Is your toddler overusing the dummy?
Is your toddler walking around with a dummy in their mouth all the time? Are you struggling with your toddler wanting to have the dummy during their awake time, playtime, in the car, bath, at a meal when they are bored just all the time?
Overuse of the dummy at this age can inhibit your little one’s language development as they try to talk around the dummy or just don’t bother to talk at all and instead make gestures/noises because they have the dummy in their mouth.
Often when parents dramatically reduce the amount of time their child has a dummy for during their awake time they start to notice a surge in the use of language with their little ones.
I also find that when toddlers are using their dummies excessively, they can become more sooky or less responsive to you when giving directions or instructions I can also become very dependent on the dummy for mood regulation.
Using a dummy house can be a positive way to reduce the use of the dummy during awake times can help them ditch the dummy in stages. Sometimes it can be best to explain to your toddler that the dummy is so tired they need a rest after looking after you all night so we need to put them into a special dummy house until they are needed for the next sleep so they can get rest.
Keep the dummy house either out of sight or in the cot and whenever your toddler wants to suck the dummy tell them they need to do that in the cot and then when they’re ready they can put the dummy back to bed ( in the dummy house ) and come out and play. This will help them transition from having dummy all the time
➡️ to just bedtime
➡️ to not having it at all.
