101 types of dummy's and soothers

Not going as planned

I am finally adding products to my online store! It has been about a month since I first published the website which seems like yesterday. Unfortunately, our family has been hit with weeks of Illnesses thanks to having a nine month old in child care.

Not only have we been hit with Croup, Bronchitis, COVID, Rhinovirus this year, but we have now been through 5 weeks of Tonsillitis, Conjunctivitis and Glandular fever! It seems to be the luck of the draw whether my husband or I join our little man in the sickness. Unfortunately, it's looking like 80 to 90% of the time it's me.

My first upload

As this website is slowly getting built, I'm now adding products to my online store and trying to figure out what would be the best way to help my fellow mums out there. I originally wanted to set up my online store so that you could just find the item generally and then you can just use the drop down filters/options to pick exactly what you need from there. The issues though is that if you are a first time mum like I was then you don't know what filters you want to go through AND who knows if baby will even like what you pick? So, I'm hoping that the information that I put in these blogs will help decipher what you need without getting lost in Dr Google.  

The product I am working on while writing this, is the magical dummy/soother.

Shapes to consider

I have determined that mums will purchase one based on shape, brand, or material. If we filter by shape, that gives us 3 options:

• Round/Cherry – The traditional dummy shape,

• Symmetrical - I thought this was round because round is symmetrical, but symmetrical seems to more be an elongated circle or rectangular, sort of flat-ish dummy shape.

• Orthodontic – A symmetrical dummy shape with one flat side. Baby's tongue would push up on dummy and encourage a specific sucking pattern. This may help with preventing future dental issues.

I wanted to breastfeed so naturally I only looked for dummies that was labelled ‘nipple aversion’ so that little man would not get confused between the dummy and my nipple and then prefer the dummy, and reject me, and therefore no more breastfeeding. After hours on Dr Google, this was the Orthodontic shape. Some brands claim the Round is a nipple aversion type because your nipple is apparently plump and round. I don’t know who has plump and round nipples (even before birth) but if your out there, well done.

Anyway... the Orthodontic to me was the most realistic because when baby is latched, your nipple is flattened against the roof of baby’s mouth (Insert breastfeeding shudder here) like the shape of the orthodontic dummy. My little man had no issue with these, but I have no way of knowing if it has helped his teeth. I never wanted to go the round/cherry shape because of this mentality of the breastfeeding.

We have now moved to the symmetrical shape because he grew out of the 0-6 month size and no store had the dummy brand or shape in the next size (6-12 months). Plus I was no longer breastfeeding so that mentality was gone.

Material as a thought

This brings me to the next filter option, which is the material. Now I must admit I never even looked into this when I was pregnant because I wasn't fussed about the different materials because thankfully in Australia, we've got high quality and safety standards on baby products. They wouldn't be selling it if it wasn't good for baby, right? So you've got three different types of materials:

• Silicon,

• Latex, and

• Natural rubber.

  
  

Personally, I didn’t even pick up a dummy that was latex or natural rubber because of the brown/yellow colour and not knowing if the dummy was actually clean. I have read that silicon is a little bit more durable than latex and this probably is not worth noting, but I hear more about latex allergies than I do silicon allergies, so is that a consideration? With latex and rubber there is also that horrible taste. I think the girlies out there will know more about that than the men (HA). This I think is personal preference, so I am still including it as a filter option but not the main one.

Is brand loyalty a thing?

The other filter option I am thinking is brand. Some people are brand loyal but others like me are just happy with what is on special. I thought I was brand loyal until the only option I could buy gave me a visual ick. My brand loyal options were:

• The type with cartoon pictures on the front,

• Only pink and purple colours,

• Seeing the inside of my child's mouth,

• Small air holes for suffocation, or

• Has a ring to connect a dummy chain.

  
  

I have a range of things to say about these options but that might have to be another blog. Ultimately, being brand loyal didn't seem worth it to me.

The one thing changing brands helped me with, was realising I needed glow-in-the-dark dummies. I didn’t even know this was an option, or an option on the pack I purchased until 2am the next day, little man was crying and I see this ‘angel like’ glow in his cot. What a saving grace! Thankfully, most brands have a glow-in-the-dark option, and now the only type I buy.

I still have not uploaded my first product

As I'm writing this, maybe the last filter shouldn't be brand but about features?

If you're a mum out there and any of this resonates with you more than the other please tell me! Or if there is a dummy out there that you say is amazing, let me know because I love to hear what other mums think because as I said earlier, my website is to try and make the best shopping experience for mums.

If what I think other mums need is not what other mums need, well, tell me and I'll work on it.

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