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14 days ago

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How to get rid of the dummy when its a sensory comfort?

Ok beautiful people... my little one loves her dummies she’s 3 turn 4 in June. I’m co-parenting pretty well with her dad but his trying to push the losing the dummy. My question is with her Autism her dummy is the one thing she will go to if she’s upset, tired, overwhelmed etc.... so do I try to explain to him it’s a sensory thing.... sometimes she doesn’t need to suck on a dummy sometimes she just needs to hold it... but it’s one of those things we have to make sure we pack there anywhere we go, becuase if anything happens or she gets overwhelmed that’s the first things she askes for but if we don’t have them it makes the situation 10x worse. How do you all have time to yourself!
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13 days ago

Your story sounds exactly like my son and his reliance on his dummy for comfort, and what a disaster if I didn't have it when needed!! It was due to this that we decided to try and have him give up. I started with lots of notice, around 2 months, and would say he needs to give his dummy to the dummy fairy if he wants to turn 4. Around 1 mth til his 4th birthday he agreed. So, I hid all his dummies and one night left a present (from the fairy). It took around 4 nights of me reminding him and then fine! A few times I was tempted to pull one out to comfort. It was hard because I knew how important the dummy was to my son, and hard because people didn't understand and would obviously judge. Good luck!!

12 days ago

My daughter had her dummy for a while too. She too has autism and it was her comforter for those overwhelming moments. She only got rid of it just before school. I think she was around 5 by that time she just used it to help her get to sleep. The transition to find other tools to replace the dummy happened over around 6 months l think. One night I suggested she suck on some ice before going to sleep but that meant no dummy. From then no dummy! Two and half years on she has a bowl of ice next to her bed when she goes to sleep, still gives her that oral comfort. It’s such a tricky aspect to navigate. Do whatever feels right for you ❤️

13 days ago

I could have written this myself x My daughters dad was the same and he insisted on cold turkey, I hated it, it broke my heart, but I followed along and within a week the dependency was gone. It isn’t easy, do what is right for you x

12 days ago

Do you see an OT? I agree that it’s an important sensory tool for regulation. My daughter sucks her fingers and over the years we’ve always played with ways to transition away from this. She has calloused fingers and obviously sucking fingers shares germs and parasites easily. At 5.5 she is now emotionally and cognitively aware of her finger biting/sucking which means she’s open to alternatives. We never pressured her and we also never felt any pressure so that would be hard with the co parenting factor. I guess if it were me I’d explain that we can work on transitioning but it’s something that will be done slowly, over a long period of time with the assistance of her support team with zero pressure.

9 days ago

we are awaiting funding from ndis but also still on waiting lists for a lot of OT within the area

14 days ago

How to get rid of the dummy when its a sensory comfort?
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