous – it’s time to use folk methods:

1. Before weaning a child from a dummy, you need to monitor his mood and choose the most favorable period. Do not do this when teething, in case of an infectious and viral disease with an impaired temperature.
2. Dr. Komarovsky against psychological trauma, therefore, does not recommend hiding the nipple. It is better to explain to the child her harm and just throw it together in the bin. If the little one is not ready for loss, you can offer him to present this item to a familiar newborn, who clearly needs it.
3. Seeing the tears of the crumbs, some parents can give up and return the dummy to him. Then wean him from a bad habit will be much more difficult. It’s time to show imagination, tell a story about a magical fairy, who carried a pacifier into the country of small children at night. If you beautifully outline your imagination, the baby will believe his parents and survive the loss without serious consequences.
4. If adults do not know when to wean a child from a dummy, then a year is the best period for a sharp disposal of a bad habit. It is necessary to explain that the nipple is lost, moreover, its searches can be turned into a family game. The child will have fun with mom and dad, after which he will forget about the loss. What time to wean a child from a dummy, the decision is purely individual.

How to not wean from a dummy

Dr. Komarovsky is against all violent measures, since any careless actions of parents can form a psychological trauma in the mind until the end of life. There are those forbidden methods that are categorically contraindicated for medical reasons. This point is important to consider when you want to wean the baby from the eternal sucking reflex. Prohibited:

• lubrication of silicone with mustard, pepper, vodka, vinegar;
• forcibly removing silicone from children’s hands;
• lack of response to childhood hysteria;
• parental screams during weaning;
• demonstrative damage to the dummy in the eyes of the little one;
• deceitful methods, mockery of the baby;
• horror stories about nipples that can turn into scary monsters.