No parent looks forward to the time they have to peel their child's dummy off them and break the news it's never coming back.
With both patience and determination, mums and dads are having to think outside the box to find ways to convince their kids to give up the dummy.
We asked our HuffPost UK Parents community what tips and tricks they used, and thankfully they delivered.
Here are some of the best answers, so take your pick.
1. Find some birds.
"We saw the birds in the front garden and I pretended to throw it out the window as one of the birds flew off.
"We said the mummy bird had taken the dummy for her baby and my son said 'mummy bird had num num for her baby'. It was as simple as that."
2. Cut the teat.
"I just cut the teats off and gave him the dummy back, he realised it was broken and from that day he's not had a dummy, not even at bedtime."
3. Blame the siblings.
"I told my daughter when she was two she was a big girl now and her baby sister might need it, so she just said 'Okay mummy' and that was about it."
4. Hide it.
"I just hid all the dummies and pretended they were lost."
5. Give them to the Easter bunny or Santa.
"The Easter bunny came for my girl's dummy. At the time she was told it was for the baby bunnies and then she got a Peppa Pig bear as a present."
Another mum said: "My boy gave his to santa and left it under the tree the night before Christmas for the other babies who didn't have any."
6. Hang it on the dummy tree.
"My daughter put hers on a 'dummy tree' made at nursery (search on Google images if you're unsure what this is). She loved the fact she could see her dummy on the tree with everyone else's and has never looked back.
"You could do this in your community on an actual tree or make a cardboard one."
7. Use the dummy fairy.
"I told my little girl the dummy fairy was going to take it away for the other babies and gave her chocolate coins in replacement.
"We did it the night before her third birthday so the fairy left her a note saying thank you for her dummy and that she was going to take it to a girl that couldn't get any."
Another mum said: "I wrote a letter to the fairy and she sent one back with fairy dust in it and a gift to say: 'Thank you for being kind and giving them to all the little babies who didn't have dummies.'"
8. Just take it away.
"I just took it away one day. My son asked for it a few times and I changed the subject.
"He's been without it for a month now and doesn't ever ask for it. He was two when we did it."
9. Bribe with money.
"We told my son he would get a surprise (£1) under his pillow if he gave his dummy away for the other babies. He was overjoyed.
"A few tears going to bed the first night but no real issues since."
10. Use books.
"We read 'The Last Noo-Noo' book to my daughter about dummies and she loved it, on the second reading she wanted to put all her dummies in the bin."
11. Blame the Minions.
"We told our son his dummy got taken by the Minions (from 'Despicable Me'). He accepted it and moved on. Easy."
Do you have any ideas to add? Let us know in the comments below.
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