My son Ciarán is twenty-two months old and has strong opinions about everything. What he eats, what he wears, which cup his water goes in, which parent puts him to bed. He is, in the most loving possible way, exhausting.
For the first year of his life, soothers were a non-issue. He took whatever we gave him, it stayed in, everyone slept. Then somewhere around fourteen months, he started spitting them out. Not because he didn't want one — he absolutely did, and he'd immediately start crying for it — but because he'd roll over in his sleep and it would fall out, and then he couldn't get it back in himself, and then we'd be up at 2am fishing around in the dark for a dummy.
We went through four different brands trying to solve this. Some were too big, some too small, some he just flatly refused. I was starting to think we'd missed some window and soothers were simply over for us.
Why I Chose the Tommee Tippee Anytime Soother
The thing that caught my attention about the Tommee Tippee Anytime Soother was the symmetrical teat. Most soothers have a shaped teat that has a correct orientation — there's a top and a bottom, and if it goes in the wrong way round, it doesn't sit right. The Anytime soother's teat is symmetrical, which means it doesn't matter which way it goes in. For a toddler who's half asleep and trying to get it back in their mouth at 3am, that's not a small thing. That's everything.
The orthodontic shape was the other factor. Ciarán's 18-month check had flagged that we should be mindful of how soother use might affect his jaw development, and his health visitor had specifically mentioned looking for orthodontic designs. The Tommee Tippee Anytime is designed to support healthy oral and jaw development, which ticked that box.
It comes in a pack of two with a sterilising case that kills up to 99.9% of bacteria in the microwave. At £1.49 for the pack, I ordered two packs without a second thought.
The First Night
I'll be honest: I didn't expect it to work immediately. We'd had too many disappointments. I put one in at bedtime, Ciarán settled, and I went to bed braced for the usual 2am wake-up.
He slept until 6:15. I woke up at 5:30 in a mild panic because I hadn't been woken up, checked the monitor, and he was fast asleep with the soother still in. I actually teared up a little. Sleep deprivation does things to you.
What had happened, I think, is that when he rolled over in the night and the soother shifted, the symmetrical teat meant it just repositioned itself correctly rather than falling out or sitting wrong. He could also, I noticed over the following nights, get it back in himself when it did come out — because there was no wrong way to put it in.
Three Months On
We're now three months in and the soothers are still going strong. The silicone has stayed soft and hasn't discoloured. The ventilation holes in the shield have made a noticeable difference to the skin around his mouth — we used to get redness from his old soothers, and we haven't had that since switching.
The sterilising case has become part of our routine. It takes about three minutes in the microwave and we do it every couple of days. It's compact enough to throw in the changing bag when we're out, which means we always have a clean spare.
Ciarán is now at the stage where he can find his soother in the dark, put it in himself, and go back to sleep without waking us. That is a sentence I genuinely didn't think I'd be writing six months ago. The symmetrical teat made that possible — he doesn't have to work out which way round it goes, he just puts it in and it works.
Who This Is For
Any parent of a toddler who uses a soother and is struggling with night wake-ups caused by it falling out or going in wrong. The 18-36 month size is right for older toddlers, the orthodontic design addresses the developmental concerns that come up at this age, and the symmetrical teat is genuinely the feature that makes the difference.
You can find the Tommee Tippee Anytime Soother here. If you're browsing for more, these collections are worth exploring:
I spent months trying to solve a problem that a £1.49 pack of soothers fixed in one night. I'm not even slightly embarrassed about how happy that makes me.
— Niamh Gallagher, Cork
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