The Comforter...to be or not to be?

Every baby needs a comforter don't they?  Well, I certainly think they do but perhaps that's because I had one as a child and I loved how it calmed me and helped me to sleep.  There are so many different kinds of comforters on the market today but I thought I'd share the two that Olivia loves.



Comforter Soft Toy £10.50 from Mamas & Papas
Pacifier £1.99 for a pack of 2 from Boots

 The Soft Toy:

Olivia is quite young at the moment to really hold this but we place Crumble (a comforter from Mamas and Papas) either next to her or under her right arm whenever she goes to sleep (day or night) as well as when she is in her car seat or in the pram and it seems to help to calm her.  This could be purely down to routine as it is something that we have done since birth and so now that she is 10 weeks old she may expect it.  We were bought several soft toys to be used as comforters but I have to admit that this is my favourite.  I like that it is made of several different textures which she can hold on to or rub as well as being a finger puppet which can be used during play time.

One piece of advice I was given with regards to comforters was to always have a back-up.  This was very true when I was a child as my first comforter (a pink material doll from Fisher Price) disappeared.  I think that it was in fact thrown in the bin as it had disintegrated quite a lot and was even held together with a safety pin.  Luckily my parents had the exact same one (brand new of course) which I too began to disintegrate over time.  I wanted the same for Olivia.  This was also proved right earlier on this week when Ben (my In-Laws dog decided to chew the nose off Crumble leaving him in a very sorry state - they quickly went to purchase a replacement, so no harm done - just proves that back-ups are so important.

At the moment Olivia hasn't become too attached to her comforter so it wouldn't be the end of the world if she lost it, however when she's older I didn't want her to be upset if her comforter became lost or disintegrated especially if she is still very young so I have purchased another one just in case.  As you can see from the picture, this is the spare one as it still has the tags on.   I will also get her used to having other comforters as well for example a muslin cloth (I have so many that she wouldn't know which is hers and they can all be washed) so that she always has something that can soothe her.

The Pacifier:

Some people agree with giving a dummy to an infant whist others are strongly against it.  I was always a thumb sucker (and as a result had to have a brace on my top row of teeth for a year) however I was very open minded about waiting to see what Olivia would want.  Very early on we gave her a dummy to help to calm her especially when she was overtired.  Whether or not you agree with this is up to you, but for us it was the right decision at the time.  We tried various kinds of dummies including ones that are suppose to be good for her teeth (when they arrive) but finally settled on the Cherry type soothers, mainly because these were the ones she liked. 

Does every child take to a dummy?  The answer is simply no, just as the same would be for children who suck their thumbs.  I have several friends who wanted their child to take to a dummy but they just didn't and no one knows why and the last thing you want to do is to force them to take one.

Does she have the dummy all the time?  Again the answer is no.  Usually we give Olivia a dummy after she has eaten and to help with wind, and as she is going to sleep to help to soothe her.  Most often she spits the dummy out of her mouth once she has had enough and if she does this then we leave her. 

How long will she have a dummy for?  I don't know the answer to that one.  There are pros and cons to both sucking a thumb and using a dummy.  She tries to suck her fingers and hands but at the moment they are so small that they just don't soothe her enough.  Also she hasn't quite mastered the co-ordination to keep her hand in place for very long.  I guess only time will tell.  At the moment she still sleeps in our room so it isn't a problem putting the dummy back in her mouth if she becomes unsettled during the night.  This will of course become a lot more problematic once she goes into her own room.  Maybe then I might have to re-think the whole dummy situation and try to encourage her to find her thumb but I don't know.  Also it's easier to ween her off a dummy than a thumb. 

It's a big decision for any new mum to decide whether or not to give their child a comforter of any kind, all I do know is that at this moment in time she seems to like her dummy and if Olivia is happy and content then that's all that matters.