Cumi is the Hungarian for a pacifier: the major difference between Ivan, and Maia so far. Two years ago we were convinced that the baby should not use a pacifier. As a result Maia received a lot of dancing, walking, and other sorts of treatment. But most of all, she was spending her time on Emese's breasts. Ivan is a different case - or, rather, we are a different case. On the Saturday when Emese arrived home with him from the hospital I went out shopping, and among other baby things, like his bed, I returned with two pacifiers. That same evening I realized the comfort of sticking one of them into his mouth - he would immediately start sucking it, stop crying, and soon, fall asleep.
We have been using the cumi since then pretty regularly. Of course we are aware that it would be very difficult to get rid of it later. That is why Emese suggested a compromise programme: he only gets it in the evening, before falling asleep, when he is not hungry anymore but wants to continue sucking for a few more minutes. Then he falls asleep and drops it from his mouth.
In theory this works out fine, but in practice the cumi ends up being used more often. For example whenever we are having dinner or lunch and Ivan starts crying - which, strangely, happens quite regularly, as if he is complaining about being left out - he gets the cumi to shut up and let us finish our meal. But there seems to be consensus in the family, that the pacifier is a bad thing and should be made redundant. Time will show.