General guidelines to use and choose the soother

The soother, also known as dummy, pacifier or comforter, is the best friend of most of the newborns. According to some estimates, about 70% of newborns use the soother on a regular basis. Nothing strange if you consider that babies has a natural instinct for suction even before birth. Indeed, it may happen during the ultrasound scan to see the baby sucking his thumb and after birth dedicating most of his waking hours sucking mother breast, the baby bottle or the soother.
The soother debate has raged for a number of years as it seems that it may lead to palate and dental arch malformation but actually the soother does not damage baby’s health: it is sufficient to choose the right one in the right way.

How to use the soother

One of the first good rule to follow is to do not let using a soother become a habit and limiting its use to 3 years. Actually, parents should try to wean their child off the soother starting from 2 years to encourage a gradual detachment from it. It is instead useful using the soother whenever the baby is in a situation of discomfort such as when he can’t get to sleep or in the event of gas colic.
In some situations, having something to suck is for the baby a way to calm down and settle. It is advisable to always have at hand more than one soother so to renew them often and replace the consumed one with a new pacifier immediately. Take always a new one with you so to be able to replace it easily in case it gets damaged or gets lost.
The soothers you use for your baby should be all of the same model as the baby gets used to one kind and then it is very difficult convince him to change it overnight.
Keep the pacifier as clean as possible in its holder and sterilize it before any single use.
Never dip the soother in sweet foods such as honey or sugar as this can lead to rapid tooth decay.

How to choose the soother

Depending on the shape of the teats, there are 3 different kinds of soother: cherry, drop or anatomic shape. In order to avoid the arise of dental problems, specialists usually suggest to use soothers with anatomic teats that better adapt to baby’s mouth. However, long-term use of anatomic soothers is not recommended as well.

The soothers teats are basically made from silicone or rubber. Silicone is more resistant to perforations than rubber and it is particularly suitable for babies who still do not see their first teeth coming through. Instead, when the baby starts to byte the soother with his teeth, a more resistant material like rubber results to be more suitable.

Instead, the shield that supports the teat could be made from silicone, rubber as well as from plastic. The soothers with soft shield are proved to be particularly suitable for younger babies especially if they are used during the night. The shields can have different shapes but the most common are the round and butterfly-shaped ones. The first ones are usually made from rubber or silicone, extremely soft that do not annoy the baby. The butterfly-shaped shields are made from rigid plastic and may result to be annoying in case of pressure. Instead the latter are at the same time less cumbersome and are characterized by joyful colours that make them particularly loved by older babies.

Anyway, to buy a good soother rely on the best brands specialized in baby products on the market: in some cases quality has to be the first criteria to follow.

When is the right time to wean your baby off her dummy?

Mums and dads know very well how important the soother is in their baby’s life: from the first months onwards, a baby turns most of her attention to this object also showing particular interest. The reason is very simple: sucking satisfies the natural and primary need of nutrition and it’s an antidote against fear and feeling of loneliness, very common feelings for both newborns and toddlers.

The dummy reminds of the shape of mum’s nipple, allowing the baby, when the mother is not around, to soothe and comfort herself; it represents a valid psychological help as a sobstitute of the mother figure.

The dummy has the following positive effects:

It induces sleep;
It helps to relieve tension;
It makes the baby feel protected and secure;
It causes pleasure: in the period that starts from birth up to two years ( named “ oral phase “ by psychologists ), the mouth represents the main source of pleasure and the sucking is a valid way to explore the world around her.
By using a flat teat that adapts to the mouth’s roof, the risk of deformation is highly reduced.

Sooner or later, the moment in which a baby will have to abandon the dummy comes: sometimes, it is spontaneously abandoned by kids around 2 or 3 years of age ( usually within 4 years ), that is when a child becomes more self-confident and independent, but in general, it is absolutely impossible to establish when it’s the right moment to wean a baby off her dummy, because it depends on babies. In any case, it doesn’t have to be a sudden interruption because it will only cause the opposite reaction: baby will be obsessed by the idea of having lost a so important and essential thing and soon, she will replace the dummy with the thumb.

Advices to gradually wean your child off

The first and most important advice is to be very patience and understanding, avoiding hurry and strictness. A good tactic is to show the child a tiny box or a proper dummy holder in which he can keep the dummy in order to use it only in particular moments. From now on, the dummy will be given only if requested ( for instance, at sleep time ).
Other tactic is to propose the child to give the dummy to his favourite baby toy that needs it more because it’s still a baby.
A more drastic remedy, more incisive is to associate the detachment to a proper ritual, like for example, throwing it into the sea, into a lake or into a river, or simply giving it to someone as a very important gift.
Moreover, another valid tactic is to set a limit to the use of the dummy in specific situation ( for example when the mother is not around ) or focus the attention on other activities that babies are not able to do with the dummy ( like singing ).
Apart from the tactic chosen, the mistake to avoid is to concentrate too much on “ the dummy matter “ even because the abandonment of the dummy has to take place only when babies feel psychologically ready to avoid inducing them to start sucking the thumb, with negative consequences for the mouth roof and teeth.