Choosing Comforters, Soothers & Dummies

Comfort and security are the bedrock of a happy childhood. Our earliest months and years are highly traumatic; as babies we encounter entirely new situations and sensations on a daily basis, and the process of trying to make sense of it all is a long and difficult one. While it's not possible to completely eliminate all the confusing events and terrifying experiences of our earliest months, it is possible to make things more agreeable, more familiar.

How? Well, there are a several products on the market which are solely designed for this purpose; the purpose of soothing your child's transition from newborn to toddler. In particular, there are various comforters, soothers and dummies which could help to calm your baby in their tumultuous initial stages, and we're going to look a little closer at them here.

Dummies

The dummy as a concept - a dummy nipple - has been around for a surprising time. Fruit tied in cloth on which a baby can suck has been around since classical times, and even the modern rubber dummy is over a hundred years old. These older dummies often had two ends: a soft one and a hard one, separated by a large round disk which eliminated the risk of choking. Nowadays, dummies have only the soft end with the hard end replaced now by a handle, but the disk to prevent choking has endured. The modern dummy material of choice is silicone, and one particularly noteworthy dummy design is provided by Euromark.

Euromark's Hygienic Soothers utilise a rather ingenious little system to remove the main problem thrown up by dummies: their propensity for falling onto the floor and getting covered in fluff and dirt. Since babies haven't yet developed fully resistant immune systems, they're unable to effectively fight off bacterial infections as well as adults can, and it's therefore all the more important that they are protected as much as possible from dirt and microorganisms. It's very unwise when a baby drops his or her dummy on the floor to simply pick it up, wipe it off and give it back to them. This could potentially make your baby ill. Euromark realised this, but they also realised that sterilising your baby's dummy after every time it left their mouth was impractical. So they came up with an innovative solution - a dummy which snaps shut to prevent contact with the ground. The Euromark Hygienic Soother uses a mechanism which causes it to quickly (but gently) close when it leaves your baby's mouth, preventing the nipple of the dummy from making contact with the floor. The mechanism is quick enough to work even on very short drops.

Furthermore, this dummy, along with many others, is designed to be boiled to sterilise it. In fact it can be sterilised in any of the ordinary ways except microwave sterilisation. It has other advantages too, not least of which is the probable reduction in the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Research from 2007 suggests that the use of a dummy in the first year of life increases a baby's safety when sleeping and should be encouraged, if the baby is comfortable using a dummy.

Pain Relieving Teethers

One thing a dummy can't do however is alleviate the discomfort of teething. Nothing can, as far as we know. But there are a few teethers currently available which can make it more bearable. We've brought together a selection of our favourites here at Oliver's, including our favourite products from manufacturers such as Hess Spielzueg ('spielzueg' is German for 'toys' incidentally), Munchkin, Amazing Baby, Whoozit and Baby Einstein, amongst others. Each of these teethers are bright coloured, stimulating affairs, filled either with water or with gel. The effect they have is pretty simple; by biting down on the teether your baby spreads the pain of their tooth eruption across a larger, more manageable area of their gums. You've probably noticed a similar phenomenon when you have toothache; by pressing firmly on your gum the pain is relieved slightly because it stops being so focused in a single area.

Most fluid-filled teethers can be refrigerated which increases its anesthetic effect on your baby's gums. They use different textures and shapes to allow for your baby's exploration and to accommodate the different parts of the mouths which will be chewing on them, and they have bits which move so your child encounters new pieces to chew all the time. Amazing Baby's teether rattles and makes comforting noises, and Baby Einstein's teether is a colourful, tactile book which can be chewed and studied at the same time.

For the baby just about to start weaning, there's a feeder which is based on the ancient tried-and-tested dummy we mentioned a moment ago; the cloth through which a baby can suck fruit. Now though it's made from a resilient mesh material which is airy enough to permit juices and small solids to pass through to help with the early stages of weaning, but is fine enough to prevent any larger pieces of food causing a choking hazard. It's a great way to introduce a baby to finger foods and self-feeding, and it can also be filled with ice to soothe the pain of teething.