It’s funny how siblings can be so different. Every day people tell me how much they all look alike, they do, although I perhaps see more differences than others. Little Bean and Jelly Bean are virtually identical as babies and similar to their Dad, Beanie Boy is more like me.
When it comes to soothing themselves though, Little Bean took to a dummy within the first couple of weeks and stuck with it until she was 2 years old, she also liked a blankey and would put it over her face to go to sleep at night. I never worried about her having a dummy, I had a dummy myself as a baby/toddler and when the time came I was a brave girl and threw it in the rubbish bin. With Little Bean, I began by limiting the time she could have her dummy (only in the car and at bedtime) and some time later I told her the dummy fairy was taking the dummies to give them to all the new babies who would need them and that if she could give hers to the dummy fairy, she could choose a new bedtime teddy. She cried a little on the first night but quickly settled herself with her new teddy and we never looked back.
When Beanie Boy was a baby we offered the dummy and for about two weeks he took it but soon began to gag and fuss when we offered it to him so we stopped offering it and he just seemed to find his own way of settling himself and later found comfort in his teddy bears. He never sucked his thumb.
Yesterday Jelly Bean found his thumb for the first time. He has been having a dummy but only every now and then. He would only suck it for a few minutes and a little like Beanie Boy he would often gag when we offered it to him so I haven’t been offering it so much and now he has found his own way. I do love to see babies sucking their thumb, it’s a cute sight but unlike a dummy it can’t be taken away when they reach a certain age. I guess we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it!