How to do it
Green is the only "expert" who appears to have the courage to advise on how to get rid of it. He says that when the time comes to discard the dummy, it is best to throw it away and brace yourself for the repercussions. Yes, he says, there will be hours or days of discomfort, but the dummy will be forgotten.

For parents who are not brave enough to force cold turkey on their child, he suggests a gradual withdrawal by losing it, letting it become damaged and so on. After the age of 3 you might even be tempted to use some hard bargaining (bribery) to elicit the required response.

Hot tips from moms

As usual, moms are the best source of advice and innovative ideas:

Give it to the poor children
"We found the best way to let our daughter let go of her baby things, including her dummy, was to take it to our local home for abandoned children. It made her feel grownup and proud to be helping someone less. When she asked after the item, I would remind her that she'd given it to the poor children."- Liz, Durban

The Easter Bunny/ Father Christmas/ Tooth Fairy "bought" your dummy
"I let my son put his dummy under his slipper for the tooth fairy to take away. In the morning he found a present under his slipper. In his mind it seemed like a fair exchange."- Maria, Cape Town

The inconvenient dummy
"I tied my child's dummy to a door. He could have it any time but had to suck it in the doorway. Don't tie it in an out of the way place because your child will need to be with people when he needs comfort from his dummy. Also don't make the string too long or he could choke on it. Eventually he will need the dummy less and less."- Scott, Bloemfontein

The shrinking dummy
"I cut a tiny piece off the end of the teat every few days. Eventually my child announced that the dummy was ‘broken' and tossed it in the bin."- Sandy, Port Elizabeth

Dummy trading
"I took my son to a shop and suggested he trade his dummy for a toy. I talked the shopkeeper into playing along. The fun of the new toy took the sting out of losing the dummy."- Esther, Pretoria

Do you have any tips of your own? Comment in the box below