# Chewing through dummy (17 months)



## lace&pearls

wondering if anyone else had this problem - my daughter is 17 months old and has a dummy to sleep and if she is in need of comfort (e.g. in pain) I try not to let her have it during the day unless I have to, lately she has been poorly and teething so I have let her have it a little more. (I never let her have it if she's happy enough though lol) - Problem is she's started chewing holes in the sides of the teat and I think eventually could possibly bite them off which is obv. quite dangerous! :S so I'm getting through loads of dummies!! :S I use silicone orthodontic ones (I've tried avent, tommee tippee & MAM) 

I suspect it's because she's just had her back molars coming in which is annoying because also why she needs the dummy! lol. I'm not sure what to do - should I change dummies? I was thinking perhaps latex dummies would be tougher?... she used to have some cherry latex ones when she was tiny but I took them away once she started getting teeth as I was worried about them not being orthodontic..

or do I take the dummies away? - Sounds simple enough but I don't know how I could explain that to a 17 month old, and it's her only comfort. She's not the most cuddly of children (far too independent!) so I don't know how well this would go down. I planned on giving them to the dummy fairy once she was old enough to understand... any advice?


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## kmumtobe

We had exactly this at 20 months. Every one of them had holes in and I wasn't prepared to buy a pack a week plus it drove me mad when he lost them at night or chucked them in the car so I took it as a cue to loose them. He would look at them broken and go 'oh no' and I'd say 'yes broken'. Then I just decided (on a good night!) to go for it and fully snipped the tops off, I let him keep one with him that night to reinforce why he wasn't able to use it as apposed to it just vanishing) and by the 3rd night no tears and straight off to sleep.. he'd never settled without one! That was it, 3 hard nights and forgotten. It's so nice without them and I was worried he wouldn't be comforted without one but because it was forgotten and it didn't matter. I say do it, your lo isn't gonna stop biting them now they've learnt the trick so take the opportunity..they've gotta go one day and better before they remember things longer and can talk or rather plead with you for it back!


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## waitingfor

We're going through the same at the moment. I've decided not to buy any more. Once they're all in the bin then she will be going cold turkey. It's going to be tough because she's been bad with her canines for over 4 months and there's still no sign of them. The dummy is the only thing that settles her.

We do give her a Tommy Tippee teething dummy if they're really bad but she won't have it at bedtime/naptime in place of a real dummy. All other teething rings etc get thrown across the room.


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## lace&pearls

perhaps when the weather is a bit cooler I should give it a try, her sleeping has been pretty bad lately because it's so humid (plus the teething) so I'm not sure I could cope with adding more into the mix lol. Thank You for the advice though, glad she's not the only one who does this lol x


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## harveygirl

My lo did this around the same age, I remember I kept buying her new ones and it was costing a fortune! In a matter of minutes she'd have bitten through the new one again. Anyhow turned out it was kind of a good thing as when she bit through them they were no good to suck anymore and I stopped replacing them and she just gave them up by herself. Now she was never very dependent on them in the first place so dont know what your lo is like.


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## wannabemomy37

Perfect opportunity to snip off the ends properly and explain that it is now broken and can't be used anymore. Let her keep the broken one for a few days but she will realize she physically can't suck or bite it anymore and will be over it in no time.

If you don't do this now it will only make it that much harder to take away later. She's basically telling you that she's not interested in it anymore. Stop replacing them!


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## DaisyBee

Megan did that... But we didn't get rid of them til 2 1/2. Then she turned to biting her nails. She needed that oral thing to wind down at night. We ended up buying her some sensory chewing toys that she chewed on only during bedtime routine and that helped her a lot.


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## lace&pearls

wannabemomy37 said:


> Perfect opportunity to snip off the ends properly and explain that it is now broken and can't be used anymore. Let her keep the broken one for a few days but she will realize she physically can't suck or bite it anymore and will be over it in no time.
> 
> If you don't do this now it will only make it that much harder to take away later. She's basically telling you that she's not interested in it anymore. Stop replacing them!

But if she wasn't interested in them anymore why would she demand for them/cry when she doesn't have them? surely she would just wouldn't care?


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## Sweedot

My daughter is 19 months and bit through two dummies/pacifiers in the past two months. I always check them before bed time and usually chuck them after a month, trying to wean her off of them though,


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## DaisyBee

lace&pearls said:


> wannabemomy37 said:
> 
> 
> Perfect opportunity to snip off the ends properly and explain that it is now broken and can't be used anymore. Let her keep the broken one for a few days but she will realize she physically can't suck or bite it anymore and will be over it in no time.
> 
> If you don't do this now it will only make it that much harder to take away later. She's basically telling you that she's not interested in it anymore. Stop replacing them!
> 
> But if she wasn't interested in them anymore why would she demand for them/cry when she doesn't have them? surely she would just wouldn't care?Click to expand...

Megan cared a LOT. Her chewing it was one of the things that comforted her. She was VERY addicted to her pacifiers.... It wasn't her way of telling me she was ready to part with them. I made her part with them at 2 1/2 but she honestly wasn't ready to be done with that oral need til almost 3 1/2.


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