Soother weaning should take place before the child starts kindergarten.

Ideally, weaning should take place before the end of the second year of life and the dummy should be replaced with a toy that the child can also suck. This helps him to forget the dummy and prevents him from using his fingers instead. The child will be satisfied if he is offered an alternative. The purpose of this is to find a form of satisfaction that is less harmful.  


Dental associations and organisations involved in research into dental care repeatedly point out that a child should be weaned off the dummy before they reach infancy if possible.

The following advice can be given to make weaning easier:

- Instead of a dummy, a dummy cup could be offered, but without contents.
- Talk to the child, make him realise that he is big now and will no longer need a dummy in kindergarten.
- Set goals for the child and praise them when they achieve them, e.g. only using the dummy for sleeping.
- Positive reinforcement works particularly well with children over the age of one. They like to compare themselves with older children, whose dummy-free example you can use.
- Do not get frustrated if the child does not achieve the goals, otherwise weaning can be even more difficult. If the teeth have become visibly misaligned, seek advice from a dentist.
- Sometimes little tricks can also help, such as thwarting the pleasure of the dummy by poking holes in it to spoil the sucking effect. You can then decide together with the child that it is better to dispose of the broken dummy. If you manage to get the child to do this themselves, weaning may already be complete.
- When travelling, the dummy can sometimes be "forgotten", forcing the child to find another way to satisfy themselves. A new toy can be offered for this purpose, for example.